Nuts and bolts

That's what we call trail mix around here... a mix of a bunch of different things.  That's just what this post is. 
I'll start with a Marcus update.
He is officially an unassisted sitter!  He has also learned how to transition down to his belly from a sitting position... controlled now, not just flopping over.  It looks as though his two front bottom teeth are getting ready to come in... there are little buds.  (Man, time is flying!)  When Marcus is on his belly, he likes to get up on all fours and rock... could this be the beginning of crawling already?  Noooo!!!!!   He is also sleeping in his own crib in his own room now.  It took us (ok, me!) a long time to feel comfortable with that transition but he has taken to it like a pro!  The first night was pretty good, the second was awful and he's been sleeping through the night since then.  I miss his sounds next to me at night but we are all sleeping soooo much better.  One final update... I believe Marcus is making the connection between "Mama", the sound and "Mama", the Mama!  I couldn't be more thrilled!  (He hasn't said "Dada" in months and this is really getting to Brad... I reinforce it all day long but still nothing.  Sorry, Dada!)  Here is a video of our sweet happy 7 month old:

Now on to Aaron...
Last night was his first night sans pull-up!  He did great right up until about 6am.  Sadly, he was too groggy to get up and use the potty.  Hey, we gotta start somewhere.  He's excited to try again tonight.  He is going through a difficult phase right now of testing limits... well, difficult for us - he's having a blast!  Ugh!  Last week we had an incident where he pooped in his playroom - knowing full well that this was not a good idea.  He thought it was very funny and was banned from using the playroom by himself for several days as a result.  This is such a challenging time as a parent... Aaron is sweet and charming and funny and the best kid we could ask for one minute - and a complete sassy, nasty, demon child stranger the next minute.  Whoever coined the phrase "terrible two's" CLEARLY hadn't made it to the three's yet!  With a little reassurance from our network of friends with 3-4 year old children, we are pushing through with as much patience and grace as we can.  We are doing a lot of positive reinforcement which seems to be helping.  His chore chart now includes a column for Good Manners and Good Listening Skills.  He gets a sticker (well, magnet now) for being polite and for wearing his "listening ears".  Here is a video of Aaron being a goofy big brother and making Marcus giggle

Let's see... what next?  We have been doing a lot of yard work lately.  This house has been severely neglected over the years!  We discovered the the whole back end of the property is COVERED in poison ivy... I am now covered in poison ivy!  We raked up more leaves last weekend than we could possibly bag so we decided to call in some help.  We got a couple of quotes from local landscapers to see what it would set us back to take away the brush and yard waste we already raked as well as what it would cost to remove the poison ivy and edge and mulch the front gardens.  We got some ridiculous quotes and finally one we could agree to.  Next week KnK landscaping will be dropping by to give us a hand and I couldn't be more excited!!!  We didn't get everything on our wish list but what they're going to do will be a tremendous help in making us proud to live here.  I'll take some before and after shots this time... promise!

Marcus and I have been attending a lot of playgroups lately.  I forgot how enjoyable it is to sit with other mom's and talk about the various things our children are up to.  It's so important for mom's to have an outlet and support system for their kid-related frustrations.  We have been going to the same baby group that I used to take Aaron to... through the REACH Program at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton.  It's a bit of a hike for us now but we love the leader, Nicole Croak!  Aaron comes with us to the Thursday group and is the song-time helper.  It's a blast! 

That reminds me... Marcus had a developmental screening done on Monday through the REACH Program.  The REACH team is made up of trained and licensed clinicians specializing in different areas of child development... there is an occupational therapist (Nicole!), a physical therapist (Jackie), Speech/language pathologist (Lisa), developmental educator (Lori), Lactation counselor (Patty) and maternal child health counselor (Maria).  The screening we had was with Jackie and Lori and we had a lot of fun.  Jackie and Lori basically played with Marcus for an hour while taking note of his communication skills and various milestones.  They asked me a lot of questions to fill in the blanks.  Their initial report is that he is doing great and right on track with where he should be, developmentally.  They are writing up an official report and sending it to us - I'll share his results in a later post.  I was able to ask a lot of questions and get ideas for fun activities to do do with Marcus to strengthen his verbal skills and his transition into crawling.  We will probably do another screening around 9-10 months.  Like I said, it was mostly for fun.  We didn't have any real concerns but it is always nice to be reassured. 

I guess that's it for now... more to come.