Uh Oh Eleanor and Counting Bradley

High fashion victory at Target! Every girl needs a sparkle kitty purse.

Eleanor spoke her first and second official, clear words this past week. "Uh oh" was the first and I got a few cheerful "owc owc owc" when she fell on her bottom early today (ouch ouch ouch). Oh dear. I don't know if this reflects most poorly upon, me, Eleanor, or Bradley (the one responsible for most of the uh ohs and ouches around here).

Update: we just tested her and apparently she can say "hi" and "dadt" (dada) too. So I'm selling her short and only half of her words have to do with things falling and injury. And I just found this "dadt" video from a couple weeks ago so maybe "dadt" was her first word after all. Who knows. Raising children is hard, sometimes you can't even figure out what their first word was.

Bradley is talking up a storm these days. I was in the kitchen and said something about Eleanor having a poopy diaper this morning and heard a faint "baby hav poop!" over in the playroom. And this morning Bradley was playing in our bathroom while Daddy was getting ready to go to work and Nathan and I both heard him clearly say "1 2 3 4 5". Nathan and I were very excited by this and were discussing about whether or not he really knew what it meant to count when we heard him say "5 4 3 2 1". Clearly we have a math genius on our hands. Or he just really likes the book Ten Apples Up On Top that deals with counting and gets read to him frequently. Regardless, we're quite proud of our little guy!

If I had to show someone one picture to explain Bradley this would be the one. Cheerful yelling, that's my boy.

We're proud even when he does this:

We've been going out on a lot of fun play dates with friends lately. "Eyi and Yayme" (Eli and Jayme) are some of our best buddies and we've gone to Deanna Rose Farmstead and the Arboretum with them in the past week or two. Bradley and Eli are hilarious together.

Sup! Hardcore boys hanging out on the cutest bridge ever.

Another friend joined us at Deanna Rose and we thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of all three boys together on a bench. Look at where Bradley is in the first picture.

And the second ... Bradley edged out Eli for the corner spot and Eli was having none of it. 

But don't worry, they're still adorable friends.

Eleanor had a good time on these outings too.

I promise they're having fun here

Here the kids are feeding baby goats. Bradley about lost his mind he was so excited.

Eleanor kept cackling with glee. She loves any and all animals.

And we even got some cutesie patootsie pictures of the little sweetie.

 All in all, it was a pretty exhausting time.

We also go to the park a lot, I like to get a morning run in with the kids. The amount of real exercise I get directly correlates with how much Bradley wants to get out and run on his own. Lately he's been really excited about getting out of the stroller and running up the big hill on his own. Who am I to stop him? (35 less pounds in the stroller makes that hill much much nicer for me). Also, this kid certainly didn't get his fitness fiend outlook from me. I'm pretty sure I never would have requested to run up a hill at his age. I probably would have demanded to be carried, like a reasonable person.

Eleanor at the park modeling a tutu cute shirt that her Grandma Redfern made her!

Bradley helps push Eleanor on the swings

We got a pool membership for this summer which I'm incredibly excited about. Love the Midwest, there's a fenced off kiddie area where I'll be able to manage with both Bradley and Eleanor on my own. We went with Nathan for the first time a couple evenings ago and Bradley about lost his mind and was happily yelling "jump in water" while the lifeguards laughed at the most enthusiasm they had seen all day. Meanwhile, Eleanor cried because Nathan had gotten her feet wet. Eleanor eventually warmed up to the pool as we sat by the kiddie slide that Bradley flung himself down time and time again. He fell over and submerged himself the first time he went down and just laughed about it and got up to do it again. This kid.

"Bradley jump in water! Bradley jump in water!" Also, you can see Eleanor being traumatized by being gently walked into the water by her daddy.

Bradley's favorite slide

Our little bathing beauty

The boy insisted on sitting on my lap the other day while I was on the computer looking for a new swimsuit online. He started pointing at all the swim suit models and yelling "Mommy! Mommy!" for a while and I laughed and said "yes, they do look like mommies, don't they?". Then later that day we read Hop on Pop, a favorite Dr. Seuss book and there was a creature called The Thing and Bradley said "Mommy! Mommy!" again and I said "No, that is NOT a mommy" and turned the page. So don't ask me about my self esteem today.

Bandaid for my ego? No, for Bradley's head. He didn't have an ouch, he just really likes bandaids these days.

Bradley says "big ouch!" for anything that is mildly uncomfortable these days but he still gets his fair share of more legitimate injuries. So he is no stranger to the ice pack. He calls it his "milk" (it looks a bit like the pretend milk carton he plays with at the library) and I have a tough time getting it back from him if he gets his hands on it.

Also, grandparents and friends, an update on the toy situation. It's nice that you bring us toys sometimes but the best toy around our house this past week was a tube of baby toothpaste that the children helped me pick out at Target. Here you can see Bradley pointing miserably at the toothpaste that I wouldn't let him snatch away from Eleanor. Finally he couldn't take it any longer and he shoved another toy into her hands, grabbed the toothpaste, and ran away with it while saying "tank you tank you!" Manners for the win, I didn't make him give it back.

Bradley is generally a hit wherever we take him. We tried out a new park the other day, which will henceforth be known to us as Cupcake Park because some nice moms there had some extra cupcakes and let Bradley have one. You see before you the happiest boy in all of Kansas. 

He finished his cupcake and immediately starting begging for another to the great delight of the other moms.

This photo and video pretty much sum up the Bradley and Eleanor relationship these days.

Bradley has been getting more rides from Eleanor on the baby walker, much to his delight. Soon after this picture was taken she wandered off to play with shoes and he chased after her, begging for more. 

When Bradley isn't stealing toys from Eleanor or sitting on her and making her cry they are so cute together. They love meals, I let them sit right by each other and there is much joy.

And good news, Bradley is not the only child in this house that loves whipped cream!

It will make my mother happy to see that I'm continuing the tradition of children helping with the baking. Bradley grabs his stool from the bathroom and drags it into kitchen so he can help aka beg for a taste of whatever I'm making.

Good oral hygiene is important to the Scott family. Good thing Bradley is all over it.

And we have a new weekend tradition that whenever we go out for a bbq or have an irregular kind of dinner the kids get to sit with Daddy and eat popcorn before bedtime. I don't know who loves this tradition the most.