The Nighttime Ritual

Here it is...the nighttime ritual caught on tape. I hope you have sound or you won't get the full effect since Austen is just giggling the whole time!

You can tell Austen loves his dog. He isn't scared of her either even though she probably looks huge to him. I guess he's used to her. Of course he's never known anything different. Adler has been around his whole life.

Come to think of it, I'm not even sure Adler remembers what it was like before Austen. Okay, maybe she does remember all the attention she used to get but just as we predicted, she still gets more than her fair share of attention by admiring strangers when we take her out for walks.

She's definitely a show stopper and a scene stealer and just a great dog in general. (Especially when she doesn't eat the pizza I left on the coffee table when I had to run upstairs to get Austen from his nap). I couldn't love her more and want her to live forever. I just can't imagine her not being around for Austen's whole life.

Austen Likes to Help with Adler

It must be that Montessori education that has Austen helping out a lot around the house. The Montessori philosophy encourages you to get your children involved in everyday household activities so that they feel like they are useful. I never thought a toddler needed to feel useful but you can tell how much Austen enjoys having a task to do and how proud of himself he is when he accomplishes it. I think it builds their confidence.

Well, for a few months now, we've been letting Austen help feed Adler. He'll pick up Adler's bowl and open the pantry door where Adler's food is kept. We'll help put the food in the bowl while he holds it and then knows to trudge back over to the refrigerator for Adler's green beans. Sometimes he'll give the bowl back to us to put down on the floor or sometimes he'll put it down himself. Now of course there's a downside to letting Austen help out - many times he's accidentally dumped the entire bowl of food on the floor. But instead of getting upset with him. I challenge him to pick up the morsels of dog food and put them back in the bowl. Okay, I admit, once when I was tired, I just let Adler eat her dinner off of the floor. But Austen's getting better at balancing and lately there have been no games of 1000-morsel pick up!

However, feeding Adler isn't the only thing that Austen likes to help with. When we take Adler for a walk, he insists that he hold Adler's bag of poop and throw it in the garbage. Check out the picture if you don't believe me. Tom and I laugh because passersby on the street probably think that we have our child hold the bag because we don't want to.

Well, I can't say that we miss this job, but don't worry I make sure we wash his hands thoroughly after.

Father's Day For Tom

Today was Tom's second official Father's Day. I say official because in my mind he's been a dad since we brought home Adler in 2005.

Anyway, I let him sleep in which was extra nice of me considering that Austen woke up before 5:00am this morning. I managed to keep Austen entertained for awhile eating some dry cereal, watching the Wiggles and playing with Adler by our big front window.

Austen had fun chasing Adler with his "walker" and then practiced cocking his head to the side when I asked him "Who's cute?" He then proceeded to show me who his dog was by pointing at Adler and giving her a kiss. He's also big into saying "bye bye" now too. All this fun before the storms rolled in at 8am and Austen, Adler and I sat by the front window watching the lighting and hearing the thunder.

Austen must like storms because the sound of the wind and the pitter patter of the rain put him to sleep in my lap by 8:15am. After depositing him back in his crib, Adler and I headed back to bed too to wait out the rain.

Austen and Adler's Bedtime Ritual

One of the differences, in my opinion, between boys and girls is how much they enjoy having books read to them. Being a book lover, I looked forward to reading Austen books and have since he was a baby. But now that he is more active and can walk, he doesn't want to just sit down and have you read him a bedtime story. He'd much rather you play with him or that he chase Adler around his room when he's supposed to be settling down to sleep.

You'd think that this new bedtime ritual would have him all riled up when it comes time to go to bed but it can have just the opposite effect. Usually it tires him out and he sleeps very soundly. Of course it tires Adler out too and she usually doesn't move very much til the next morning so Tom and I have the rest of the evening all to ourselves!

I would have posted some video of this ritual and still can if there's interest but my little guy is growing up so quick and wanted to share a recent shot that shows just how 'old' he's getting.