New friends for Trey

Trey welcomed two new friends late last week - baby Landon and baby Nick. Mommy's friend Cynthia gave birth to baby Landon last week in north Houston. We haven't seen pictures yet, but we're sure he's just as cute as his big sister, Kailyn.

Baby Nicholas Casey Armstrong, son to Daddy's former coworker Sean and his wife Andrea, was born early on Friday, June 26. Trey and Daddy visited Nick in the hospital yesterday. Trey wasn't really sure what was going on with the whole baby thing, but he enjoyed meeting his new friend nonetheless.

Baby Nick:

After the visit to the hospital, we all had dinner with a group of Daddy's friends from Princeton, including 6-month-old baby Niko, whom Trey met earlier this year. Trey enjoyed smiling at Niko and giving him lots of kisses on the head!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Daddy, Papa John, Daddy Tom, and all the other daddies out there!

We had a great Father's Day. After a lazy morning (we skipped church because Trey didn't wake up until noon! Like father, like son, I suppose), Daddy read Trey his favorite book - Brown Bear - several times. Trey asks for this book to be read over and over and over again. He never gets tired of it! They read it at school, too, yet somehow the novelty has not worn off.

Then, after a late lunch at a local Italian joint, Daddy and Trey relaxed and splashed in Trey's new baby pool.

Finally, we capped it all off with Daddy grilling us a yummy dinner.

Trey really is lucky to have the best daddy in the whole world! Mommy and Trey couldn't ask for anything more in the wonderful daddy God gave to Trey. He is so sweet with our little boy, so patient and kind, and also so much fun. It's no wonder Trey loves him so much.

Body Parts

Trey has become really good lately at naming all of his body parts. He knows his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, head, hair, feet, and hands. In the past few weeks, Daddy taught Trey bellybutton, and now he just loves to show off his bellybutton when asked. Mommy has taught Trey chin and is working on cheeks. In addition to this, Trey knows his shoes, socks, pants, shorts, and shirt!

New Videos Added!

Daddy has added some new videos - some from Splash Day at school, one from fun times with counsin Evelyn in Charlotte, and an updated Change Your Diaper!

Swimming Fun

Trey spent yesterday afternoon with his friends Connor, John, and Jake. He had a great time! Here are some pictures of our afternoon, with a fun video at the end.

Daddies and Donuts

Daddy's favorite part of the school year is the Friday before Father's Day. That's when Trey's school has Daddies and Donuts in the morning. They put out a spread of yummy glazed donuts, fruit, and little powdered donuts for the kids (last year they had donut holes - even better!). Daddy isn't really one for sweets, but he loves him some donuts. Daddy is on a campaign to bring Daddies and Donuts to school every week!

Friday was a fun day for Trey at school. After donuts, Daddy hung around to spend some time with Trey in the morning, Trey enjoyed Splash Day with his class (every Friday all summer long), and then Mama C, Daddy Tom, and Mommy all visited right before nap time!

Trey is dong fine in his new class. Some of the kids in this class are as old as 25 months; at 16 months, Trey is pretty far behind them developmentally, which has been quite an adjustment for Mommy. When we walk into class in the mornings, several of the kids say, "hi Trey!" They all are talking much more than Trey, most know their colors and all animals, some know their letters, and a couple are even potty training! Trey still thinks school is for running around and having fun, not for learning, so he has some adjusting to do. But Mommy and Daddy are excited for the learning potential in this new class.

Tooth #15

After weeks of anticipation, tooth #15 is finally making its appearance! We know how much you all love reading about Trey's new teeth. It is just so exciting. But we appreciate that this blog creates a "record" of all of these milestones, however small, because as bad as Mommy is lately at updating the blog, she is even worse about updating the baby book!

Trey's Signs

I just realized I hadn't adequately devoted a blog post to Trey's signs. While he doesn't talk right now as much as some other kids his age, he has mastered the signs we have taught him. Granted, we've only taught him three signs, but he does them so well, we're thinking of adding more.

Trey's best sign is "milk," which he signs by squeezing his hands like he were milking a cow. Trey will walk up to the fridge, point, and sign "milk." He signs milk at many other points during the day, including inconvenient ones, like when we're riding in the car, or just before we're serving dinner (and once he drinks milk he has no desire to eat real food). So, even though he doesn't always get what he wants, it's nice for us to know what he does want.

Trey also signs "more" (like a clapping gesture, but with his hands closed), and "all done" (hands straight up about the head, the same sign as "touchdown," which could cause some confusion come football season, although I suppose the concepts are somewhat consistent). Sometimes he will sign "more" and then immediately sign "all done;" we think he might mean that he is "all done" with his current helping and wants "more." As Daddy says, he doesn't necessarily understand that the terms are mutually exclusive.

Back to School!

After a week and a half of playing hooky, Trey is back at school! He gave a big smile as soon as we pulled into the parking area for school.

At first, Trey was a little shy in his old classroom. We attribute part of this to the fact that he had been up late the night before and was probably a still a little tired from the trip. But he warmed up pretty quickly.

Trey is transitioning to the next class, Movement 2, this week! Hopefully all goes well with the transition.

Moving up!

Another graduation day for Trey is upon us... His school informs us that he will be moving to the Movement 2 class next week! Trey is moving up a little sooner than some of the children who are older than he is, but he is walking so well, and the teachers didn't want to separate him from his good friend Jake (they are the two Alpha males in the class).

Movement 2 isn't all that different than Trey's current class, Movement 1, but they spend more time outside (because there is no longer a formal morning nap time), and they also spend more time in lessons learning about colors, shapes, and letters.

Trey will likely spend a while in Movement 2, since most kids stay there until around their second birthday. We are sad to leave our friends and teachers in Movement 1, but we're excited to get to know a new class of teachers!

Virginian

Over the past week and a half, Trey has enjoyed an extended trip to Virginia. He has had the best time! Trey got to visit with lots of family and friends, and he even got a chance to swim with his little friends Martin McGrath and Matthew (and Kate) Feldmann. Trey loves Virginia, just as his parents do. I'm not sure he's going to recognize things when he gets home!

Once Trey's grandmother shares her pictures of Trey's adventures, we will post some here to share.