Brandon's checks out a garbage truck

I know. . .you're probably thinking "What the. . ."

We were out in the front yard today scrambling to get the tree branches Russ cut down into the street. (We saw the truck and tractor at the far end of the street.) The driver of the garbage truck was very nice and chatted with us while we piled what was left on the lawn into his truck. He asked about the former owner of our house, and 10 minutes later he was out of his truck drinking the soda we offered him and talking about his family. Before he left he asked Brandon if he wanted to climb into the truck and honk the horn. Brandon shyly took him up on his offer and yanked on the horn cable. He thought that was pretty cool.

Mommy moment

After Brandon, Owen & I dropped Deets off at preschool, we stopped at Starbucks. I just wanted a cup of decaf coffee, nothing special. I also grabbed a blueberry muffin for the boys to share. I should have known that things were not going to go well when I heard a whine, "I don't want a muffin. I want pumpkin loaf." (Before I go on with my story, let me just say that when I want to add cream to my coffee, I have to put Owen down. When that happens, he make a bee line for the door and can actually open it and leave the building.) So I grab my coffee and hand the bag of food to Brandon. I want to add cream to the coffee, so I put Owen down and try to pin him with my legs so he doesn't take off. No success. Luckily he ignores the door. Not so lucky, he's grabbing the food bag and he and his brother are locked in a tug-o-war over the food yelling and crying and screaming at the top of their lungs. I just had to ignore them just so I could finish with the cream and put the top back on my coffee. I then pick up the baby, take the food away from Brandon, grab my coffee, apologize to those nearest me and walk out the door. By the time the kids are in the car, I've forgotten the coffee is on the roof of the car and very nearly drove away. I saved the coffee (thank goodness, because I didn't want to have to go in and get another one) and had to endure the fighting in the car. Did I mention, they didn't have any decaf brewed? I settled for regular coffee, because I didn't want the kids to go crazy waiting.

Dylan is extra cute sometimes

Diane was watching the boys for me the other day, and Brandon was trying to do a word puzzle. Brandon was trying to spell a "d" word, but couldn't find the letter "d".

Diane asked Brandon, "Where's the 'd'?" and D responded, "I right here."

Then Diane rephrased the question, "Brandon, where's the letter 'd'?" and D again responded, "I right here!"

Owen loves corn

Owen's new sleep routine

We have managed to get Owen to fall asleep in his own crib at night! Major victory! He's still taking a bottle before bed. Recently, instead of falling asleep when he's done eating, he's been just rolling off our bed to go play. So, my solution was to put him in his crib with his bottle at the boys' bedtime. He took the bottle, but I could tell he was not happy seeing me walk out of the room. As soon as he was done eating, he through his bottle on the floor and started crying. Well, his brothers were not about to put up with that noise, so they started playing with him. Owen quickly stopped crying and all we heard was running and laughing in the boys' room. We let them play because we wanted Owen to realize that sleeping with his brothers in their room could be fun. Worked like a charm! He's been doing the same thing every night now. The playing and craziness has subsided, because Owen is asleep within 10 minutes of getting his bottle. Now if he could only sleep through the night every night, we'd really be in business. We're guessing another month, and he'll be there.

A favorite game

The DVD version of Hullabaloo (a game by Cranium) has got to be the boys' favorite game. Even Owen gets into it. He can't really play the game, but he runs around standing on the colored shapes on the floor with a gigantic smile on his face. Today was extra cute. Every time Dylan won, Brandon clapped for him. Every time Brandon won, Dylan ran up to Brandon, hugged him, kissed him and then ran back to start a new game.

Brandon's first soccer game

Yesterday was Brandon's first soccer game. The game was at 10AM and it was already roasting hot! At the beginning, he tried his best to play the game. He even dribbled the ball a little bit before the ball was taken away by another player. It didn't take long for Brandon to be miserable in the heat. He was half-heartedly trying to get the ball and started daydreaming a bit. In the last quarter, Brandon played goalie. He came alive in that position. No one scored against him. He was fearless picking up the ball and throwing it back out onto the field. Brandon said it was his favorite part of the game. We were all so proud of him, and best of all, he was proud of himself.

Dylan's first day without Brandon

This morning Russ & I decided that Dylan should be dropped off at preschool alone, meaning that I wasn't going to bring Owen or Brandon along for the ride. As soon as Dylan and I drive away from the house, Deets tells me that Brandon is his best friend. My eyes welled up, and I hadn't even left my own street!!! Dylan wants to go over the speed bumps on the way to school. We call it the "bumpety bump" way. So we're going over the bumpety bumps and D says he wants to say all the bumpety bumps. I tell him that's fine. He usually has to take turns with Brandon. I think he realizes that something just isn't quite right with the morning. We get to school and D asks over and over and over where Brandon is. I keep telling him that Brandon is going to his new school, that Brandon stayed home, that Brandon is at home getting ready for school. I swear he kept asking the question thinking he was eventually going to hear the answer he was hoping for. Once he's walking up to the door he breaks down crying saying, "I need Brandon." He's crying in preschool and won't stop. I'm barely holding it together, and I just about lost it when a teacher gave me a hug. I just wanted to grab Deets in my arms and cry with him. Instead, I forced him to go through our regular morning routine. We put his lunchbox and backpack away. Then we got out a mat and picked a "job." Today it was stacking wooden beads on a stick. When it was time for me to leave, I told Deets to meet me at the goodbye window for hugs and kisses. We said our goodbye tear free, and Dylan didn't even wait around for me to get in the car. He was off and running back to the toys. Thank goodness!

It was an extra special treat to have the whole family come to pick him up at the end of the day. Dylan was excited to have Mommy and Daddy watch him ride one of the bikes. Owen was excited to play on the little slides. And Brandon had fun playing with all his old friends that he had to leave behind.

Brandon's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Russ and I took Brandon to school today for his first day of kindergarten, while my mom stayed home with the baby. When we got to school, we walked him over to the kindergarten playground to play until school started. He didn't really play with anyone in particular. He was just enjoying his new surroundings. We saw one of the girls from Brandon's soccer team there with her parents. We were relieved that Brandon would know at least one person in class. Turns out he played with Emma at recess today. That was good to hear, since Brandon tends to keep to himself in new situations. We walked him into the classroom when it was time for class, took some pictures, gave him hugs and kisses and a wave goodbye. He looked so comfortable with his surroundings and ready to start his day. I was so proud of him. The shocker? I didn't cry leaving him there. I was pretty confident he was going to have a good first day. Turns out he did. He was so excited to show us what he'd done that day. He did a lot of coloring and cutting and pasting. He also told us he went on the "baby potty" at school. When I asked him what that meant, he said they had small toilets just the right size for him. He was pretty happy about that.

Photos: Brandon's 1st Day of Kindergarten

I'm freakin' out over here!!!!!!!!!!!

Brandon's first day of kindergarten.
Dylan 's first day preschool without Brandon.

I think I'll cry more leaving Dylan at preschool all alone, than I will when I leave Brandon at kindergarten. Hell, who am I kidding??? I'm going to cry twice tomorrow.