"If this is how to get him to play with me"

I walked into the room and found this today......

Lillian follows Simon around the house now and if she could talk she would be begging him to play with her. She is really only interested in his toys and what he is doing so today when I was warming a bottle the house got quiet....I knew something was up. I walk in to the play room to find Simon "cutting" her hair. Haha!! She couldn't have been happier since her brother was FINALLY playing with her. :)

Park morning with daddy

Alan has had the kids in the morning the past few months. He has occasionally packed them up and gone to the park to wait for Jenn. It's cool and the park is empty and sometimes it's nice just to get out. 

Licking the Beater

He ran in just in time to ask to eat the beater... who could resist watching the fun? 

VIP Passes to watch Batting Practice at Wrigley

Simon and Alan went to the baseball game on the Friday of Jenn's vacation. I stayed home and watched Lillian, who cooperated nicely by sleeping for 3 hours so I could get a bunch of work done.  Joe some how managed to get them VIP tickets to go down onto the field during batting practice. 

Simon whacked Tom Morello on the arm while we were all hanging out on the warning track at Wrigley Field."

This is how you throw the ball, watch!

Super Mario Brothers Break

Alan and I were talking about Super Mario Brothers and he realized that the little NES controller would fit perfectly in Simon's hands. So this afternoon, after a whole week of no accidents (!) Alan set up a little TV and the NES in the play room.

Simon totally loved it, as I'm sure you can imagine. He was sort of getting the hang of it, though obviously not zipping through levels. When I had a go I realized a lot of it was muscle memory; I used to be able to fly through the game but my jumps were off and I kept dying. We also switched controllers between each level, so that didn't help get a rhythm. Lillian stayed in the other room with whoever wasn't playing - she's too little for TV yet!

We only played for an hour or so and then we went outside and played baseball - no complaints. (And the NES/TV is already put away.)

That girl can crawl!!

After she crawls to me in this movie she stands up for a second on her own. Pretty amazing for an 8 month old! Before you say it, I will: That girl is very advanced for her age.

Aquarium Day with Daddy

Jenn was on vacation last Thursday and Friday and Alan stayed home to watch the kids. On Thursday he decided to go to the aquarium as it's been something he's been wanting to do with Simon for months. It ended up being a challenging day, but was still a great experience.

I asked Simon to remember 2 things from the day to tell me about when he got home. As I was tucking him into bed, he interrupted songs to tell me about 1) he saw a huge crab (that was bigger than him) and 2) he saw a shark. Then he was so proud he remembered to tell me about the two things. I sure do love that little guy!