The Brothers Bennett: Hooray for three-day weekends

I've come to appreciate these long weekends more and more since having kids. One more day to catch up on sleep (ha! if only that were true), prevent the house from falling apart, fold the laundry that's been sitting in a heap all week, and of course spend time with our two little princes. We've actually been productive this Memorial Day weekend. In addition to rearranging our bedroom furniture and storing the kids' too-small clothes, we managed to do a day-trip yesterday to Monterey. It was fun visiting the aquarium and we even bought a family membership so that we can visit more often. I nursed Callum in the great big dark room full of massive tuna, sharks, and sunfish -- definitely a first. I also changed a huge poopy diaper there, in the dark, with hundreds of people all around -- another first.

Ronan gets funnier and funnier as time goes on. He's our amusing, earnest little warrior. Right now he's big on fighting the "bad guys" and "pretend enemies" with his magic sword. Why? "Because they're BAD." I don't know what it is about little boys, but the interest in good/bad, strong/weak, friend/foe, aggressor/defender is very intense. I suppose it's that li'l thing called testosterone! At the aquarium yesterday, we looked at a moray eel and Ronan got a little scared. He then stood up straight and declared, "Mommy, I'm going to fight him with my magic sword and make him go away!" His interest in guns is growing too. His preschool teachers assured us this is normal and as long as we teach him not to hurt people, his gun play shouldn't be a problem. He doesn't run around "shooting" people (yet), but he does say things like "Daddy, here's your gun!" and "I better fight the big bad wolf with my gun and shoot him dead!"

Thank goodness not all of his pretend play involves weaponry. He spent a good half hour today looking for "Plimper the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in the garage. Yes -- Plimper. Not Rudolph. After looking everywhere and enlisting our help in finding the lost animal, Ronan declared that Plimper was gone because he went up the chimney. Of course.

Callum Bunny (our new nickname for him) continues to delight us with his easy smiles and chubby tummy. He's just so squishy and yummy! The only time he challenges us is at... nighttime. He goes down like a lamb at 7 pm, but then he's awake and crying at 3 am... and 4:30 am.... and 5:30 am.... Christian and I were in a daze this whole morning because of all the interrupted sleep last night. Callum's daytime sleep isn't that great either, for that matter. He rarely naps for longer than a half hour in his bed, but in our arms, he'll sleep for over an hour! Kids. They are so unpredictable! At this age, Ronan was a terrific sleeper but a challenging nurser. Callum's the opposite. Go figure.

At Dylan's 4th birthday party at Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay. Ronan's into making silly faces for the camera now. :-)

Ronan striking a pose before feeding the goats

Daddy treated Ronan to a massive lollipop at Lemos Farm

Callum has found his thumb! He's not even four months old and he's become a regular thumbsucker. The question is will this become an intense habit like his older brother (and both his parents!)?

Daddy and sweet Callum

Callum's cute surprised look!

We broke out Ro's old bumbo seat and stuck Callum in it. He loves being able to see the world sitting up! His thighs are kind of a tight squeeze in the bumbo, though...

Look at his chubby belly! Oh, and he's been doing lots of tongue play lately - sticking it out, blowing raspberries, and licking anything that comes near his face.