It's Christmas in June!

So...not quite six months late, here's to Christmas 2014!  I actually think I'm doing better than I did last year, so...progress!

We did advent gifts this year.  I tried explaining the Christmas Story to Liam, but I am apparently terrible at it, so Liam's understanding was minimal.  But it did provide an opportunity for him to learn about taking turns and being generous, since the boys alternated days receiving gifts.  And we'll work on the story again this year.

Liam watched as Little Brother tried opening his gift.  He was very patient.

But he was only too happy to help when we said it was okay!  For the record, it was a pair of Christmas-themed pjs.

After the gifts were open, they played together.  Here, Big Brother demonstrates how to play with the car.

And in excellent, big brother style, he handed the car back to Ewan so he could have a turn.  Way to go, Big Brother!

What Was Ewan Doin' in November?

As the older brother, Liam still gets a lot of attention because he does more.  So here's a look at what Ewan was doin' while Big Brother walked the catwalk and counted sheep.

He took his first shopping cart for a spin.  And of course it was at Target--just like Big Brother.

He worked on waving hello.

He practiced his wise man look.  (At nine months, he was in the infant seat far longer than Liam was.  We got really good use out of it).

But ultimately, it was time to switch to a convertible seat.  Since Liam is still in his Britax (even now, in June), we opted to get Ewan a Clek Foonf.  I'll admit that I fell for the aesthetics, but it's actually one of the top-rated seats for safety as well.  Yay for form and function!

He worked on his utensil skills.  Not bad...at least he's got the right end in his mouth!

And he learned the joys of the printed word.  This particular one was Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton.  We love our Boynton!

Big Boy Bed

Also in November, Liam graduated from his toddler bed into a twin.  He's not actually that tall, but he was getting way too big for the toddler bed, so we retired it and took the big step into Big Boy territory.

First, he helped take the toddler bed out of the bedroom.

Then, he tested his new bed's firmness.

And of course, he had to see if he could still roll from his bed to ours.  No problem!

On the Catwalk, Yeah!

In November, Liam was asked if he wanted to take part in the annual Nordstrom Kids' Fashion Show.  It's really a money-maker for the store, but we got some good clothes for a discount and Liam got a chance to do something fun.

He was excited at first, but then as things began to seem more real, he got a little nervous.

He took Penguin with him on runway for moral support.  Unfortunately, I don't have digital photos of him on the actual runway -- but he did pretty well!  He didn't want to walk at first, but once he got out there, he wanted to stay!  It was very cute.

But in the end, I think he's happier behind the camera.  (Thanks Grammy, Papa, and Grandma Sharon for coming out to watch!)

And thanks, Grammy, for turning the abominable snowman shirt into a short-sleeved shirt so we can get more use out of it!