Mommy and Bryson Day

Bryson was on vacation from daycare yesterday due to in-service.  This opened the door for a fun-filled Mommy/Bryson Day.  My first idea was to take him to a bounce place where he could play till he dropped.  But after doing some research at the bounce place in Murfreesboro, I decided that wasn’t the best idea.  Their site specifically said “not recommended for non-walkers or early walkers”.  Not cool, but whatever.  Who said you have to be an experienced walker to know how to bounce?   Either way, we’re going next Sunday for a birthday party, so Bryson will show them what he’s made of.

Once that idea got squashed, Mike came up with the idea to take the little guy to the Discovery Center.  They have all kinds of great things for “non-walkers”.  There is a padded room (not for crazy people but for a safe environment for the crawlers).  It’s awesome!  They have mirrors at crawler level where Bryson met himself many times and giggled.  At one point, he gave himself a kiss.  Bryson had a blast crawling on and over everything. 

 

They have slides:

They have blocks to stand on:

They have pits to play in:

They also have tons of craft and building exhibits and a giant Tinkertoy exhibit.  If he were several years older, he would have been allowed to play with them.  If I let him go at it now, the Tinkertoys would have just ended up in his mouth.  And let’s face it, that’s just gross.  So we explored by watching the older kids play.  Bryson got to drive a fire truck and an old timey car, he got to play music, he got to ride a rocking giraffe, he got to be a mailman and play with cardboard stamps, he got to splash in a water troth with lots of boats, he got to see a giant train station, and so on.  You get the picture.  He had a great time.

One cute thing that Bryson has learned how to do is wave.  He waves at everybody…children, people that are next to him, himself in the mirror, even Aspen.  She barks when he waves at her.  I think she anticipates he’s going to grab her when the waving is over, so she’s telling him to watch it.  Anyway, we went to play outside where they have a river nearby.  There were lots of ducks to watch.  He, of course, starting to wave at the ducks.  At one point, he said “Da”.  That was close enough to “duck” for me.  I was pretty excited.

Happy Birthday, Bryson (Almost)

I know, I know, it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve updated this (5 months to be exact, but who’s counting?).  It’s a bit lengthy, so grab some coffee, sit back and enjoy my short novel. 

So many wonderful things have happened in our lives since the last post.  To name a few:

Bryson got his first tooth and now has a mouthful (six to be exact)!  It was a tough experience for the little guy.  He would wake up at all hours crying because that mean tooth was trying to break free.  It was about a two week process.  Once he had his official first tooth on the bottom, another one came to join the it about a week later.  They tend to come in pairs with Bryson.  When he gets one, I know another is sure to come very shortly.  He now has two bottom teeth, two top teeth, and two more top teeth peeking out.

Now that Bryson has teeth, he has been able to begin eating solid food like a champ.  Pretty much anything Mike and I eat is fair game for Bryson.  The faces he makes when he tries something new are hilarious.  The best ones are when he closes his eyes, scrunches his face and shudders from head to toe.  You would think that means he absolutely hates whatever we just fed him, but once the reaction is over, he’s ready for the next bite.  He did this with a lemon, which was the funniest thing to watch, but he also does it with normal foods we know he enjoys, like sweet potatoes and bananas.  I think he expects one thing, and has that reaction when it’s different (good different and bad different have no bearing to this reaction).



First lemon



After he would make this face, he would want more.



3…2…1…and he’s off.  Well, almost.  He has mastered crawling and looks like quite the little speed racer on the floor.  Just show him a favorite toy, and there’s no stopping him.  He will literally climb over any obstacle in his way.  This has included me, Mike, shoes, boxes, infants at daycare, and so on.  There’s no stopping him when he’s on a toy mission.  As if that weren’t awesome enough, he can now pull himself up on everything.  Once he’s up, he will run with whatever he’s holding.  I can’t count the times he has rearranged our kitchen chairs and toy boxes when he was in race mode.  When he starts walking fast or running with his car, he opens his mouth and squeals because he gets so excited.

Rearranging the chair...

Bryson and Aspen are still great friends.  There is still the occasional tail pulling and fur grabbing, but aside from these unwelcome behaviors, Aspen loves Bryson to the fullest.  She gets so excited when we get home and wants to give him all kinds of kisses, in the face, nonetheless.  He encourages this by giggling at her.  Then if Mike and I are tickling and chasing Bryson and he squeals in excitement, she barks at us because she thinks we’re hurting him.  She also barks if we play airplane by twirling Bryson in the air or if Mike puts Bryson on his shoulders.  Aspen tends to fear for his safety in a number of ways, so she is a great protector.  All 3 ½ pounds of her! 

Tug of war

One of Bryson’s favorite pastimes, aside from eating and sleeping, is when Mike pushing him on his car.  He will sit him on the car, and instead of Bryson pushing himself along slowly with his feet, he will pick up his feet in anticipation of what comes next…full throttle speed ahead!  Mike will get behind him and push him in the car as fast as he can go.  Bryson immediately has this look of shocked excitement as they rumble through the living room.  Imagine having your picture taken on a roller coaster – yep, that’s the look.  They continue their rampage around the kitchen table and end back in the living room. 

Speaking of sleeping, this is the most common sleeping position for Bryson.  Knees tucked under him, bottom in the air:

We have been trying to transition Bryson to a sippy cup with no success.  He will take it as long as there is water in there, but if you put his milk in there, you can forget it.  Bryson will look you in the eye and throw the sippy off the high chair without a second glance at it.  It’s the bottle or nothing.  Everything I’ve read said not to rush him and that he will take the sippy when he’s ready for it.  I’m not so sure I believe that.  He’s pretty hooked on the bottle.  When he sees it coming, he actually giggles and kicks his feet because he can’t wait for it.  He’s still on four bottles a day.  We’re trying the sippy to replace the middle two bottles, but he’s not loving it.  Keep your fingers crossed we get better at this stage.  Any tips, send them on!

Holiday extravaganza update!  Halloween was awesome.  He was a dragon.  One of his friends, Kinsley, came over to go trick-or-treating.  They had a great time in the wagon seeing all the kids dressed up in the neighborhood.  They were certainly the cutest ones on the block! 

Thanksgiving was fun, and Bryson got his first taste of sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce.  Success.  Christmas was SOOOO busy and SOOOO awesome, all at the same time.  We got to spend time with all our family and friends, which was amazing.  Bryson got TONS of gifts and had a great time playing with his cousins.  He got to meet Santa, and didn’t scream, which was great.

Bryson is still quite the ladies man.  Him and Julie have become the talk around daycare as the cutest couple.  All the teachers know to keep them together during playtime.

We have two very exciting events coming up.  Next Sunday (2/19), Mike and I have committed to dedicating Bryson at our church.  We are so proud to have made this important decision for our family, and we look forward to growing spiritually as a family.  It will be one of the most important things we ever do, so we would appreciate all of your supportive prayers and encouragement as we move forward into this amazing new step.  Our next exciting event is Bryson’s FIRST birthday.  Words can’t express how proud I am of Mike and I to have raised such a loving, happy baby boy.  He is now officially a toddler!  I am sad to see my baby has grown into a toddler WAY faster than I was prepared for and expected, but I am so excited to see him grow and develop.  Watching him learn something new is one of the proudest moments I have.  For example, he learned how to put the circle block in the circle hole.  It was such a great accomplishment for our little guy.  Every time I clap for him, he claps too with a great big smile on his sweet face.

More fun pics until next time:

Played out at daycare in the most favorite place, the ballpit