Fall is here!

I apologize for not being a very good blogger lately. Mommy and Daddy have not given me much computer time. Since I last wrote at the end of August, I have been learning and doing a lot at Miss Kate's. She's the wonderful lady who takes care of me while Mommy and Daddy are at work. I am the youngest at her day care; so, the other kids consider me the "baby". I love the attention. There is another boy who is a year older than me, a girl and boy who are 3, and two girls who are 4 and go to preschool in the morning. We always have playtime, circle time, outdoor play and/or a walk, nutritious lunch and snacks, nap time, etc. Miss Kate lives in the woods; so we can always find some cool toads, bugs, puddles, or sticks.

I am learning more and more words from hearing the other kids talk. Just this week I started saying the other kids names when my Mommy asks me to say their names (but not all the time). I am good at saying the sounds that animals make like, baa, moo, bauk-bauk, peep-peep, meow, quack-quack, uuuhhh (and thump my chest like a gorilla), and my parents' favorite, hee-haw-hee-haw (donkey). I recently learned to say apple, or "bapple", after many times playing under the apple trees in Miss Kate's yard and going apple picking twice this fall already.

Speaking of food, some other new words I say include broccoli, tunnel, and pasta. I now really like to dip my food when we have ketchup or some other sauce, or sometimes I use just my finger without the food. I am tall enough and understand enough to try to get water out of the water dispenser on the front of the refrigerator by myself. Usually I end up with water on me; so Mommy and Daddy still have to help (and will for a while).

I love to climb on things and try to buckle my different straps like car seat, stroller, and high chair. I can actually get the buckle clipped sometimes. Also at the top of my list these days is trying or pretending to put real keys in key holes and turning on and off the lights at the switch plates. I am tall enough now to reach, believe it or not, on my tip toes.

We have a few fun weekends coming up including a trip to Bromley in Vermont next weekend and a wedding in Maine Columbus weekend. Nana will be coming up for a few days for the wedding, too!! Yippee. The following weekend Daddy will be in a golf tournament, and then we will go to Cousin Christine's baby shower the next weekend. Halloween will be after that. No wonder I need 2-3 hour naps on the weekends....

Happy fall!

Petting the baby goats at Southwick's Zoo in Massachusetts.

Family Trip to Hickory, NC!

I'm a little late in telling you about my summer vacation to GranJan and Pops, but I still hope to give you the flavor of our trip.
Day 1 - We arrived by plane pretty smoothly. I was a good boy and made it a decent flight for Mommy, Daddy, and all the other passengers. I wore my "Grand (old) parents" t-shirt, and GranJan and Pops recognized themselves on it. They laughed.
Note the pictures on my shirt are from when Mommy met GranJan and Pops at the airport for the very first time.

Day 2 - Daddy played golf on a really nice golf course while the rest of us went down to Lake Hickory for a boat ride. Well, I didn't get to go, but I found plenty to do on the shore, especially once Alyi found some rubber worms to play with. We relaxed in the afternoon and had a few drinks.

Day 3 - We went for a walk around the neighborhood and did some splashing in the sprinkler and little pool GranJan and Pops borrowed. We went in a big pool that afternoon at a friend's house. No brought their camera, so no pics for that.
Day 4 - While Daddy and Uncle Chet played golf and Pops went to work, the ladies and I went over to friends of GranJan and Pops to see their two fluffy and cute dogs. I really enjoyed throwing the ball and watching them run after it. In the afternoon some of us went over the the town pool to cool off. It was an unusual town pool because this one had a really long windy slide that I went down with Daddy, and Alyi went, too.
Day 5 - We has another easy morning and then went off to the science museum in town after my nap. Alyi and Almy made their own news broadcast. I missed that part. We all liked sticking our hands in the turtle and stingray tanks.


Day 6 - The whole gang enjoyed a peaceful hike in the woods. It was so calming that I fell asleep near the end.Day 7 - I went to another park with GranJan, Mommy, and Daddy while the rest took a little tour of Hickory led by Pops. We met up for lunch before heading home and relaxing.
Day 8 - This was our travel day back to CT. All went smoothly, and I enjoyed my plane rides once again. I loved seeing all the airplanes at the airport.

Other notes about our trip.
I had fun playing with and getting to know my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins better.

We seemed to always have good meals. Almy had to remind me to only eat ONE at a time. I think I heard that alot...Alyi and Almy also wanted to try on my stylin' bibs.We danced alot, and the Delaware Knotts helped me learn my rhythm both dancing and playing instruments.
Thanks, GranJan, for changing my diaper so many times.
Overall, it was a very memorable, relaxing, and special time with my family. Can't wait to do it again!

Tractors, Teeth, and Tons of Fun

OK, so it's not a tractor, but I have come to realize that Daddy is a ton of fun to play with!! He showed me how to ride my bike and do wheelies!! He also is great at chasing me around and around the living room couch and hiding sometimes. Also, his fondness of mowing the lawn has rubbed off as I recently learned the word lawn mower and loved having a chance to actually use one at a friend's house. Getting back to the tractor, I learned that word last week and love saying it and seeing one. I 'm not sure if Mommy got a truck&tractor book out of the library before or after I started saying the word, but either way, I really like reading that one.
I finally got a molar last weekend with another one coming very shortly. It has not bothered my eating, but enhanced my ability to chew large quantities of food in my mouth at once. I seem to enjoy playing with my food more these days ...Our summer has been wonderful so far. I get to play outside a lot, go swimming, help Mommy water the flowers, go in my swing, take rides in the stroller, climb around at playgrounds, play with bubbles, and play with many friends.

My buddy, Caden, and his Mommy came for a visit this week, and I showed him how to ride my bike. He liked it as well as my new toy trains that my neighbor gave me. He also liked digging in the dirt and playing with the water out on my back deck like I do.


I am really excited about my Uncle Drew, Erin, and Nana coming to our house next week. I have not seen my uncle in over a year, and Nana will be moving soon. I will be sure to have tons of fun with them all. My Mommy's friend, Lauren, and her two twin daughters are coming to visit on Tuesday on their way to Boston. I'm sure they will be fun to play with as they are a year older than me and know how to do and play a lot.

Keep cool!

Happy 4th of July!

Not too much new to report this time, but I wanted to post of picture of my cousin Bridget and I. I forgot to include her and her first birthday party in early June. I think she had fun with her family, opening presents, and eating cake. She had a very cute duck cake that her Aunt Sarah made her. I know I liked playing with her and wish I could see her more.









This holiday weekend we do not have much planned other than maybe a hike and Daddy (and Mommy helping when she's not watching me) cleaning and painting the garage floor. It is one of the first steps in a long process of eventually refinishing part of the basement.

God bless America,
Mr. B

Busy Busy June Bug

June has been a very busy month with growing, learning, celebrating, and visiting! I've had some super summer fun. I do not think my blog entry will be as long as the latest one of my Uncle Drew's and Erin's, but then again, I'm not traveling the world...yet.

Now that I am totally mobile and getting more and more agile, I love to climb into little contained spaces like laundry baskets, boxes, and even fallen over night stands.


One of the best parts of June is celebrating Daddy's birthday and Father's Day. This year, Daddy had both of them on the same day. How neat. I got him a calendar that had pictures of him and me from last year on each month. Daddy brought it to put up in his office at work. All the ladies at his work love looking at the calendar.







The next terrific celebration was a long weekend in Delaware with my cousins, aunt and uncle, and grandparents. We came down to celebrate Great Great Aunt Betty's 95th birthday!!! Wow, she is 95 years young. We all dressed in beach clothes because Aunt Betty has always been fond of the beach. We all really enjoyed her party as much as she did. Back at Uncle Chet's, I LOVED playing tea party in the pool with my cousins. They taught me how to slide and stir the tea. It was so much fun just to be around everyone at Uncle Chet's and Aunt Yaritza's and show them all I can do with signing, talking, playing, and otherwise being a little boy. Thank you, Uncle Chet and Tia Yaritza, for the tasty meals, and Pops, for the delicious pancakes! I can't wait for August when we are all together again!


This past week we were busy traveling down to the Norwalk area to visit Daddy while he worked down there for a few days. Mommy and I went to see my birthday buddy, Caden, and his Mommy during the day, and then Daddy came over for dinner. Caden and I liked playing together, especially being goofy and running around together.


The next day, Mommy and I went to visit our cousins Carin and Emmaline in Darien. We played in Emmaline's pool and got to see Aunt Priscilla, too. In the picture below, I am not really trying to drink the water, but rather blow the water out through the bottom holes in the cup. I just discovered that trick that day.








On Friday, Mommy and I were back on the road down to Old Lyme, CT, to visit Mommy's college friend, Tara, and her two sons. Mommy doesn't have any pictures to share right now. I played with trains, cars, balls, and golf clubs with Wyatt while Mommy talked with Tara and held Baby Oliver. I liked seeing the baby.

Back home for the weekend, I have been enjoying bubble play, especially taking the wand out, watching the soap drip, and putting the wand back in the jar. I'm also now into mixing in a bowl (My cousins taught me this in Delaware, but I also think I got this gene from Daddy, Uncle Chet, and Pops. The shirtless summer cooking may have come from my Uncle Jim.).

July is sure to be filled with more excitement and learning. I can't wait to see Uncle Drew and Erin after many months of travel. I also hope and pray that Nana and Poppy get to move to Virginia very soon.

Live, love, and laugh,
Braeden

Mystic Aquarium

Watching the beluga whales first

My first trip to an aquarium was a splash! I liked watching the sea lions best and would have liked to climb into the tank with them. They made some loud funny noises and rolled around in the water a lot. I got to put my hands in the sea ray tank, but they did not have any stingers; so I was safe. The best activity was toddling around inside the darkened aquarium in between all the big and little people and windows with fish behind them. It was so exciting!!! We saw beluga whales and little African penguins, too. The penguins were really cute, and Mommy let me buy a stuffed penguin that I kept grabbing off the shelf. It was a terrific and tiring day; so, I am going to bed early tonight. Enjoy the pictures. Good night.

Here's me playing in the ray tank.

" Braeden, Braeden, come see this!" said my friend Marika.

Here are the cute African penguins hanging out.

Come here, little penguins, so we can see you!

Here I am stopping for a moment amid my toddling to check out the BIG fish.

Wow, June Already?

I can't believe it's June already. That means I get to go swimming soon! Yeah!! I actually went in my 2" kiddie pool yesterday for the first time and quite enjoyed myself. Being the beginning of June, that also means my cousin Bridget is about to turn 1. We are going to her birthday party on Saturday in New Jersey. I hope she likes her cake.

I've learned some new signs in the last few days. I think I'm getting the hang of it. I can sign bird, bath, and hat. I am pointing more at things I want and to tell Mommy and Daddy what I see. I am pretty good at saying and waving bye-bye now, too. I even wave and say bye-bye to the water when it drains after my bath.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Mystic Aquarium with Mommy and some of our friends. Mommy says there will be lots of fish and other sea creatures. I bet it will be really fun to watch the fish swim from real close, instead of looking at them in books. I'll let you know.

Bye-bye,
Braeden

Eating, Swinging, Signing, and Little Bison

Did someone say I was a clean eater? What were they thinking? Yesterday, Mommy left my prunes on my tray, and I decided to help myself. I now really like eating my Cheerios with a tinch of milk to moisten them. I feel empowered feeding myself. This morning I enjoyed raspberry-ing with milk in my mouth. My, my, eating can be so much fun!

Mommy and Daddy did some yard work this weekend including mowing, planting flowers, and putting up my new swing. Weeeeeee!One of the coolest things that has happened recently is that I can sign to Mommy and Daddy when I want to eat something!!!! I have signed "eat" after my naps and before meals/snacks when they ask me if I'm hungry and want to eat. I put my hand/fingers up to my mouth and tap my lips to let them know I want to eat. I usually giggle, too, because I'm excited that we're understanding each other. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of me!

As you can see from the picture below, I'm studying already to maybe one day be a Bison like my uncles. Friends of ours from church went to their grandson's Bucknell graduation and bought me this hat while there. They knew my two uncles, Jim and Drew, went there. I hear it's farm country out there; so, I thought this book was quite appropriate to start reading. The hat fits great, and I don't mind wearing hats now.

Please have a nice Memorial Day and say a prayer for those who served our country and lost their lives protecting our freedom.

God bless you!
B

P.S. I LOOOOOVE walking!!!