Brave Boy

Our Bradley knows no fear. We were at the park today and another mom commented on it as I chased after my little boy who was charging off to explore new things. Bradley's mobility is both a blessing and a curse as I approach giant pregnant lady status. I don't have to carry him as much but I do have to climb up onto children's play equipment with him and I did haul him up a short slide today in order to get him up to the level I was on.

He prefers to climb up slides on his own though. Thank you older children who showed him how much fun this could be.

I gave him zero help in big slide climbing. He did horrifyingly well all on his own. He is only 14 months old ...

I can't complain though, it's never boring being out with Bradley. We revisited the sandbox and had a great time trying to "help" the older kids with anything and everything they were doing until we remembered how fun it was to throw sand and Mommy got to haul a sobbing Bradley out of the sandbox. I have the feeling this is going to be a regular occurrence for a while.

Look at all the tools I found!

I'm actually quite impressed by how quickly he's learning how to use all the different sandbox tools.

We had a busy weekend, Nathan's company had their annual picnic which is completely geared towards kids. We spent the majority of our time in a toddler bouncy ball pit that was full of wild children that were typically one or two years older than Bradley. So basically it was Bradley's idea of heaven.

Wild children running all over the place. Bradley is so happy.

I'm not sure we're supposed to walk through here but oh my, look at all the balls we can play with!

Nathan showing Bradley how to hold himself up and jump in the bouncy house. Bradley proved to be an apt pupil.

 

The SLIDE!

Bradley surprised us by figuring out a safe way to go down the slide all on his own. We honestly were expecting him to charge down headfirst but with no guidance from parents and really no example from the other kids he figured out that it was best to turn around and go down on his tummy, feet first. This kid may have some sense after all!

http://youtu.be/r3quIPSqBSQ - super cute video of Bradley going down the slide

My mom is also currently in Kansas City as part of a group of high school physics teachers who grade the AP Physics exam (yes, she's kind of a big deal). We were able to see her on Saturday and to say Bradley was excited to see Grandma was an understatement.

http://youtu.be/CkcWpPkDz5E - this video is when Bradley finally calmed down long enough to sit on Grandma's lap to read the ADORABLE book she made for him.

Reading Grandma's book for Bradley. The tarantula is our favorite page by far.

Showing Grandma his cool foam mat

Sitting to read another book. It's so fun to read to this kid.

But seriously, he mostly ran around the room and showed off all of his toys. Or played hide and seek or chasing games. We can't wait to see my mom again this weekend!

And Nathan is gone on a business trip for a couple days so my poor child gets to eat Anne versions of meals while he's gone. Which means pancakes for dinner! Bradley is actually an enthusiastic supporter of pancake meals. I tried a variety of preparation techniques varying from plain pancakes, pancakes with berries on top, and pancakes with syrup before I finally hit on the winning combo of pancakes with homemade whipped cream on top. Or to put it in Bradley's perspective: whipped cream with pancakes. Here was his reaction when he thought the whipped cream had run out:

Yes, that is my child. Fortunately, I had additional reserves on hand and just gave him a few small scoops of whipped cream while I finished my dinner. That helped improve morale tremendously. Is it horrible that I see nothing wrong with feeding my child plain whipped cream? Here's my reasoning:

1) It's basically just MILK with a little bit of sugar. Milk is good for children!
2) It's homemade. Anything homemade can't be all THAT bad for you.
3) It counts as dessert. After his birthday I gave him a reasonable amount of cake with frosting after a number of his dinners, this has to be healthier than that.
4) I could be feeding him fast food and I'm not.
5) Do I want him to be a skinny weakling? No! Let's keep this kid well fed on good food!

In addition to all these things, the moms who bring all organic foods mostly consisting of vegetables and legumes to playdate and park lunches kind of annoy me. Mostly I just dislike the judging eyes when I pull out the goldfish crackers which are a staple of our meals on the go. We try to be reasonably healthy but the kid gets to eat fun stuff too and I think that means he'll be a better eater in the long term. There won't be as much to rebel against. Also, the idea of putting that much work into food is rather exhausting.

Quite frankly, most things are pretty tiring these days. Nathan is going to accompany us on Costco trips until the baby is born which is a-okay as far as Bradley is concerned.

Note the cool Kansas City Zoo baseball hat. Nathan is as much of a sucker for Bradley in a baseball hat as I am.

And I am happy to share that I have excellent assistance getting ready in the morning now that Bradley helps me comb my hair. I let him hold onto my brush while I dry my hair (the brush is used as a hammer on anything within reach while this is taking place) and then Bradley gets to help me comb it straight which he finds both hilarious and exciting. It's getting a little less fun now that Bradley doesn't want any help, beforehand I could guide his hands to gently move it through my hair but now my hair mostly gets whacked and yanked on with the brush. Still, it gets the job done and he's so darn cute about it. Love this little boy, he's more of a spunky sweetheart every day.