Escapades of the Bradley Boy

I took Bradley to the park the other day and he found a new mommy that he decided to adopt as his own. Maybe it was because I decided to dress him in his wussie sailor outfit that morning but I thought I balanced that out by taking him out to donuts with my friend Fatima.

Bradley was given his first donut hole while we were in line. He was a fan to say the least, the girls behind the counter were cracking up watching him gleefully shove it into his mouth.

Bradley cramming in his second donut hole. Sailor outfit! So so cute!

He loved the donuts but apparently that wasn't enough for the kid. We got to the park and he made a beeline to the sandbox where he soon noticed a very nice mommy sitting by her little boy.

Shortly before discovering "new mommy"

He brought her about four or five toys that he found and she laughed and said thank you every time. Finally, he walked over and made it clear that he would like to sit on her lap. Her little boy seemed a bit unsure about the whole thing but shy little Bradley crawled onto new mommy's lap and snuggled happily for about five minutes. What a kid. I get the feeling that this kind of behavior is fairly uncommon for a child of this age, Bradley is certainly one of a kind.

And the thing is, I feel like I've been a pretty awesome mommy lately! We've been going out and doing a lot of fun things pretty much every day. Yes, this is in some part due to the imminent arrival of his little sister because I'm pretty sure outings will be a little tougher for a while, but it's also because I have a blast at these things too. We went to the farmers market the other day and this happened:

Yes, I let my child play in the fountain. Fully clothed. I had a spare outfit for him in the diaper bag, I always do, but I didn't bring a towel with me and really had no plan for what I was going to do with a sopping wet child. It was warm, he could air dry in a pinch ... great parenting. Luckily, one of the people who stopped to admire how cute he was chatted with me for a minute and found out I had nothing to dry him off with. So she gave me a canvas reusable grocery bag which is what Bradley was ultimately dried off with. He didn't really mind. He's such a hilarious kid.

I also recently played bullfighter with him with one of his sister's new blankets while Nathan took a video. 

And we've been swimming at Fatima's apartment complex pool quite a bit lately. He likes it when nice children are there that allow him to steal their toys.

 

We had to retire his 18 month swimsuit after it became apparent it was too small on him. Much to Nathan's delight it meant I sent him this picture of Bradley in the 2t superhero swimsuit that Nathan had picked out. I'm okay with superheros but I cannot wait until I get to get a My Little Pony bathing suit or something along those lines for baby girl.

I actually love that sweet Bradley is so friendly and outgoing, Nathan and I have been laughing about the "new mommy" story all week. It's very nice to have a child who loves you dearly and has plenty of affection left over for complete strangers.

And for bouncing on stairs ... this kid is a hoot.

Bradley had a fabulous weekend playing with Grandma Colleen and Kerry who came by for a visit.

I don't know who is having more fun in this picture

Once again, the only non blurry pictures we get of Bradley are when he finally sits still to read a book. Everyone is a sucker for reading books to this kid, it's just too cute when he picks one out and plops down on your lap.

We went to the farmers market again while they were here and Bradley got to revisit his fountain. Although this time he had company and liked to run out of the fountain and frolic around the much more crowded picnic area and then would run back to the fountain with a war cry that made little girls leap aside lest they be run over by the fountain warrior.

And later Nathan took Colleen and Kerry to Bradley's favorite park, where they got to witness him in action. There's always a lot of action.

Swings!

A mostly deserted sandbox. The BEST way to play in the sand with Bradley.

Many thanks to Colleen and Kerry for bringing us a good number of plants and even planting them for us! Both Nathan and I are a little afraid that we have black thumbs (I killed a cactus once. Not kidding.) but we hope that these great plants survive us and we get some great fresh vegetables to enjoy this summer! We promise to at least protect them from a stick wielding Bradley. That much we can most likely manage.


And in honor of Father's Day, here are some pictures of Bradley with his wonderful daddy. He is so crazy about Nathan and it's pretty apparent that the feeling is mutual. We're not really doing much today for Father's Day, which is kind of a gift to Nathan in and of itself. Typically I'd be dragging Nathan to a park or having him help work on weekend projects. Sometimes a nice, relaxing day is just the ticket!

Such good sharing!

This poor child. I need to bring a bunch of these photos into his kindergarten class when the teacher wants to know why he's always running around and has a hard time sitting still.

My boys watching a show together. My two favorite people in the whole world!