Swim 'Fenn'

We recently signed Fenn up for his very first swimming lesson. We're excited about this and can't wait to see how Fenn does in the class because he has loved the water since he was born. We're hoping we have a natural swimmer on our hands. The class is taught by Mr. Ed of Adventure Swim School here in Knoxville. Mr. Ed has a pretty extensive resume and is well-known for his teaching methods. Fenn's class begins on Saturday, April 25th and meets each Saturday for 5 weeks. Dan will be the one getting in the pool with Fenn, while mommy photographs and videos everything from the side of the pool. Hopefully, the birth of Piperbean #2 won't interfere with the classes. We don't think it will because it is not likely my OB doctor will schedule my induction for a weekend. So the only way it could interfere would be if I went into labor on my own over a weekend. Anyway, after the baby is born, this will be a good opportunity for Dan to do something special away from the house with Fenn. And really there will only be 1 or 2 more classes remaining after the bean's arrival. This is the Parent/Tot I class and then we'll sign him up for the Parent/Tot II class this summer. We want to get in as many lessons this year as possible.

On the topic of Piperbean #2... Check out the baby countdown in the right-hand column over there. Can you believe we only have less than 90 days to go?!?! {As of the day of this post, we have 12 weeks to go!} We still have so much to do to get ready for our new bean's arrival. We're getting closer on a name for him. Pretty soon, I'll probably post a "Baby Name Poll" so everyone can vote for their favorite. We're not necessarily going to pick the name with the most votes. But it will be interesting to see what everyone thinks.

Sleeping In

On Sunday morning, we experienced something that NEVER, EVER happens ~ both Dan AND Fenn slept in late. Dan actually slept until 6:45 a.m. (when he normally wakes anywhere from 5:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.) And if ever he does feel like he could have slept longer (or would have slept longer if not for his alarm clock or our other alarm clock ~ Fenn), it is during the week when he has to get up to go to work. And Fenn slept until 7:15 a.m. Same as daddy... he's normally an early riser and wakes up around 6:00 a.m. every morning. I actually heard him moving around and talking at 6:00, but stayed in bed since he wasn't fussing. Eventually, he drifted back off to sleep. Yay!!! And I slept until around 8:00 a.m.! We skipped church because of our late start and had a nice breakfast. After lunch, Fenn had a bath. {That's when these photos were taken.} Then we went for a nice long walk through the park and played on the slides. It was a nice Sunday.

We're hoping Fenn will start sleeping a little later now. We really think it's going to happen soon because he's showing signs of being ready to cut his daily naps down from 2 naps to 1 long, mid-day nap (which we hope means he'll be really tired at night and will need more sleep). He also seems really tired and sleepy only an hour or two after waking up in the mornings ~ another sign that he needs to sleep later each day. Right now, he goes down for a morning nap between 9:30 and 10:00 and goes down for an afternoon nap around 3:00. But the afternoon naps seem to be getting shorter, and we're also noticing it is harder to get him to go down for that nap ~ sometimes not getting him down until almost 4:00. The one nap per day routine will be nice in a lot of ways because we'll have a longer stretch in the afternoons where we can go somewhere. But when Bean #2 arrives, I think we'll pretty much be stranded all day at home with sleeping kids. The new bean will be napping in the mornings and afternoons, and Fenn will be napping mid-day.
Here are a few more new things about Fenn...

:: He knows the signs for 'water' and 'milk'. For water, you tap three fingers on your chin. Fenn's version is to tap his whole hand on his mouth. Pretty close! For milk, you open and close your hand kind of like you're milking a cow. He pretty much does that one correctly.
:: I'm sure I have mentioned before how much he loves cheese. Well, that's one of his new words, except it comes out more like "djeez".
:: He also says 'cookie', which comes out as "kaa kaa".
:: On Sunday morning, we noticed that both his upper AND lower left canine teeth have broken through. So that just leaves the right canines and the second molars.
:: On Saturday, I was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa and Dan was standing beside the sofa, and we were talking while Fenn was playing in the family room. Next thing we knew, Fenn was up on the sofa. He had climbed up there completely on his own.
:: As you can see by these photos, Fenn also loves bubbles. That's another one of his words; he says "buh buh".

Hugs and Kisses to our little Ladies Man

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

OK, so I'm a couple of days late getting this out here (it is actually Feb. 16th that I'm posting this). But I wanted to make sure to get some Valentine's Day photos posted. I found this cute t-shirt for Fenn at Gymboree... very fitting since he's kind of known as the resident ladies man at school. They had a party at school on Friday, and Fenn even got to go next door to the Toddler 1 room to see Annabelle. I'm told they gave each other a big hug and kiss. Annabelle was moved up to the Toddler 1 room a few weeks ago, so the happy couple has been separated. Ella Kate and Mary Frances are about to move up to the Toddler 1 room, too, so the only girl in Fenn's class will be Ariyanna. Fenn will probably move up to the Toddler 1 room in the next 2 or 3 months, once they have room. But for the time being, he'll be hanging out with mostly boys in his class.

During this photo session on Friday afternoon after picking Fenn up from school, this is what I caught Fenn doing...

More Cute Stuff About Fenn...

I've been trying to find the time to do this post for a couple of weeks now. I actually started it then, but haven't had time to download photos and figure out which ones to use. I'm backdating this one a little so I can keep my posts in chronological order. Anyway, this is another one of those random posts with lots of little tidbits about what Fenn is doing these days.
We went to visit Grami and Poppy over the weekend and had beautiful weather, and some of these photos are from the trip. Grami and Poppy live in north Georgia near Helen in a woodsy, gated community with hiking trails, a lake, and horses. Fenn enjoyed playing outside near the lake, walking over the bridge, going to a nearby playground, meeting some of the horses,... oh, and meeting the barn's resident cat. At the playground, Dan took Fenn down the enclosed spiral slide... and Fenn came out at the bottom with a huge smile on his face. Unfortunately, we were out mid-day, so the harshness of the sun affected my photos. {It's really hard to get good photos in that kind of light.} I kind of wish we had waited to go out later in the day, after Fenn's nap, when the sun was not so harsh.

So.... what is Fenn doing these days?

:: He loves sitting and playing in his little chair. He even stands up in it and jumps up and down while holding onto the back. I predict our first trip to the ER in the not so distant future. {If you look closely at the photo below, you can see his crooked tooth (the one he broke a few months ago) and some of his molars.}

:: I have commented several times about how much he likes books. Now he'll actually pick out a book, bring it to you, turn around, back up, and sit down in your lap. Sometimes, he doesn't quite get close enough and he'll sit down too early.
:: He doesn't actually say the word 'dog' yet. The way he says 'dog' is to stick out his tongue and pant like a dog. {According to a little baby's book of sign language I have, that's actually the sign for 'dog'.... at least the one for babies to use.}
:: He takes Petey's football to him and tries to give it to him. Or, he'll bring it to me so I can throw it down the hall and make Petey go get it.
:: Last Sunday morning when I was sleeping in, Dan said that twice Fenn went and stood outside our bedroom door saying "Ma Ma Ma Ma". Dan finally brought him in and let him wake me up. That's the best way to wake up ever!
:: A couple of times when I have asked him if he's ready to eat breakfast or dinner, he has walked over to his high chair and waited for me to put him in it.

:: He now says 'Uh Oh' when he drops something.... but he says it as "Uh Uh" or "Uh Oo".
:: He has mastered getting on and off the Mickey Mouse truck he got from his Uncle T and Aunt A. We even caught him standing up on the seat with the proudest look on his face. I'll repeat... ER, we'll be visiting you soon!
:: We've had a step ladder in his new bedroom for a while now because Dan was using it to paint the room. If you don't keep an eye on him, he tries to climb it.
:: He has started taking the throw pillows off the sofa and putting them on the floor and then diving onto them.
:: The other day, he disappeared into his room and his daddy followed him a few seconds later. Fenn was sitting on the floor trying to put on his shoes. And another day, I followed him into our room and he was trying to put his feet in his daddy's shoes.