Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but it's been busy with Braeden. I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate with your family), and all the best for a great 2008 for all of us.
Braeden is 15 months old now. He started walking a month ago, now he's running everywhere. He loves to splash in puddles outside when it rains, to pick up the odd leaf lying on the ground where the trees haven't quite lost all of them yet, to go to the park, and his Gymboree classes. And he loves playing with his dog. They chase each other around the house and he giggles. Going on "trips" are his favorite thing (he loves the car), be it to the post office to stand in line mailing out cards, to the store, and especially to restaurants, where we've been ordering him his own meal from the kids' menu. He loves his sippy cups for water, and his straw cups for milk, although he wants to drink right from the cup more now and not use the straw.
Poor Braeden picked up a nasty chest cold just over a week ago - coughing, sneezing, and some chest congestion. We took him to his pediatrician last Friday to be sure all he had was a cold, and she assured us it's going around, and that's what it is. What a relief, since he's only ever had one other cold and it was the nasal congestion type. He only has a slight cough left now, and it never slowed him down at all, or affected his appetite or sleep.
Nothing affects his sleep - he sleeps at least 12 hours at night, still has 2 short naps during the day. I have to laugh some mornings when I go to get him up from his crib. We've left his "aquarium" attached to the side of the crib and if he awakens early he turns it on. If he wants my attention before I get upstairs to start his day, he cranks up the volume on it so I can hear it downstairs and at the back of the house.
Braeden loves helping with the laundry, taking his clean clothes out of the laundry basket and putting them in his drawers. Now if I could only get him to fold them first..hehe. He's emptied one of his drawers of all clothes, and now stashes his favorite books in that drawer, putting one inside, closing the drawer, grabbing another book and adding that one. He loves taking off his socks during naptime. If one's missing and I ask him where his sock is, he either goes over to the wayward one, or points to it if it's nearby.
He's eating pretty well on his own with his spoon, although he misses his mouth sometimes. He also loves brushing his own teeth, after we've given them their "real" brushing. We haven't taken him for his first dental visit yet, but will do that before long.
All our months of work on sign language (and some great tips from Oliver's mommy) are finally paying off, and Brae's doing more and more signing. His favorite ones are sleep and more, but he's doing probably 10 signs. He's saying more words each day now and is starting to string 2 words together, his newest ones being "take dat" as he hands me something. He loves cleaning up his play yard and books each evening, and keeping the carpets and floors free of tiny specks of anything, picking some minuscule thing up and racing over to hand it to me. Carpet fuzz, a crumb, anything that's out of place.
He's a happy little boy. Sometimes I miss that snuggly little baby of months ago, but I really love this new toddler stage. He's not big on snuggling anymore, but he loves to hug and give kisses. It's going to be a fun Christmas with my DH's family. I know Brae's going to totally love all the wrapping paper. A friend gave him a wooden puzzle as an early gift, and he loved it so much that the guy gave us a few more to put away for him for Christmas. And Braeden's so strong now it's kind of scary. He picks up a huge box of diapers all by himself and carries it around the room, dropping toys and books inside if it's been opened.
Anyway, I'm off to start our day. Have a wonderful Holiday Season, and I'll try to post more in 2008.
12 years ago
