glimpse into the future

Every once in awhile, we snap a picture of Brendan where he looks several years older than he it. There's one in particular from January where he looks like he's 3 or 4 and not just 1 year old. Here's another from this past weekend - I don't think he looks as old as in the other one, but older than 15 months:

Happy Easter

The Easter bunny hid eggs filled with cereal and puffs in the playroom along with a basket (he also brought baskets for myself, Rob and Nicole). Brendan ran around picking up all the eggs and putting them in the in a basket. He was surprised that there were things in the eggs since he's been playing with them for a few weeks and they've always been empty. After he found all the eggs he went for his basket and investigated all of his new toys - the biggest hits so far are the large spikey ball, the basketball net for the bath and a Thomas the train that makes noise. He also decided it would be fun to wear his easter basket - silly boy.

blog changes

You've probably noticed that I've made a few changes to the blog. The version of blogger has so many more options than before so you may find more changes as I play around. I added some lists of Brendan's favorite books and toys which I'll update as those change plus a few lists of my favorites as a parent. I've also added more blogs to my list - if you have your own blog, send me your link so that I can add it to our list. Blogs are addicting so its always fun to have more to follow. And there are the links to my Simply Sweets sites (website and a blog). If you haven't visited my Simply Sweets blog, take a look. Right now I have a poll posted - please cast your vote!

Desert Botanical Gardens

Today Brendan and I joined my MOMs club for an outing at the Desert Botanical Gardens. It was our first trip there and its a neat place. They have a special butterfly exhibit going on right now which Brendan really enjoyed.

Brendan and mommy day

To celebrate my birthday, I decided I wanted to go on a fun outing and spend time with Brendan so we went to the zoo. We hadn't been in a few months and Brendan was definately a lot more into it now that he's older. He liked looking at all the animals and especially liked the petting zoo. The zoo has a special exhibit of stingrays where you can pet them - I got to touch them but Brendan was scared to put his hands in the water with stingrays swimming all around.

Glendale's Spring Extravaganza

On Saturday morning we took Brendan to Glendale's Spring Extravaganza. They had an easter egg hunt, bubble zone, train ride, jumpers, craft projects and pictures with the Easter Bunny. The cool part was that everything was free (except for the pictures). Brendan had fun being outside and around all the kids but still a little young to understand all the easter activities. He also wasn't too into seeing the Easter bunny. He did get 2 Easter eggs and liked the train ride.

Happy Birthday honey.

Sorry I won't be there, but I was able to get you this cake.

15 months

I can't believe how fast he is changing every day and constantly learning new things. Today Brendan had his 15 month checkup - he checked out healthy and got 3 shots.

What he's up to:

• lots of babbles - he can have an entire conversation with someone and you'll have no idea what he's talking about. He also keeps adding more words (momma, daddy, cat, meow, ruff-ruff for dog, un-oh, wow, no, balloon, vroom for car and airplane, quack-quack, duck, bus, socks) and signs (milk, eat, hungry, more, hurt, cereal, banana, dog, cracker).
• Full of energy and doesn't stay in one place for very long
• weighed in at 25 pounds 4 ounces at his 15 month checkup. Thats a gain of only 4 ounces mostly because he has cut back in how much he eats and is so active. Its nice to finally have him wear the same clothes for a few months - mostly he's wearing size 24 months/2T these days.
• Loves to go get the mail everyday. He loves to have his own piece of mail to carry home. Also, he has to find a special stick during out walk.
• His 2 favorite toys right now are a basket of plastic Easter eggs and Baby Einstein flash cards which he loves to sort through and look at the pictures. He also loves his sand toys and would happy to spend all his time outside if we let him.
• Still loves to bop and dance to music and play with his musical instrument toys (or anything else that he can bang on like a drum)
• Has perfected the temper tantrum. He's best at it when its close to his bedtime and will roll around on the floor arching his back and saying "no" over and over again.
• He gives lots of kisses and hugs. This makes up for the item listed above.

stats:

weight 25.4, 50-75%
height 32 3/4 inches, 75%
head 19.5 inches, 90%

playing in the yard

We had great weather this weekend so we spent a lot of time out in our yard.

when can we go swimming?

playing ball in the grass

playing in the sand

cleanup time

chugga chugga choo choo

Wednesday we went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad park in Scottsdale with my friend Michele and her son. The weather this week was a little cooler so that was great. Its a cool park with a train ride, train cars, a museum, playground and a building for a few local model train clubs. And its free to get in and the rides are just $1. Brendan loved going on the train ride though his favorite part was watching the train each time it went by and waving to the passengers. He also loved hearing the train whistle. They also had a carousel which he was fascinated with when he saw it and kept signing dog (which I think was for the horses). Brendan had been on one at the fair and he didn't like it but that was a few months ago and at the end of a long day so we decided to try it again - as soon as we got on he started crying and clinging to me. No more carousel rides for awhile.

Thursday we were supposed to go see the Padres (Brendan's hometown team) spring training game against the Cubs with my MOMS club. The Padres play at Peoria Stadium, only about 15 minutes from our house. But it was raining so we decided not to go. Brendan was fascinated by the rain so I took him outside and we sat on our porch bench and we watch the rain - it was quite a downboard and he thought this was great. I think he had more fun with this than if we had gone to the game.

Easter is getting closer! I love Easter - all the decorations and the candy. Last night I pulled out all the decorations and put up the Easter Egg tree (I'll post a photo later). The tree is safe from Brendan because he hasn't learned how to climb yet - its the cats that I'm more worried about so I haven't put the really special eggs on yet. Brendan has been having playing with the plastic easter eggs and putting them all in the easter basket.

Friday we took Brendan for his second haircut. He didn't like it as much as the first time and ended up crying during his cut. I think he likes it better when Daddy takes him. He quickly recovered from the drama and once home he was acting extra goofy. Here are some photos of the boy - first he was running around with his hands over his eyes and then he switched to covering his ears.