Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 22 It's Feeling More and More like Fall

Fall in Woodmoor is not complete without our family participating in Becca's run. This year, Ben got to join us along with friend, Jess. We arrived minutes before the start and ended up towards the front of the walkers group. Mia and Ben got to stroll leisurely while Mommy, Daddy and Jess walked the two mile race on a gorgeous fall morning. What a great way to start the day.


As if we didn't already have an exciting morning, we headed to Andrew, Claire and Luke's house to sample a Taste of Bethesda AND attend Rescue Day at their local fire department. The kids had a blast, quite literally as they held on to a firehose trying to put out fake fires. They also got to sit on a fire truck and later, sample Bethesda's finest ice cream. The adults had fun too sampling sliders, Indian food, Irish food and more. Though it was totally packed with people, we had a nice time and look forward to next year's food fest.


Mia news:
Mia has taken a liking to some flashcards that Mommy bought back when she was a baby. She likes looking at them so much that she insists that we partake in her quizzes to see if we know what the pictures are. She also lines up the cards all over the floor, teaches Ben, and somehow she even knows when we skip over reading ALL the facts on the back of the cards. One thing is for sure- the sunset card always has to go on top of the pile. The pile of colorful cards also accompanies her through the night as she often passes out on top of them.

She says the darndest things:
"You're dirty and you're clean!" (Mia who are you talking to?) "The bottom of the table and the top of the table."

"Mommy I don't feel well." (What's hurts Mia?) "My feelings hurt. I need a treatment."

"Mommy, Daddy, Ben... what are you doing?" "Why, why why?"

"Mommy, I call Ben Benny- he's the Benny!"

Ben news:
Ben has been working his way through the longest list of baby nicknames daycare has ever given it seems: Hungry Ben, Ben we're going to charge extra tuition because you eat so much, Hungry Hippo, Mr. Happy, Hungry Man, Mr. Sweetie, Sir Eats a Lot, etc... (do you recognize a theme here?)

New to his menu: plums and brown rice, butternut squash, blueberries and apricots (what hasn't he tried yet?)

He's starting to push his whole upper body, chest and stomach up off the floor when lying on his tummy... you know what that means....

Mia and her gal pal, Lydia, sure had some fun the other night when we had dinner with Pete and Erica. Those girls are spunky and adorable!

Stay tuned for a trip to the pumpkin patch and another exciting visit from the Whites!

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 21 Family Fun and Fish

Oh we're having some fun with our 'Lil Man and our Sweetie pie. Mia and Ben interact more and more and Mia's favorite thing to do is to make Ben laugh. She can do it better than any of us and she prides herself in a good Ben belly chuckle. How does she do it? Well... it's kind of a combo of jumping spastically and making some sort of loud noise with a twist of falling down.

The shirt says it all- he is a super strong little guy. He loves to grab at toys, food, and Mia and Mommy's hair. He also tries to sit up in his bouncer chair and swing. Ben is actively trying to sit up on his own and can do so for a second or two before he face plants onto the ground- always in the opposite direction of what makes sense to the laws of gravity.

Hook 'Em Horns! Yes, maybe we should change our last name from Brown to Burnt Orange. Mia really likes the new cheerleader outfit that Daddy got her and Ben inherited her old sun hat. Mia has perfected the Hook 'Em sign with her fingers as well as showing us numbers 1-5. It sure takes some coordination to manipulate those little hands.

We are seriously enjoying our National Aquarium membership (thanks Abi and Tata). Every time we go, there is something new and exciting to look at. This visit was particularly enjoyable because there were hardly any people and we had so much room to see the aquariums up close. Mia was fond of the giant sea turtle. Ben stared wide-eyed at everything that swam by his face and he kicked with delight.

We managed to keep the kids up long enough to see the dolphin show and it was clear that they both were watching the amazing animals as they flew and flipped through the air. What an exciting day! It's no wonder that they both passed out on the way back home. We look forward to our next visit soon.

Here's a little glimpse of Mr. Cracker Eater.

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 20 Happy Birthday

Congratulations to Allen, Elaine and Owen on their newest addition to their family: Nora Atchison Fawcett. Baby Nora arrived on September 1st and is such a sweetie. Benjamin is so excited to finally have someone his own age to play with. We also look forward to getting to spend some time with her once she's a little older.

Daddy had some fun brewing beer with some neighborhood friends and Mommy, Ben and Mia played with Jean, Leah, Charlotte and Rae. The girls had lunch and played with tons of toys while Ben watched and squealed with delight.

Mommy got some help from Mia and Luke with blowing out her birthday candles. Luke and his parents decided to give Mommy and Daddy a break and babysat for us. We had a lovely night out and even got to see a movie.

What's new with the kiddos:


Benjamin:
-rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy
-loves his teachers at daycare
-digs his bouncer and can bounce away for long periods of time
-has added peas, green beans, prunes, peaches, and crackers to his menu

Mia:
-works hard to do things on her own- shoes and socks, buttons her jammies, brushes her teeth
-making some progress on going on the big potty (# 2 mostly)
-continues to say funny things like "Mommy, I probably want milk for dinner" or "Where's my zackally?" (code word for anything that helps daddy measure and hang up pictures in the house so they are exactly straight-measuring tape or level pretty much)
-now knows that Bob Marley is a man even though she still has to ask if we are listening to the "lady" (hey mon- he has dreads, it's confusing!)
-knows all of the chorus of Bob Marley's "Judge Not" and continues to ask for Rush music

Our Generation Vol. 1 No.19 Last Days of Summer

We attended a Nationals Game on Labor Day weekend that started off a little unsteady and ended up just about the same. As we arrived some crazy intoxicated guy got sick all over the steps by our seats during the National Anthem. When we got to our seats, we found out that Mommy was lucky enough to sit right next to him. He ended up being well behaved (probably because he felt better) and the entire group of guys he was with loved how cute Ben and Mia were. Somehow we managed to eat one of the messiest meals two people with two kids (each on our laps) could eat! We all ended up with ketchup and strained pears on our clothes. Mia had her first Cracker Jacks box and wholeheartedly helped Daddy polish off a bag of peanuts. Finally as we were leaving Mia wiped out on the stairs so we took a jaunt over to the First Aid office where she charmed the lady working the desk. What a fun game... who did the Nats play? Who won? Who knows? We simply were too busy to watch (mostly).

We got to spend some time at Norwood Park with Andrew, Claire and Luke to celebrate Claire's birthday. Mia loved the swings and pulling grass out of the ground and throwing it with Luke. Ben enjoyed his sweet potato lunch and people watching as always. Luke came over later and he and Mia sure had fun playing air guitar and air drums! Later we found them upstairs with Mia's door closed, giggling and jumping all around. Ben is starting to interact with them more and more and watched them run around the house. Someday sooner than we know- he'll be chasing them and getting into their stuff.

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 19 Back to the Grind

This week was busy, busy, busy as we all went back to work and school.

Ben News:
Ben started his first week at SSPC and welcomed the transition better than we could have hoped! His teacher Ms. Mary loves how easy going he is and that he loves to smile, snuggle, laugh and cuddle. One thing we've noticed he likes doing at "school" is eat, eat, eat! The boy simply can't get enough and while one day he was nicknamed "Ben Bear", the next was "Mr. Eating Machine".

Here's what he's been eating (and not just one meal... 3 meals a day!)
rice cereal
oatmeal
multi-grain cereal
pears
apples
sweet potatoes
bananas

Daycare also has helped Ben to sleep longer because he's more active and social there. Also, with the cooler evenings, we've been dressing him in long pajamas which has helped him to sleep 10-11 hours at a time...way to go Ben!!!

Mia News:
Mia had a very smooth transition back to daycare. She absolutely insists that she helps drop off her baby brother first before she goes to Mrs. GG's room. Now that a new year has started, many of her friends moved on to the 3's classroom, making her one of the older kids. She seems to like being a leader and we're finding at home that she's becoming more independent with letting us know when she has to go potty!

Mia got two of her 2-year molars sometime in the last week and...
It finally happened. She learned how to ask, "Why?" While it was cute at first, we are noticing that she says it just about all the time now (still cute but is there an end to the asking?)

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 18 Fun with Forts and a visit from the Whites

Mia's growing so fast in so many ways! She loves, loves, loves her baby brother. She wants to play with him, take care of him and even during bedtime when she's trying to put off going to bed, she asks, "Where's my brother? I want to see him!". She has now taken on a new liking to building forts in the living room. Out of the blue the other day, she asked mommy to build one. Later that night we had a great time BBQ-ing with friends Nick, Tammy, Tom, Nate, Brandon, Sarah and Vivian. The kids had fun running around the house and the adults had a chance to catch up- even if we all ate in shifts!

We also had a very nice dinner at Andrew, Claire and Luke's followed by a fun trip to the park until... Mia let go of the swing daddy was pushing her on and she did a black flip and landed with her face in the mulch! For those of us who saw it, it was frightening and it's surprising that she wasn't more badly hurt. But, just like her mommy after one of her clutzy moves, she got right back on a swing only this time, it had a shoulder harness. Ben even attempted to try swinging in the baby swing and had a wonderful time. A few nights later, Luke came over for his first slumber party so that his parents could go out for their anniversary. Luke and Mia had a grand old time and they even included Ben in the fun by singing Ben's name and talking to him. You'll see below that they even built another fort!




Mommy had to go back to work this week and while she was preparing her classroom, Mia and Ben got to stay home with their daddy. [ Daddy talking now -- it was a wee bit overwhelming. Work wanted me and kids needed me. Most of the time I ignored the blackberry, but sometimes it was impossible. Given all that, we had some great times walking around the hood, and playing at the house, getting to know each other. It is a week of "vacation" that I'll look forward to every year.]

In addition to hanging out with daddy, we were fortunate to have Kerry, Laura and Bernadette stay with us while they moved Bernadette into her dorm at Georgetown. Mia and Ben took a liking to the Whites and tried to snuggle and play as often as they could.


Funny stuff: Mia has gotten into jokes. Mommy tries to tell her knock, knock jokes, but she insists on the one about the Texas business man -- one daddy may have have mistakenly told, in a cleaned up version, to her while she was sitting in the potty. Oops. Hey, she likes a good story.

Next week we go back to work, school and hopefully a routine?