I've been meaning to put up a post chronicling some of B's latest achievements, but alas, it's taken the back burner. In great efforts I tried to bring him outside this afternoon for a semi-photoshoot, but let's face it. Bringing a 1 year boy outside means LOTS of movement and exploration... not quite the ideal situation for capturing fantastic smiling pictures. But hey, at least I tried right.
Seriously mom, you have no idea how much you are inconveniencing my plans.
Plans like breaking into the backyard with Toby...
Or standing innocently before I grab something to eat that I shouldn't...
Or running as fast as I can to the street.
Brayden really is entering into such a fun time right now, despite some of the hardships that come along with this toddler phase. Here are some of the things he's up to lately:
- He is officially walking. He still crawls, but he's about down to only 10% crawling. And outside he is 100% walking because he hates the feel of the grass on his knees. I really find that this has helped a LITTLE of his frurations with independence. He's really getting good, and can go from one part of the house to the other (that's not saying much considering our house is pretty small) with only about one fall.
- His vocabulary is growing at a rapid pace. He now says mama, dada, dis (for this), dat (for that), doal (for goal), day (for yay), and just today he was trying to say touchdown (sounds more like "dow", but I know that's what he's trying to say). He also says "doe" (meaning NO!). He says it to us as he points to something he's not supposed to do (like play in the dog water), and he also scolds Toby (just this evening he told Toby "Doe" and pounded his fists when Toby started barking. YIKES. He picks up fast!
- He is learning that animals have unique sounds. Unfortunately, he cannot pronunciate each sound, so most sound like "ah ah ah" (like a monkey sound). If he sees ANY animal, this is what he does. He also knows that cows say moo, and will say "mmmmm" if he sees a cow. It's so cute, but I worry that he won't differentiate the sounds later on, so we're working on making sure that WE say what the animal says. He LOVES animals though, and has completely worn out his animal word book I currently have. So I had to buy a new animal book set. In case you're wondering, this is the set I bought him.He loves it, and even tries to eat the fur on the furry animals-- eeek!
- He now points to the tv if I say "show." That's what I call his DVD's we have. I really only let him watch Praise Baby or Veggie Tales, although sometimes if he's fussy in the early morning I'll turn on Sid the Science Kid while I make his breakfast.
- Brayden LOVES the outdoors. He'll crawl up to our sliding glass door and point to the door knob saying "dis" and banging on the door. It's a sad day when it's raining and we can't go outside.
- He knows how to throw all out fits. I'm not talking about just fussing, I'm talking about throwing his body on the floor, kicking his legs, arching his back and SCREAMING at the top of his lungs. I usually just ignore him, but if goes on for more than 5 minutes then he gets to cry it out in the crib.
- He's starting to want to hold on to the spoon when we're feeding him. The problem is that he mostly wants to shake the spoon, so food will fling everywhere.
- Just today he signed "eat" to me. I've really been trying to be more consistent with working on signing with him, and that was his first that he's done back. He does all done sometimes, but it doesn't really look like what we've shown him to do. I'm hoping please, thank you, more and drink will come next, as those are some of the ones that he tends to get fussy with!
(and yes, to answer your questions, he has blonde hair and blue eyes. The blonde hair is from my Dad's side of the family, and the blue eyes are straight from his Daddy. His eyes are not BRIGHT blue, but rather a greyish blue, so they tend to change colors depending on what he wears.)
I know that sometimes I use my blog as a platform to vent my frustrations about parenting, but I really do enjoy being with Brayden every day. Watching him learn and grow is so amazing and I wouldn't trade my job for anything in the world (and I type that as I sit in Barnes and Nobles on a night out of the house due to an extremely fussy afternoon). Brayden, I love you so much and continue to pray that you will become a man after God's own heart. Thanks so much for adding spice to our lives... mommy and daddy love you more than you'll ever know!
-Momma
