The Scotts: Snow snow snow snow

We were stuck at home for about a week while the kids got over being sick from our trip to California and then a winter storm hit and we were stuck at home once more. For at least the first day of snow it wasn't so bad, Nathan got to work from home which was very nice for all involved. Except for me. It's not fun to play with Bradley and his action figures while Daddy is around, I can't say "green guy" I have to say "Dr. Doom." Silly me, not knowing my action figures.

Bradley helping Daddy with work

Bradley really likes the snow now and had a blast getting to go outside and play with Daddy for a little while.

Snow angel! Bradley did not see the point.

And when need be, we brought the snow indoors to Bradley

It eventually just turned into "see how much snow you can eat". Eating games are the best games.

And we watched a lot of shows in this period of being sick/stuck indoors. Bradley is still crazy about The Lion King but I can't show it to him anymore because he gets really nervous whenever anything jumps out at him on the screen (like Simba having a pouncing lesson and tackling the bird Zazu) so he has to be cuddled and reassured when one of those scenes is coming up. In theory I love the cuddles but it's tricky to do sometimes while Eleanor is around and I just feel bad that he's so nervous while watching a show. We're back to two episodes of tv shows every morning and both Bradley and I appreciate how nothing jumps out at you during Curious George.

Eleanor says "hey, look at me!!"

The development for both of these kids in the last few weeks has been fairly significant. Bradley is understanding so much now and is picking up words like crazy. We went downstairs the other day and he said "Oh no! Mess." when he saw his kitchen area which was indeed a mess. I guess I say that a lot while we're playing with those particular toys.

And Eleanor is army crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on anything she can grab onto. Baths don't last long for the little girl that must stand up at all costs.

It's kind of a miracle that Eleanor crawls as well as she does because Bradley gets excited when she starts moving around and either gets in her way, grabs her, or drapes himself over her when she tries to get going. She's one tough cookie.

Bradley has been really into spinning himself in circles lately, which is hilarious.

Anything active or athletic is right up this little boy's alley. I picked him up from the church nursery this past week and the ladies in the room told me how impressed they were that he was jumping off a 6 inch foam block. I'm always surprised when people comment on the jumping because he's been doing it for at least 6 months now. And I had to ban him from jumping off the ottoman when we made it our new coffee table and the ottoman is at least 18 inches high. Yes, I'm so proud of our active little boy!

Eleanor loves watching Bradley but sometimes I forget that she's a different child and I try to do the same things with her and she does not appreciate it. For instance, I have a wild version of Rock-a-Bye Baby that Bradley LOVES where I hold him and kind of toss him around while singing the song. I did it with Eleanor the other day and she cried at the part where I pretend to drop the child ... oops. I definitely did it with Bradley when he was her age and he cackled when I did that. Different child.

The other day we were at a friend's house and Bradley took a particularly hard fall off their couch onto the floor. We heard crying and it took us a second to realize it was Eleanor who was upset. She was standing at the coffee table right by Bradley and the loud noise must have frightened her. Bradley was fine, got up and kept on playing. Such a sweet girl, I'm just so used to Bradley that it takes me a little bit sometimes to realize that I need to treat them differently at times.

A couple minutes prior to Bradley's fall. This is how cell phones work, yes?

Like at mealtimes - Bradley loved food as an infant and so does Eleanor, but in a completely different way. Give this girl some bread and meat!

Bradley's enjoyment of meals has gone up lately. But not because of the food.

Hat?

Sharing sugary Cheerios with the baby, much to Eleanor's delight

Mealtime entertainment. It's obviously a classic knight and dragon trope. My child is into fine literature.

We may have a little stinker on our hands.

Bradley has started doing a lot of imaginative solo play, which is both adorable and very nice for Mommy being able to spend more time with Eleanor or get more done around the house. He grabs two little toys and has them interact, generally it seems that one is in danger of falling "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! BOOM" or they are having a fight and hitting each other repeatedly. He has branched out lately, this morning he was very interested in the cat food bowl and when I told him that wasn't for him, it was the kitties' food, he ran and grabbed a couple of his stuffed toy kitties and tried to feed them the food.

We continue to go to our Parents as Teachers playgroups which I generally use as a way to expose my children to more germs and give them the colds they now have (sarcastic yay) and to take adorable pictures of the two of them playing together.

We recently were in a Barnes and Noble store that had a little train table and were joined by a little boy who wanted to play with the trains too. I don't want to go into too much detail because it doesn't look good for team Scott, but things devolved to the point where Bradley was chasing the little boy around the train table trying to ram his trains into the other boy's trains, which was not appreciated. The little boy was considerably older than Bradley and I'm never really sure what to do when my child harasses older children. I had already made Bradley give trains back repeatedly and it was sort of a speed walking chase scenario ... oh well.

Eleanor liked the train table too.

There has been a lot of active play and a number of tired car rides lately.

Our little snuggles are so dear to us and I'm so glad we're entering into what seems to be a far easier stage for both of them. And we're crazy for snuggles with our little snuggle bums!