Doing All the Things

Bradley has been very busy lately. Good thing he knows how to relax.

I just helped him onto the couch. He did the rest himself.

We went to a little friend's one year birthday party last week. Bradley thought it was awesome because there were puddles and cake. Really, what else does a boy need to keep him happy?

Eying the puddle

Bradley isn't really interested in stomping in puddles yet, it's much more fun to use your hands to whack the puddle. He was very wet and quite dirty by the time we left.

A puddle AND a stick. This party just keeps getting better and better.

We went to a petting zoo the next day and Bradley had a great time as long as he was free of stroller prison.

We loved the calves!

Although we were the only ones who demonstrated this love by shaking the bars of the pen as hard as we could and making a loud racket. Pictures soon came to an end as I got to follow him around and hold the bars steady so a boy couldn't traumatize the animals.

The next place we earned our freedom was an adorable kiddie area in a garden area of the petting zoo.

Bradley was happy to be free but wasn't too impressed by the setup

We wandered around watching children and then Bradley discovered there were fun flowers that you could poke your head through.

It became less fun for me and WAY more fun for Bradley when he saw other children poking their heads through the flower photo ops and would try to run up and whack them in the face. Best game ever! The giant pregnant lady tried to save small children from the one year old but one poor five year old definitely got whacked in the face twice. Sigh. We can't go anywhere. Bradley was unceremoniously put back in his stroller (many tears) and we soon left the petting zoo. I am the mother of a one year old bully.

That said, I do appreciate his ability to stand up for himself. I'd rather teach him to be kind than teach him to be less timid. We were at a kiddie play area in a mall and a little boy who was about four or five sort of pushed Bradley out of the way at a block spinner toy thing. Bradley watched him for a second and then went to work trying to edge the big kid out of the way so he could get back in to the toy he wanted to play with. Pretty funny to watch. Good job, Bradley!

Both Bradley and I got a lot of good time in with my mom this week, loved having her in town even if she was busy grading the AP Physics exam most of the time!

I got to have solo time with my mom one night, going out on the town with her and a few of her fellow graders.

Having some fancy boba tea together at Lulu's Thai downtown.

And Bradley and I went to visit my mom at her hotel room on Friday night. Bradley had a blast.

One of the few times Bradley was not in motion.

I brought a decent stash of Nilla Wafers with me so Grandma could give Bradley his favorite treat. It's pretty adorable to give them to Bradley, you ask if he wants a cookie and his whole face lights up. He'll even say something that sounds like Koook or oookie if he's excited enough. Of course my child's first real word would be cookie.

My mom was responsible for rationing the cookies I brought with me. The picture below is the result.

If you look at this photo he has three cookies: one in each hand and a whole one shoved in his mouth.

The next day was even more fun. My mom came over to our house and Bradley got a lot of fun outside play time with someone who happily catered to his every whim.

You want bubbles? Here you go, Bradley!

Bradley being carried everywhere his bossy little finger pointed

Grandma and Daddy helping Bradley walk up the path

It's worth clicking on this photo so you can see the look of sheer joy on Bradley's face.

We had such a good time even though we only got to see Grandma a few times. We can't wait until she and Grandpa come out after Bradley's little sister is born! Bradley will finally learn the meaning of the word spoiled.

We were extraordinarily brave and took the little boy who hates sitting still to a Royals baseball game on Sunday. It went surprisingly well, despite the yogurt incident. Apparently greek yogurt is now on the list of foods Bradley despises. We know this because of subtle clues like the child screaming when we tried to feed it to him and throwing/coughing up a reasonable amount of yogurt on both Nathan and myself.

After we wised up and gave him goldfish crackers

The Royals stadium is incredibly kid friendly, they were handing out some sort of cancer sweatbands in kid sizes which my GENIUS husband immediately acquired for Bradley.

It goes well with his muscle tee. And hair. The mohawk is back!

Nathan watching over the tough guy.

The Royals stadium is absurdly family friendly. There's an area in the back with a carousel, kid playground equipment, fountains for kids to run around in, and a mini golf course. Yes, a mini golf course. Absolutely ridiculous, absolutely amazing. 

Tough guys on the carousel

Our child found a sign to hide under and was instantly happy. Oh goody, hiding games in public places. I do not support this.

Bradley made it through the entire baseball game but didn't quite make it out to the car afterward. The Royals won by the way. They were playing the Astros so I'm told it doesn't really count for much, but a win is a win. Great first game to go to!

Bradley had been riding on Nathan's shoulders and starting to lean more and more on his head, so Nathan took him down because he thought he might be sleepy. Nathan was very correct.

Getting the sleepiest boy around into his car seat.

There have been a few other sweet and memorable moments over the last week or so. I'm so excited for baby girl but I can't quite wrap my head around a house that is not entirely Bradley focused. It's going to take a little adjustment. It's probably REALLY good for Bradley that his sister is coming sooner rather than later. He's used to being the center of the universe and the only way we're going to be able to remedy this is with a sibling. Also, we think that he's going to have a blast playing with her (and vice versa) once she gets mobile. Cute little buddies!

Bradley's love of books is so wonderful to see. And he's getting better about not throwing them at the head of his preferred reader!

One of Bradley's new favorite "games" is getting into his closet and playing with all of his diapers. I don't know if this is good parenting on my part, but I find it hilarious and let him wreak some havoc. Some of the diaper packs are fairly heavy and unwieldy so it takes some strength to get them out and throw them around!

 

Our son also had a blast helping Nathan wash both of our cars this past weekend. I didn't take any pictures because I wanted to make sure I actually "enjoyed the moment" but I probably should have taken pictures because it was pretty amazing. Bradley got soaked and was so ecstatic about every aspect of washing a car. He liked to get a stick and dip it in the soapy bucket and then run over to the hose and rinse it off and then go back to the bucket, repeat repeat. And at one point Nathan had me take over the hose and showed me the little lever on the side that controlled water flow and while I was messing with it I managed to have the hose dumping water directly over Bradley's head. And he didn't mind ... what a kid. It was COLD hose water too. Little Annie would have cried immediately if something like that had happened to me. Bradley blinked twice and then started to grin and run around again.

I'm both proud and a little afraid of his fearlessness. We went to the park this morning and called our time there a success since we left with only one scraped knee and a chin bruise/mouth bleed from following big kids up metal steps and then falling. He made it up twice just fine and then fell the third time. I'm getting rather casual about blood, it's not like it happens all that infrequently anymore. I just wish he would stop injuring his face. It's probably bad that I keep telling myself that he can't scar at this age so it's okay. We're going to have to work on teaching self preservation.