Who knew mustard leaves a stain?

I am learning new things every day.  As the title of this post implies, we have figured out that Robbie's favorite condiment can only be consumed when he's having a nakie dinner.  Which is usually every night, but somehow he snuck through dinner the other night with a shirt AND shorts on... and it must have been hot dog night (as they frequently are... gross, I know), because I found mustard on his shirt and shorts today in the wash.  And my dreft stain remover couldn't touch it. 

I am also learning that I never tire of this view of my babies...

(Naturally, this was taken at the Arboretum over the weekend during yet another day that Rob and I just had to get Robbie out of the house to burn some energy.)

I continue to learn about Robbie's growing love of books.  He begs us to read to him in the morning, at night, and all throughout the day anytime he sees one of his books.  Which is a lot, since we have piles of books in every room.  Thank you, Sandra Boynton, for being so clever.  

Here is Robbie's favorite reading chair...

I have learned that with boys, you have to be prepared for a LOT of bonks.  And you cannot be a gasper, which I am.  However, I am learning to say "good fall!" when Robbie bites it (idea, courtesy of Tori Spelling. See?! Her book is not devoid of useful information.).  Which of course is multiple times a day, since he's learning to walk.  After an especially exhausting day, Robbie was unable to crawl (yes, I said crawl) in a straight line, and cracked his noggin on the corner of the banister.  See the red knot on his forehead?  Nothing makes you feel better than a milk bottle and a good snuggle with Grandpa. 

(*Disclaimer: before you judge me and my almost 16-month-old for still taking a bottle... I'm giving myself a little breathing room before I work on weaning him completely off the bottle!  I have to pace myself...)

I am learning that Robbie is processing the arrival of his sister and the attention he now must share with her in his own unique ways.  Yesterday this included climbing into her little lamb seat, as well as testing out her paci.  Neither were fun for very long, and it took little coaxing to get him to abandon both the seat and her paci. 

We have quickly learned that Robbie MUST be present for Ellie's diaper changes.  He always rushes over to watch, and is very good about not interfering but quietly observes what is going on.  This picture was taken just after Grandma changed Ellie... I love the tippy-toes.

We are also learning how to creatively keep Robbie occupied and entertained during the day.  Sometimes getting out and actually doing fun and/or productive things is just out of the question.

So we let him dig through Grandma's purse and play with her toothbrush...

we read more books...

we tell him to watch for the garbage trucks on trash day, and for Daddy's car around the time Rob comes home from work...

we spin ourselves sick in the front yard...

we practice our walking...

we get out the bubble-machine...

and usually we pace the sidewalk in front of our house with Robbie in either his ride-on-push-car or wagon.  This is Robbie asking to go for a wagon ride.  Poor Grandma... you know she's exhausted!  But you'd never be able to tell.

Ellie amazes us by her ability to sleep through all of the commotion that is our life right now.  I'm so thankful for this trait - I was deathly afraid that our little girl would be the kind of sleeper that Robbie is... he is the lightest sleeper known to man.  Even with a sound machine.  

And that is pretty much what we've been up to lately.  I can't believe any of you are still reading this blog... or this post... talk about navel-gazing!  I'll try to work on being more exciting... any topic requests?!?!