Brayden is now 4 and Brynn a year-and-a-half!!!
May 16, 2009
We had a blow up mattress in Brayden’s room for a while after Auntie Jen had spent the night. Ben was using it to be with Brayden during the night when he woke up. Well, with tornado season here, I moved it in the basement for a space to sleep for night warnings. One night Brayden decided he did not want Daddy in his bed so asked him to sleep on the floor. When he looked down he was concerned that the blow up bed was not there for Ben and said, “I want you to sleep on something comfortable.” We are seeing him make a shift from everything being about him to becomig more aware and concerned for others. He is growing up!
Ben took Brayden on a Hike at the nature park. After a bit of walking Bray claimed, “I’m so exhausted!” When Ben picked him up to carry him the rest of the way Bray said,
“Dad, your the best!” We get kind words a lot from Brayden right now. He is very attached to his family and tells us all the time how great we are and how much he loves us.
The babies, Quinn and Brynn, were bothering Brayden the other day, so he removed himself and played in his room alone for a half hour. I thought it was very independent of him. This is good for his personality.
We still struggle with getting dressed and undressed, picking up, and going to the potty. He can do all these tasks on his own, he just chooses to be silly and goof off until Mommy and Daddy have had enough and start to count down. He does not seem to be a self motivator.
The poor guy has my childhood eating habits and concerns about food. He is even more picky in some ways. He does love peanut butter and nuts and I’m so glad he loves each and every fruit out there. Now Brynn is a great eater and loves meats and veggies. Fruits are not her favorite, but she does like strawberries.
Brynn now says, “I love you” right back. She is even starting to initiate it on her own from time to time.
Brynn has been teething for what seems like forever. She has her four front teeth, K9 teeth, and is almost through with her first set of molars. Those molars have been slowly growing and paining her for a while.
Brynn seems to have a baby in her arms at all times, even when she eats. She loves to roll play with her babies and tells me all the time that they are “crying!” She feeds them pretend “Cocate miwk,” changes their diapers, and wants them all to go without clothing.
She is fascinated with shoes. She loves to try on everyones shoes but her own. She is proving to be like her brother in that she does not want shoes on without socks. We are working her through this though.
June 5, 2009
We are working hard on learning "Love and Logic" parenting techniques. Brayden has really been stumping us recently and after reading a little, we realized that we have not been letting him have enough choices and opportunities to learn to take care of himself so he can grow self confidence. After just putting a few techniques in place this week, he is such a happy guy. I’m so glad to have said bye-bye to the grumpies we used to see. Also, potty training seems to be back on track. He is helping out more and just seems with us again.
Cool story from tonight - Ben was putting Bray to bed and he wanted his power rangers from downstairs to sleep with - we always have to go to bed with some sort of toy. So, Bray asked Daddy to get his power rangers and I guess Ben told him the power rangers would be there for him in the morning. Bray thought about this and answered with exasperation, “Well, I guess I will just go get them myself!” I love that he didn’t keep hounding Ben about it and felt confident enough to do something for himself. Of course, Ben said No and that it was bedtime and he had his dog BOLT, but I love that Brayden is thinking and trying to do things for himself now.
Brayden and I were having a talk about junk food. As he was eating his lunch he said, “So is soda junk water?” Why yes, it is honey!
Brayden has been so proud to tell people that his mom is a music teacher. Too sweet!
During my training for music classes, I was taking the kids with me to the interactive classes. I found the Brayden really loved the puppets Miss Anna put out for the kids to play with throughout class. They took his inhibitions away and allowed him to open up and participate while pretending it was the puppet that was interacting, not him. It was so great to see him enjoying class.
Bray has always been a little delayed with his gross motor skills. He has never been interested in chasing balls or running games, but boy does he have a great arm and excellent pitch and aim. So, sorry for Daddy, it doesn’t seem soccer is in the future, but some positions in baseball look real promising. Bray is really interested in his t-ball set.
He is growing into more active activities. He loves his jumper and loves a good game of chase. We race every day to the mailbox and he is getting faster every day. He loves to go on bike rides and has begun to like sliding and swinging at the park. His favorite way to swing is on his tummy so he can pretend he is superman.
Brayden’s imagination often gets in they way of being able to play games with him. He often likes to play by his own rules or just use the game pieces to play make believe. It can be a bit frustrating for Mommy and Daddy.
He loves transformers, power rangers and robots right now. Oh, and of course, I can’t forget his dog BOLT that grams and gramps Overly passed on to him. That is his buddy and BOLT goes on adventure after adventure with Brayden. BOLT is always in close vicinity throughout a day.
He loves running through the sprinklers and playing with the hose.
Brayden took back “Bolt,” a movie he got from Jen for his birthday. He is very fearful of PG movies or any movie with bad guys or scary and intimidating characters.
Brayden has begun to like Dora shows again and is enjoying the lessons of Barney, The Magic School Bus, and Zoboomafoo. He loves the Greg and Steve music and movement DVD Mom and I found when they were here last. He really responds to men roll models.
Being sneaky and not owning up to the truth about things has been a bit of a problem recently. He is also blaming Brynn for things she can’t possibly have done for she was with me and not in the room he was in. He is also very quick to be mad at others for their mistakes, especially if he is hurt by the mistake, like an elbow in the head or a step on the toe. Things to work on.
We have had some potty problems again since Daddy went back to work. I’m gathering it must be a bunch of issues and a few life changes. We had a great day today though and hope we have is under wraps.
Took Bray to the library and walked in a bit late so we sat in some chairs off to the side. Mr. Ron, the librarian, asked Bray if he could see. Brayden replied, “No, but this is sure comfortable!” All the parents and Mr. Ron laughed. I just love what he comes up with some times.
Bray’s 4th birthday was great. We had a bunch of friends and family over for outside fun, a magic show by the amazing Braydini, and decorated cookies and topped our ice cream. The hit was the water sprinklers. Brayden got so many nice gifts. This was his Transformer birthday. He says next year it will be star wars.
Donna put Brynn to bed a few weeks ago because I had a meeting at the church and apparently when Donna tried to put her to bed she was pretty riled up and did not want to settle down. Donna keep trying to coax her to sleep and Brynn told her, “Bye, Bye!”
Brynn loves so many foods. It is nice to know that she will try things and enjoys a lot of new things. She loves hot dogs in dip (ketchup), spinach/artichoke dip, and “Mac-mac cheese.” Surprisingly, she does not care for a lot of fresh fruit. She does like strawberries.
She is putting so many words together and even says sentences now:
“Yummy, hot dog please!”
“Me watch movie please!”
Brynnie, are you hiding in there? “Hiding in here” (I think the change in wording is amazing.)
She loves to draw and often lays down to do it. It is so cute. Nonnie taught her how we can trace her hand so she is always laying her hand down and saying, “Draw hand!”
She loves to “fly” as she puts her arms straight out behind her back and runs around.
She points out every airplane in the sky when she hears it.
She says “I love you” when she feels like it, often in response when she gets an I love you. She is also very good at hugs and kisses.
She is showing knowledge of so many words like when things are HEAVY or HOT or TICKLES.
She is obsessed with crying and says her babies are always “Crying.” If she is crying she says, “Sad, crying!” I definitely made our kids aware of their feeling some how.
She sings so many songs throughout a day. You might hear her singing one of many of her favorites: It’s raining, It’s pouring, Twinkle LIttle Star, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (and loves to yell “again, FAST!” for the faster version), or Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Brynn says “Hi Baby” to any child we meet when we are out, even if the baby is considerably older than she is.
She has all her teeth now, only one more still on the move. Yippy! Don’t have to worry about that pain until 2 yr. molars.
I emptied the sand box the other day and let it fill up with rain water hoping it would rinse it out. Well, Brynn found it first and jumped right in. She started stomping and splashing around. Needless to say, now it is a permanent pool and she is in it every day with the biggest smile on her face yelling, “I’m dancing! I’m dancing!”
We are having a lot of sweet brother/sister moments. They love to play hide-n-seek. Brynn can count to 13 now. She is so funny as she counts and hides her face in her small hands so not to see where one is hiding. They love to hide from me in the bedroom curtains.
She know many shapes: star, heart, oval, triangle and square
She loves asking for her movies. She doesn’t stick with them very long, but loves to ask for Elmo, Barney and Blues Clues. She brings me the remote and plops right down in HER pooh chair ready to “Watch movie!”
She has some Dora gammies and loves to sing the D-D-D-D-D-Dora theme song anytime she looks at them.
They love it when others will pretend to be asleep and they tap the person and say, “Wake up!” It is too funny when the person wakes all surprised and startled.
*Bray pushes Brynn in the stroller around the stores.
*Sometimes they old hands and walk down the hall in the mornings.
*One morning I caught them crawling around, pretending to be cats and dogs together.
*Push cars are sure fun when brother pushes Brynn all around the house.
*Bath time is always so fun, especially when I get out the shaving cream.
*Bouncing on the blow up jumper is probably their favorite time together.
*Pillow Jump we started this week where we run down the hall and jump only a huge
pile of pillows-so fun!
*They both yell “Daddy!!!” as soon as Ben enters the house from work.
