Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Happy 11-Month Birthday!!

Yikes, 11 months old today. It doesn't seem possible that in one more short month little Braeden (who's not little anymore) will be celebrating his 1st birthday. What happened to our little baby? I'm so glad we've got a ton of pictures and video of those early days to look back on.

We went to our gym class this morning, but poor Brae's cutting 2 teeth at the same time, so he didn't have the best time. Still, he participated with the other children there, and did some of the activities. We were going through tunnels today - lots of fun. He was more clingy though than he has been, but that's ok. He'll have good days and bad like we all do.

So Happy 11-Month Birthday little Braeden. The next time I wish you Happy Birthday, you'll officially be a toddler - ack!! LOL!!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Braeden's Busy Week

Braeden and I headed off for his 2nd Gymboree class earlier this week. It was his last level 2 class. Next week he moves on to where he should be, level 3 - 10-16 months. Now that he feels totally comfortable at the gym, he's more than ready to move on.

He's had a few adventures and minor mishaps this week. We've got a gigantic play yard in our living room (32 sq. ft.). Close to it is an antique "drum" table (about 36 inches round) that's been in my family for over 200 years.

One day this week Brae decided to climb onto a stool we've had in his play yard for him to use to pull himself up. It's not there now. I was playing in there with him when he put his knee on the stool, then pulled his other leg up, so he was kneeling on the stool. Grabbing the top of the play yard, it was nothing for him to pull himself to a standing position so he could bang on the table. I keep the camera in my pocket now, so was able to get pictures of him in action, and got a video of him going from kneeling to standing. Major danger lurks there though. Standing on the stool, the top of the play yard is below his waist, so if he leaned forward, over he'd go. Like I said, the stool isn't in there now.

Apparently my table was even closer than I thought. For his next trick, the next day Brae opened one of the drawers (only 2 open, the rest are false drawers), but I guess he couldn't see everything in there he wanted to see, so he pulled the drawer right out and it landed in his play yard. Thank God it didn't hit him, but it scared both of us half to death. I was in the play area with him, lying down with my eyes closed, obviously drifting off. I could hear him playing with the drawer handles like he always does, but never thought he could pull the drawer out. Needless to say the play yard is now further away from the drum table so he can't even reach the handles.

Yesterday he was playing in his play yard (no he's not in there as much as it sounds - he just gets into more trouble when he's in there now) while I uploaded some pictures to the computer, and he was totally enjoying his new game of picking up toys one by one and dropping them over the top and onto the carpet and/or ceramic tile. He's already broken a few electronic toys by throwing them on the tiles. He started to cry - he'd thrown one of his balls over the top, then decided he wanted it back, so stuck his arm through one of the slats to retrieve his ball - yep, he got his arm stuck above the elbow. It only took a second to free him, but by then he wanted some "hold me" time, and he got plenty.

After he'd settled down, I put him back in the "yard" so I could finish uploading the pictures. More crying. We got Brae a "phlat ball" which you push down in the middle so it goes totally flat, and then springs open into a ball. He loves playing with it, and if a finger or two gets caught when the ball "pops" he laughs and thinks it's funny. I've tried it myself to be sure, and it doesn't hurt at all. Not so when somehow he stuck his whole hand inside. He was waving the ball around, trying to get his hand out, but he needed mommy to push down on the ball a bit so his hand slid out.

No worse for wear, at that point I let him roam around while I finished up the pictures. Maybe Braeden doesn't want his pictures on the computer..hehe. He headed right for the stairs, and of course I hadn't closed the baby gate since he'd been in his play yard. Forget the pictures - I'll finish them later..hehe. I followed him as he climbed upstairs and roamed around up there awhile, then carried him back down.

Otherwise it's been a quiet week - yeah, right..hehe. He continues saying "wassat?" to everything he sees, inside the house, while we're out for our walks, at the store particularly where he wants to know the name of everything on each shelf. Of course right now he doesn't know what they mean, but out goes the hand towards an object he's interested in, then "wassat?" follows. After I tell him, he moves to the next object. It's funny. He's saying his name even more clearly now. I love how he says "Brae" - he rolls the "BR". He's also calling his dog by name now. I was on the phone last week when he called for his dog, and the person on the phone with me could hear him say the dog's name very clearly.

I hope it's a quieter weekend. Hope you all have a good one.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Braeden Rules the Gym

Braeden had his first "real" Gymboree class yesterday, level 2 (6-10 months). He ruled that place, feeling totally comfortable and at home. The instructor said only one more class and then Brae moves up to level 3. He's way beyond the activities from yesterday, but at least he had a chance to become more familiar with the gym and the equipment there - he was crawling everywhere, racing over to the other babies so he could touch their faces. They didn't seem to mind, although you could tell they were probably wondering what this little person was doing racing towards them.

The instructor rings bells when a new activity is to begin - unless Braeden has made off with the bells, racing to the other side of the gym with them. She had to chase after him 3 times, to retrieve the bells, the faster she chased him, the faster he crawled, trying to make his great escape. She eventually had to hide them in her pocket.

The other babies were only 7 or 8 months old, so Braeden was far more advanced. He rocked...hehe. So we'll go back next week, and after that will be in the level 3 class. That class is earlier in the day, which works better for us with Brae's lunch and nap. It's a fun place though. Even I had a good time there.