The Scotts: November 2015

Patrick isn't exactly crawling yet, but he's able to muscle his way around to get to anything his little heart desires.

Turns out he mostly wants forbidden things (shocker). We might as well get rid of all our baby toys because it seems they are garbage. Bradley's treasured Iowa State ball however ... if only that could belong to a baby Patrick! Eleanor and I were out running errands the other day and I messaged Nathan this picture:

And Nathan let me know that all was well at home, Bradley was eating his snack and a Patrick who couldn't quite believe his good fortune was chasing Bradley's Iowa State ball around the living room. He would grab it, it would slip out of his clutches a foot or two so he'd have to go get it, and repeat repeat repeat. Bradley howls in despair whenever he sees Patrick playing with his favorite ball. Only seven months old and already Patrick knows it just makes it more fun to play with a toy when it makes someone else cry.

Good thing Bradley loves Patrick SO MUCH.

My life has gotten a lot nicer now that Patrick is mobile. No longer is the baby yelling at me when I have to leave him alone on the floor for a few minutes while I get a meal ready or get the big kids ready to get out to the car. No, now he gets to check out all the things that were out of his reach just a week or so ago.

Cute photos of the kids sweetly playing by each other:

Bradley reading to Eleanor. These sweeties.

And here is Patrick doing a bit of adorable pre crawling.

Lots of Patrick videos this post. You're welcome!

I have this thing now where I'm kind of obsessed with this baby. Also, he shouldn't wear clothes. Ever. Why cover this up?

Winter is lame for my baby skin addiction. Luckily he's cute no matter what. And big enough for a shopping cart now!

Here's a perfect day video from the park a few days ago. Bradley and Eleanor were taking turns going down the slide and hugging Mommy and then Daddy. Best game ever!

Nathan loves going to the park with these sweeties as much as I do.

Bradley helping Eleanor balance.

I mean, everything isn't perfect around here all the time. Patrick still needs to work on sleeping through the night and Bradley needs to stop yelling at Eleanor when she gets to the bathroom first to wash her hands. But it's pretty livable and most of the time it's pretty enjoyable.

Taking care of lil bro

Dancing time!

Okay, except for the amazing birthday party we went to that happened to take place during nap time and both Bradley and Eleanor had the most amazing tantrums I've ever seen when it was time to leave. These kids usually only have minor meltdowns, this was the stuff of legend. No nap, lots of sugar, and lots of new toys and a thriving social scene will do that to you I guess. This picture was taken approximately two minutes after we left. Even Patrick is zonked out.

Bradley and Eleanor's relationship is so fun to watch. To say that Eleanor looks up to Bradley is a gross understatement.

Before ...

After

She blazes her own trails though. This is at the arboretum with friends where my tiny daughter did her usual trick of climbing things that kids twice her age showed trepidation doing.

With our friends checking out the model trains.

Eleanor is not without trials in her life. We have been going over to a friend's house who has a daughter a few years older than Eleanor and this little girl has the most amazing doll collection Eleanor and I have ever seen. It could get a girl down to come home and only have two dolls.

Eleanor also has a daddy who delights in teasing her. Nathan discovered that whenever you say "No way, Jose!" to Eleanor she immediately responds with "I not Jose, I Ellnor!" It's adorable and she rather enjoys correcting "silly Daddy" so Daddy has been saying "No way, Jose" at every opportunity lately.

If there was an imp award for the Scott house, Eleanor would win it hands down. Bradley was complaining of a tummy ache at dinner one night last week so we gave him and Eleanor some ginger ale. Soda doesn't happen often here and Eleanor has been desperate for a repeat of that wondrous event so she complained of a tummy ache of her own for the next couple nights.

We are looking forward to getting Bradley's school pictures soon! I caved and ordered them because they managed to get some really nice pictures of Bradley (no small accomplishment). Here Bradley is reenacting a school picture pose. I love this kid.

Layla loves him too. Saturday morning shows are prime kitty cuddle time.

Okay, time for another Patrick video. Mommy is hilarious.

He is such a little love. Far too many of his naps take place as we're going to or from somewhere, I don't know what I'm going to do when he outgrows his baby car seat in about a month.

But seriously, how awesome is this guy?

We needed to get a nice 6 month picture of Patrick so I used it as an excuse for another try at a good family picture. Pretty reasonable success!

Although my favorite pictures are these two of the three kids together.

And this may be the best Patrick solo picture:

But my favorite pictures of him are the ones of him with me or Nathan.

All in all, things turned out pretty well and I'm pleased although let me tell you how difficult it is to tell a two and three year old to do anything simultaneously. "Kiss your brother, one two three! ... Okay, Eleanor, that means you too. Bradley, you can stop kissing Patrick now. Stop. Release! Okay, let's try again, kiss on one two three! ... Bradley, you don't have to be sad, you weren't in trouble. Just kiss Patrick at the same time as Eleanor. Okay, let's try again ..."

For everything. That was everything. I also brought out these little gourds for the kids to hold as props for the photos that turned out to be ridiculously distracting. Our nice photographer was a champ though.