Adrenaline Junkie

Well, it's happened. Sooner than I expected. My parents took my sweet, kind little boy and turned him into a crazy adrenaline junkie! I had been having the darndest time getting Bradley down for naps until I finally realized he wasn't crying because he was tired, he was crying because he was bored. Bored! With me of all people! 

Isn't chasing around the kitties and petting them exciting enough for you?

I like to think that we party pretty hard when we play together. Well, it wasn't good enough after my parents' last visit where he was exposed to songs like Tihara Tihara (involves bouncing on a foot) and The Grand Old Duke of York (involves flying up and down in the air). My dad also enjoyed pretending Bradley was an airplane experiencing crash landings. Twice. Look at this face and tell me that I stood a chance after this visit.

At least my child still likes books. He better, I think that's everyone's favorite activity with him. And I feel somewhat strongly about the importance of reading, if this boy doesn't end up loving books it will not be for lack of trying on my part.

Okay Grandpa, you're redeeming yourself a LITTLE by reading to him.

However, we went over to our friend Brendan's today and Bradley was captivated by the movie How to Train Your Dragon. Really? I've already lost the battle against television? Here, I'm going to write down a list of things I'm against right now so I can laugh at them later.

Anne's Parenting Do's and Don'ts

1) Minimal watching of television. Go play outside or read a book. Maybe you can watch one cartoon per day.
2) Minimal playing on computer, unless it's something awesome like Carmen San Diego. You can play math and science oriented games as long as you want unless it's sunny outside. Go play outside or read a book.
3) Car rides are supposed to be boring. Read or play horrible travel size versions of board games. This is what Mommy did while growing up and look how I turned out!
4) Presents are for birthdays and Christmas. If you get a present and it's not one of these days consider it a rare rare treat.
5) Weapons are not toys. If you want a toy gun so much, please build a lego version or find a cool stick in the backyard. Then I can applaud your creativity!
6) We love chores! How soon until I get to try to convince Bradley that vacuuming is fun?
7) Snacking between meals is not okay. I need to stop doing this myself before enforcing it in the future ...
8) We are nice to the kitties, and all animals for that matter. Unless we're talking about bugs, kill those suckers. Or better yet, bring the kitties over to them so you can watch the bugs become cat chow.
9) Whining will never be rewarded. Seriously a pet peeve of mine. I know kids whine but mine will hopefully realize that it is not only pointless, it means you are less likely to get what you want.
10) We all say I love you lots and lots and kisses and cuddles are important aspects of happy family bonding. I'm already working on getting Bradley to return my kisses, so far he kind of drools on my cheek but I can work with that.

 Adorable Baby Hands

I was looking at Bradley's little hands while he was sleeping the other day and could not believe how cute they were. How are there dimples over all the knuckles? How is that possible? Cuteness overload!

He still hasn't "discovered" his thumb, even after the period with no pacifier. But he loves sucking on his right hand's fingers. Or right arm, whichever is most convenient. Sometimes after tummy time his right sleeve of his outfit is pretty well soaked. If this kid doesn't end up being a righty I'll be shocked.

Comparing my hand to his. I love how tiny his pudgy little fingers are.

Baby Angst

 Bradley has a love/hate relationship with this toy. It's so fun to grab and play with but he gets very angry when he plays with it because he is unable to get it into his mouth. In this picture he's about to cry from frustration. I understand, Bradley, I get very angry when I can't eat things too!

 Exersaucer

Bradley also has a new toy which is the best thing ever as far as he's concerned. I've had a lot less trouble with my easily bored child since Nathan put this together. It's kind of a bouncer seat and there are toys everywhere! Since he's down to about 2 hours of total nap time per day, here's hoping that he's able to happily and independently play on this for good chunks of time. I'll have to take a video of the adorable bouncing boy sometime soon!

See how his right sleeve is a darker gray than his left in this picture? That's all from him chewing on his arm. What a kid.