Bradley has started to stay "ta daaaa!" when he does things now (like undoing the straps of his shoes in the car) and "hip hip hooray" when he's excited about something. It is to die for cute. I thank television because I certainly didn't teach him either of these tricks.
He also jumps out of doorways and says "peekboo" now. So great.
However, I did teach him about smooching. Bradley smooches SO MUCH these days - but in an impish way. He kisses me and Daddy in order to be hilarious, not out of sweet sweet love and devotion. The other day he was cracking himself up moving back and forth inbetween Nathan's shoulders kissing each in turn. And then he grabbed the top of Nathan's head and started kissing that too, all while laughing hysterically. He also remains quite insistent about the importance of grabbing our heads and kissing us forcibly on the lips. Yesterday I had to tell him to stop kissing my arm so I could change his diaper. Who tells their child to stop kissing them?
We are absolutely loving summer and are spending every day at either the pool or park or both. We're planning on getting rid of our little wagon because we cannot get Eleanor to stay seated in it and we have a double jogging stroller so there isn't much purpose to the wagon anyway. We took it out for one last hurrah and now both kids really want to keep it (although Eleanor will still not sit down it to save her life).
But she's cool with pulling Bradley around
And this is exactly what it looks like
Finally. The kids earn their keep.
Perhaps the best thing about our park trips lately has been Bradley pushing Eleanor on the swings. They both love it so much.
Eleanor can also walk the whole way from our house to the playground on her own. Like a champ.
And this is while being loaded down with as many nuts she can find as we walk along and carrying a bat and/or club.
We continue to be fascinated by all the neat snails we find at the park although I have sad news about the lifespan of the one Bradley made friends with a few days ago.
I was a little judgy about how he smacked it with a ball to encourage it to come out of its shell until I turned the stroller around to show him another snail on the way home and heard a loud crunch of yet another snail shell as I did so. Whoops. Guess we're a snail killer family.
We've been enjoying our little community pool although I have distressing news about how messy one can get while innocently playing in the sand.
Eleanor is concerned about the state of her hands
The best way to clean off some mucky sand!
The other day it was overcast and drizzly and the pool was deserted - except for us. I'm from Washington, people. If it's over 70 degrees that's pool weather. I'm also not in the business of raising little wusses! Unless we have icky sand on us. That's not being a wuss, that's being careful about one's personal hygiene.
Oh these kids.
Nathan had a business trip to go on this past week and I was a little nervous about maintaining sanity with a teething one year old (molars!) and a toddler who is learning how to deal with emotions but it went really well overall. Although if I never again have to deal with a two year old having a meltdown because we've stopped watching My Little Ponies that will be okay by me.
I stole Nathan's favorite weekend activity and snuggled up on the couch with the kids for a movie and popcorn.
And we checked out a park that we had never been to before which also had a farmer's market complete with a little stand for free face painting. I can't get over things like this - Kansas City is so awesome.
The lady was a pro and painted a couple spiders on Bradley's arm so he could see them. Unfortunately, she still needed a bit of guidance but she was fortunate enough to have Bradley's assistance.
Telling her which paints he wanted (in a cute way).
He was SO into this
Showing off his legitimately cool spiders to his friend Eli.
The spiders were adorable and Bradley showed them off to everyone for the couple of days they lasted. The next day at Sunday school they sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider (not your standard church song) because of Bradley's cool spider on his arm. We're going back this next weekend with Daddy and Bradley says he wants a dragon this time. I hope his Sunday school teacher knows the words to Puff the Magic Dragon.
It went well while Nathan was gone but it's so good to have him home. I blame him for Bradley's newfound mustache obsession.
The kids are such little buds. The other day I was texting Nathan during their lunch and was not paying enough attention to Eleanor's wants and needs. She was hollering a bit and Bradley leaned over and casually tapped her water cup to alert me to what she wanted. It was very sweet.
Playing with deck furniture together. Best game ever!
Feeding each other breakfast
However, it is not always a two way street. Eleanor now bides her time and snatches toys from Bradley and then runs for cover to Mommy while Bradley howls in despair. The best is when he's crying and she goes back to wave the toy in his face ... but still doesn't give it back to him. She's just showing him the cool toy. There was an incident over a baby hair brush that led to the most impressive Bradley meltdown I have seen thus far.
And this is her "I want it" face. The phone was in her possession about two seconds later.
Eleanor has also started hiding behind curtains and then peeking out with a huge smile to see if anyone sees her. Bradley hides under blankets when we're playing hide and seek with him, no idea where she picked this up but it's beyond adorable and I love it.
Eleanor has a favorite book "Go Dog Go" and will bring it over to you while chanting "go dog go go dog go go dog go" and throw the book in your general direction. She'll then back up and plop herself down in your lap and settle in for a nice read. I melt every time.
She also has begun to blow raspberries on my shoulder while I'm carrying her around. She'll cackle to herself and latch on, blowing raspberry after raspberry. She's going to be a sad girl when summer ends and Mommy wears something with sleeves once again.
Eleanor's hair is finally long enough for pigtails ... barely. Mostly her hair does this naturally, I just put some rubber bands on it on a recent trip to the park.
And here's Bradley, being his normal shy self at the park. Surrounded by a large group of martial arts kids on a field trip. It was mayhem, it was big kids, and Bradley was all over it.
Being with Bradley at the park is a lot of fun and not ever boring. Look at him showing off his knee bandaid ...
He ran around for a while like this. Because he had to be able to see his knee. Such a funny kid.
Going to the library is not boring either. We went a couple days ago and soon after we arrived, Bradley started to run away from me through the stacks. I walked over to hunt him down and get him to come back over to the little kiddie play area and he immediately started saying in his loud Bradley voice "working on POOP, Mommy, working on POOP!" So I said "okay, okay, you go ahead and do that" and he repeated "working on POOP!" so I said "yes, yes, let me just leave you to do that" (trying to back away so he'd stop hollering). He repeated his poop announcement a couple more times for good measure so I'd be well and properly embarrassed. It worked. The fun part was when we were supposed to leave, I got to literally run down and catch my child. He's pretty good about coming when I call him now but this does not extend to when he has a poopy diaper. He was in the back corner of the stacks and had some highly advanced evasive maneuvers. To make things more fun, Eleanor got in on the fun of running away from Mommy and I had to bribe her with playing with usually forbidden car keys so she'd stay still while I ran after and half tackled her older brother. Nathan just laughed at me when I told him this story. I officially blame his genes for our very active children.
These cute kids. All Nathan's fault.
Bradley is such a sweetheart but we are solidly into our 2's now and I've finally started instituting time outs for some of the accompanying behavioral things we're working on. It's been pretty effective, no one is too upset but it gets the point across that a particular action (like pushing) is not okay. What's great is that Eleanor has been trying to join Bradley in time out lately. He'll be on a chair and I'll be mid count and she'll be clambering to get up to sit next to him, even though he's usually in timeout because he just pushed her. She adores her big brother.
Teeth brushing buddies.
Eleanor now has her own stool to stand on but prefers to stand as close to Bradley as possible.
At the zoo. Bradley got on a hippo statue ...
So Eleanor had to get on the hippo statue too. Of course.
Last weekend was eventful because we went out and got Bradley a bunk bed. It's been a bit hit!
Bradley quickly mastered the ladder and can go up and down with little to no problems. We switched around both of the kids' rooms for this new setup and they both got moved completely into new rooms. As Nathan was relocating a few things from Eleanor's old room to her new room he left her in the hallway and when he walked back into Bradley's new room she had managed to get in the top bunk by herself ... 13 months old. Oh dear.
She hasn't exactly mastered the ladder yet, I'd say she's at about 50% success rate going up and can't get down on her own. But that hasn't stopped her from trying. This video is taken immediately after she fell down the ladder from halfway up. But my children have little sense of self preservation and she decided to go for it again. She's supposed to be my cautious child.
Eleanor's personality has been coming through loud and clear. She's outgoing, adventurous, and a little imp. And she knows how to get her way! Good luck saying no to this cute face.
Bravely riding on the back of the sit and stand stroller
This face. Oh this face. Nathan and I agree that this is the photo that most perfectly captures Eleanor at this age.
And the video below is pretty precious. Eleanor is sobbing because I won't eat food out of her hand ... like I said, she gets what she wants.
And I would like to thank whichever family member (we're guessing Uncle Thomas) taught Bradley to say "bang bang" and point something like a gun. He won't stop. I'm trying to make not a big deal out of it so it goes away but Daddy is too fun and I'm betting this is just the beginning.
But we can't blame others for everything. I showed Bradley how to carry kitties the other day ... seriously, these cats are amazing. Bradley is mostly pretty gentle, just loud. But still, how many cats would tolerate this? also, please note how Bradley insists on calling Layla "Meg". Poor cat. Not even getting credit for being the one who is putting up with the kiddie loves.
And we had a big day yesterday. Bradley had his first soccer class at the local rec center! He was the youngest person in the class and what he lacked in listening skills he made up for in sheer enthusiasm. I was very proud of him, he was a good boy and had a blast. I'm not sure how much we learned about soccer but really, who cares about this with a two year old?
This video is SO Bradley. Apparently he even kissed a ball once, I know this because a little girl announced it to the class. They gave the ball a name (Bob) and told him to hug it, of course it's going to be kissed!
End of class team cheer. We love soccer!
After our grueling physical start to the day we had a mellow rest of the morning. Bradley was a great help when I made brownies. You can't pay for such dedicated help!
Such a cool boy. I'm so happy he's ours! He's our 1-2-3-4-5 (we count to 5 constantly these days) big boy Bradley!
We had a pretty great time in Spokane for Uncle Daniel's wedding. The plane flight there went better than expected, mostly thanks to videos on the Kindle for Bradley and stickers for Eleanor.
Most important parts of the trip: Bradley's love for his cousin Emmett is deep and profound and in your face, Grandma has risen to new heights of popularity, and everyone adores Eleanor. My parents rented a house so we could all stay together for a few days before the wedding so we got to have a lot of quality family time!
The view from the front step. Not too shabby! (We called this "Grandma's House)
The first meeting of all the cousins. If you look behind Eleanor you can see Bradley messing with Emmett's trucks. Poor Emmett.
Following Emmett around some more
Does Emmett want to go here? Me too, me too!
Grandpa cuddles/rough housing! The best of times!
Ultimately, what really brought the boys together was the aftermath of our trip to visit some of Nathan's relatives that live in the Couer d'Alene area.
First Aunt Abby came to visit us. Eleanor LOVES Abby.
And then we went over to Nathan's Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Larry's house.
Cousin Robin and cousin Jenna were there too, such fun!
Uncle Larry was the master at riling up Bradley and Bradley had a blast roughhousing and reading with him.
Cute kids on a porch swing
The kids loved Jenna
Eleanor gives Cousin Randy the eye
We went on a little walk and Bradley insisted that he summit a hill of dirt and rock that was next to the construction of a little community center for the neighborhood. He would try to run down the steep hill repeatedly until Nathan and I drug him away. He was covered in dirt and he got a small scrape on his knee.
So of course he needed a bandaid and lucky for Bradley, cousin Emmett just happens to be an expert in bandaid application!
I believe I'm telling Emmett about Bradley's grave injury here
Eleanor is getting ointment for the wound, just in case
It goes right here
Great success! Sad story though, turns out Emmett had a wound no one knew about and he needed a bandaid too. Poor suffering child.
Unfortunately, Bradley's bandaid did fall off eventually and the next day the process had to be repeated.
I don't know why I buy "real" toys when I could just get bandaids and everyone would be happier.
The kids also bonded over tv shows.
They did hit a bit of a rough patch when Bradley was playing one of his favorite games, where he pretends to eat "Grandma cookies" out of a little cup and he wouldn't share an imaginary cookie with Emmett even though Emmett really really wanted one. I tried to feed Emmett one of the imaginary cookies but apparently it didn't count unless it came from Bradley ... is this really what I've signed on for? Squabbles over imaginary cookies? These kids are lucky they are so cute.
SO cute. Uncle Ryan loves Eleanor too.
We got to go play in a nearby lake and go to the park too.
Fun story, at the lake I told Bradley he could just get his feet wet and that was it.
Soon the shorts were off
And quite soon after that we were down to diaper. It's like I don't even know my own son.
Park outings are our bread and butter. I put Eleanor down this slide about 5 times on her own until she bumped her head on the side while wildly bouncing down and we realized that maybe the one year old should start on a smaller slide.
Bradley was fine, a maniac as always
Here you see Eleanor with her absolute favorite toy from the whole trip, Daddy's cane.
With Uncle Bill
I hope you can see my look of resignation in this photo. When Bradley was left to his own devices a few minutes before this he climbed those steps and got over on the play structure solo. He's two ...
Uncle Thomas proved himself over and over again to be amazing with all of his nephews and little niece.
Bradley later flew off of this teeter totter when he went on it with a big kid and laughed hysterically whenever he almost fell off, which caused the big kid to oblige by trying really hard to knock him off. It ended in tears but no lessons learned, Bradley ran over to a giant slide immediately after this.
Eleanor learning from the master.
We got to go to the Silverwood theme park too. Bradley is a fiend when it comes to the rides, no surprise there.
Bradley was obsessed with the kiddie roller coaster, which I was in the middle of saying I thought might be too scary for him when he spotted it and started shrieking with glee and running towards the ride.
This picture is taken when we're measuring to make sure he's tall enough and he's sobbing and pointing towards the ride
He was so little for such a big ride
He LOVED it. I could hear him shrieking when it started going and I was listening carefully (while chasing Eleanor around) to make sure he was okay. More than okay, he cried when the ride was over and we let him go on it one more time before convincing him that there were perhaps other rides in the park worth his time.
Later we went swimming and Bradley went down waterslides with Nathan that would leave Bradley covered in water at the bottom and he'd get up sputtering and demand to go down again. Later I asked Bradley about the water slide and he cheerfully said "water go up nose". I'm in for it.
Food break. Sort of. Aiming is tough after a long day.
I walked away with Bradley to put away the food trays at the park and Eleanor started sobbing and acting like the world was ending ... until she got Bradley back! I thought she wanted me but nope, it was the Bradley boy she wanted and needed. There's was a joyful celebration complete with several hugs and head whacks after our thirty second separation.
We tried to find some mellow time at the house for our overstimulated children. It wasn't too hard, because they didn't really adjust to the time change until the last day so we typically got up at 4:30 or 5:00 with them. Bradley is so fun to watch now when he plays on his own, it's really a glimpse into the "Bradley psyche". I enjoy the 40 second mark in this video when he starts to do some evil laughter.
There was so much great family time on this trip.
Grandpa kisses!
Uncle Bill cuddles
Mommy time with the little sweeties
So much Uncle Thomas time
Both of my kids were just adorable with their little cousin Finn, who is just 8 months old. I'd never seen Eleanor demand to hug a baby before.
Nathan got in on the Finn cuddles
Eleanor is SO cute.
Eleanor was so good on this trip, even though she was mostly exhausted from losing sleep at night and taking shorter naps. Later on, I had her dolled up at the wedding and was fussing with the bow in her hair and Thomas told me that he didn't like all that stuff on her and thought she was cutest when was covered in yogurt at the dinner table.
I can't really argue with him
Uncle Daniel and Aunt Stephanie's wedding was a lot of fun. But it was not without its tough moments for our little sweethearts.
We love our Great Grandma. Weddings just make us cry, okay?
My children swiftly found the entertainment that had been provided for small children in attendance.
A wheelbarrow for Bradley ...
And ice for Eleanor! Such fun!
Bradley and Emmett had a blast as Aunt Diana and Uncle Thomas proved themselves to be the best and most fun of all the people.
Soon Eleanor joined in on the wheelbarrow fun, which was beyond adorable.
Seriously, I need to send a gold medal to Aunt Diana for her wheelbarrow work and help in general throughout the wedding.
Cousins!
The wedding was great for us beside the ceremony and the very long toasts aka the times where children should be sweet and quiet. Mine are always sweet but rarely quiet so we roamed free at these periods.
And made new friends!
Fun moments during the wedding: Nathan has both kids off to the side by the reception area so I can see my little brother get married. But soon I start hearing "Mommy! Mommmmyyyyyyyy!!" so I get to leave mid-ceremony and spend time with the little boy who promptly loses interest in me as soon as I'm accessible. Later, at the end of the ceremony this scene is repeated except with Bradley yelling "Grandma! Grandmaaaaaaaaaa!!" I let him run up to her after the newlyweds had already gone down the aisle and a delighted Grandma got to carry the Bradley boy down the aisle with her after the ceremony.
Neither of my children would be reasonable and sit still and be afraid of new people at the wedding/reception. If they weren't running around on the stage they were wandering around making new friends.
Eleanor got to play fun games with her Great Grandpa (who was too nice about her thinking it was hilarious to stick her finger in his mouth)
And she got quality time with her new Aunt Stephanie! We are so happy to welcome her to the family!
Here my children are with the groom and my mom. Never ... stood ... still.
Apparently Emmett decided to share candy with Bradley during the toasts and then Bradley gave Emmett a flower. Nathan said there were a lot of melting hearts watching this little exchange.
It wouldn't have been too big of a deal to be chasing our children all
over the place but Nathan is still using a cane after his hip surgery
and isn't supposed to be walking while carrying a child and I wore heels
that would have been fine if I hadn't been running all over in them
before, during, and after the wedding. And then my backup flip flops
broke so I got to run around barefoot in gravel.
Nathan and I were pretty exhausted by the time we decided we should leave. Lucky for us we had someone to handle the hour drive back to the house for us.
Just kidding, both of these children were in their carseats and fast asleep about five minutes after this picture was taken.
The next day was our packing up and leaving day, but thanks mainly to Uncle Thomas we still managed to get in a little fun.
Where's Bradley? I can't find him!
Eleanor copies Bradley all the time now. It's super cute.
I think this right here is why Bradley asked for Uncle Thomas repeatedly the morning after we got back home.
Uncle Thomas also made Eleanor's lifelong dream of getting to hold a remote control come true.
And one last snuggle with Grandpa before hitting the road
Exhausted
We had a pretty nice time on the flights home, mostly because Eleanor was so tired and slept for the most of the first leg of our trip.
And on our second plane Bradley decided to go left instead of right when he was walking in front of me to go on the plane and the nice flight crew asked if he wanted to go up and sit in the cockpit. I said "yes!" and immediately passed off Eleanor and a couple bags to poor Nathan and Bradley and I got to get the star treatment in the front of the plane!
"Emergency" they said. "Does anyone onboard know how to fly a plane?" Captain Bradley to the rescue, once again!
And now we're home and getting back into the swing of things. No more trips for the rest of the summer, we're honestly a little relieved to get to relax a bit!
Getting back onto our own time zone has been a little tougher for some of us
But we're managing it, one day at a time.
Eleanor's personality is coming through and I cannot believe I thought this was going to be my mellow child.
Impish gleam in her eyes as she summits Mt. Couch
Girlfriend knows how to get what she wants whether it's popcorn, my phone (forbidden for Bradley), or getting up on a piece of furniture.
Before when I heard squeals of protest from the other room I knew it meant Bradley was stealing a toy or pushing Eleanor over and now it's just as likely that she's just mad because she can't climb up onto a chair.
The Eleanor "want it" pose
I WILL get this cap off of this marker
So cute and smiley, yes? Try to take the hose away from her and see what happens.
Grandpa Dan and Grandma Kati got Eleanor a wonderful princess toy chest for her birthday, which has been a big hit! Lucky Daddy even got some assistance during assembly.
And here is the finished product! Eleanor did manage to fall in face first tonight at bedtime (requiring a somewhat hilarious rescue as her little legs waved around in the air until I pulled her back out) but even that has not diminished her great love for her very own toy chest, just like Bradley's!
I had some time the other day so I decided to paint her toenails. Super cute! But I'm probably not doing it again until she's at least two because she couldn't care less about them and was very squirrely while I was putting on the polish. But it was great when sweet Bradley noticed she had pink toenails and I explained that she had pink toes now, just like Mommy! Bradley quickly said "have NO pink toes" and pointed at his own feet in disappointment. Really the whole world of girly things is a fascinating mystery to
Bradley. Eleanor has a new little dress up doll with magnetic
clothes that Grandma got for us and Bradley put a fashionable hat on it
and started calling it his bunny and having it go "hop hop hop!" Fashion
is indeed tough to understand at times.
Pink toes!
This one I simply call "good parenting" (Don't worry, she couldn't get any lotion out)
More good parenting. We had a strangely cold morning and I had neglected to bring a sweatshirt to the park with us, so after her nose turned pink Eleanor got to wear Mommy's flannel shirt for a bit.
Eleanor is so obsessed with Bradley. Things have escalated a bit and she can't seem to leave him alone when he's a tv show zombie. But really the best is when Bradley is having is diaper changed and she repeatedly insists on trying to step on his face. No idea why. She's testing even the Bradley limits of patience which are quite large when it comes to roughhousing.
But Bradley gets his revenge. Lately Eleanor has been insisting on getting to try to climb up slides like Bradley. Both are laughing at the end of this video, so it's okay.
Here is more outdoor Bradley. He's so cute whenever Nathan does yardwork, he demands to have his own rake and then joins in!
And you'll be happy to hear that our kitties are not being ignored midst all of this Eleanor and Bradley time. Nay, the kitties are being included in all of the Eleanor and Bradley time! You'd think they'd be more grateful instead of looking so surly in all of the pictures of the children giving them loves.
Eleanor loves the kitties so much. She was pretty tired at bedtime tonight and there were a lot of tears ... until I pointed out Sookie on the bed. I placed Eleanor next to Sookie and there was a love fest (not mutual) and Eleanor was so happy. It's an instant happy fix for our little animal lover.
