Thanksgiving Recap

Since we rotate holidays, this was a Sullivan Thanksgiving. We headed up to my brother's cabin just outside the wonderful Balsam Lake/Amery/Turtle Lake, WI area (about an hour and a half drive for us). Braden took a short snooze on the way up there which turned out nice because we were set to eat at his normal naptime and I figured it would be interesting to see him without any nap for the day! We arrived around 12:30 and let him catch a few more zzzs and at 1:00 we woke him up for the festivities. We sat down for dinner once Braden was up and running, but he did not. He wanted to explore the cabin while we all ate. I didn't bring his highchair so we couldn't confine him and off he went! He did manage to taste a little turkey, mashed potatoes, bread and corn when I could catch him. It was a great holiday with all of the Sullivans present. All nine cousins got to play together, the meal was wonderful and it was nice to catch up with the adults. Even though we all live in the Eastern MN/Western WI area, we still don't all get together very often. So, I was thankful for all the Sullivans being together - sharing a wonderful meal, laughing, watching the kids play and just hanging out. We will be with Joe's side of the family for Christmas, so knowing that I wouldn't be with mine made me appreciate the holiday even more!

The morning of Thanksgiving I snuck away while Joe and Braden got ready for the day. I took a little jog around the desolate streets of Edina at a mere five degrees above zero. It was my time to reflect and start the day. I thought about how thankful I am for my wonderful husband, my happy and good-natured son, our health, the roof over our head, the meals that we can eat, all of our wonderful family and friends, and how we are able to have me stay home right now and raise Braden. In the past year, I have learned so many valuable life lessons. I am thankful for the opportunity to have learned more about parenthood, children, marriage, myself and what is most important to our family. (I will probably turn this into a future blog entry.)
What are you most thankful for this year? Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and/or friends!

14 Months and a Master Walker!

It was two weeks ago when I posted the last video of Braden's walking where he was camera shy. Now, two weeks later, and at 14 months old, he is perfecting his walking skills and isn't as camera shy. Sure there are some falls here and there and his steps are still small, but he definitely can go a long ways walking now and is loving his new view of the world (as you can tell by the video above.) He could stay outside all day, except for the fact that he hates mittens and shakes them off and then starts screaming because his hands are frozen. Wish me luck on the mitten thing, but needless to say, if I let him roam outside all day he would!

What else is Mister Braden up to at 14 months? He can say: ma, da da, ball, hi, bye. He makes animal sounds- mostly "woo woo" for dogs, and then he has pig, cow and monkey sounds too. He loves reading books - he turns the pages and points at all the pictures. He is a typical boy- loves cars, trucks, anything that makes noise (like seeing an ambulance or bobcat), and he fetches and throws balls. We also have a lot of giggle fests- he loves being chased around the house, playing hide and seek, being tickled and jumping into pillows. This past week we went to an indoor park in Edina. I took him into the jump house and he hysterically laughed as the big kids would bounce him around with their jumping and he would fall over. So, we are fully enjoying this age (and before the terrible two's hit!) Playing and keeping up with a 14 month old sure helps us feel young again, or rather helps us stay young (I hope anyway)?!?!

Here are a couple more 14 month pics:
Happy boy on his elephant chair.
Showing off his new winter bear hat and sucking on mom's chapstick.
He thinks it's funny to do this wierd twisting motion with his upper body!

My Heart Melts

I swear, this walking business has made Braden an even happier little man - if you can imagine that. He walks all over the house with a big grin holding different items, grabbing new toys and comes to check in on me if I am in the kitchen or another room. It is so flippin' cute. He has mastered the walk in only one week. He can even walk and drink now. I knew he was waiting to do it until he could give it his all, 100 percent...weird, his Dad is the exact same way. I am in trouble, two perfectionists in the house might drive me mad down the road. :)

Everyone keeps saying that the age from 12-18 months is their favorite. I can see why. Braden is loads of fun. We spend most of our days giggling, smiling and playing now. If you tell him to go get the "Packer football" he will go pick up the right ball. I swear it's true, our kid is wicked smart already! (disclaimer- yes, I said "Packer football." To all you MN people: I cannot win this one, our house is filled w/ WI sports memorabilia and consequently Braden will be forced upon much green and yellow until he has the right to choose his own teams.)

So, the point of my blog entry today is the little almost 14 month old man that we are honored to call our own, melts my heart on a daily basis. He has such a sunny disposition. He belly laughs, he dances, he claps, he does the downward dog, he throws the ball and pushes cars around the house. He says "wow" to the first snowfall. He loves big trucks, bobcats and buses driving by. He is so lovable and gives hugs and what we call "smooches". My heart overfloweth!

Toddler Fun

First time with crayons
Yep, they went in the mouth of course! Note the blue on his chin.
More toddler fun, climbing in mom's shoe box.

I just realized that I am a Mom of a toddler. Holy cow, where has the time gone? Last winter I was walking around with a baby in a fuzzy snowsuit strapped into the baby Bjorn (which seems like yesterday I may add). Now this same baby (er, Toddler) is walking, saying a few words and even understands when I tell him to go get his Bobcat toy. Yikes. This growing up business must slow down. It's getting out of control!

I have been trying to think of new things to do with Braden, you know, with his newly found toddler skills. I have no idea what toddlers do besides push toys around, open cupboards and get into everything around the house. I did buy some crayons and coloring books for the first time. Thank goodness I bought the washable ones, they were all over his face. So, all of you experienced moms out there - any ideas of fun things for my little (almost 14 month)man to do? Something a little more creative or artsy than climbing in a shoe box. :) I haven't been brave enough to attempt finger painting yet but I'd love any suggestions especially now that winter is approaching and we will be stuck inside more. uggg! I need some creativity to keep him entertained and learning new things. I am trying to think of things for his Christmas list that would fit into this category too. The only thing I can think of is more toys for the bath and maybe the magnetic alphabet for the fridge but I need more activities for our days inside.

This picture below is Braden demonstrating his acting skills. I think this is borderline inappropriate as far as toddler toys go, but it's kinda funny. :)

Walker Texas Ranger...or something like that.

As you can see from the video above, Braden is fine tuning his walking skills every day now but he is a bit camera shy.

He took his first series of steps around the 21 or 22nd of October, but since then he has been pretty timid or scared of walking. This week however, he has gained confidence and his walking has increased a ton! I have been empowering him to walk places like out to the car, to his high chair, to get a toy, etc... We talk about it a lot too- how big boys walk, so I think he feels better about it. I am not trying to push him but just make him feel more secure in practicing and teaching him that it's ok to fall. I think he has preferred crawling because he knows he's good, fast and there's no falling involved. But the more he walks the less falling there is so he is trying it more and more. Today he walked from our front step all the way to the neighbors front step, which is I don't know like 20-30 feet or so.

I have been trying to take video of his zombie walk, but when he sees the camera of course he won't do it. This is the best I could do. He's getting so good that he can now walk and hold a toy in his hand or his mouth. Go Braden go! :) I love seeing his big smile after he walks. He is proud and so are Mom and Dad!

Sick Monkey

I haven't blogged since Halloween but I know you have already seen pictures of Braden in his monkey suit. We spent Halloween with the Johnson's. We had an open house that day so we headed over to Woodbury for the day. Trick-or-treating started right after dinner. Braden wasn't feeling super hot that afternoon so he stayed in the stroller or our arms until we got up to each house. Then he was eager to reach into the candy bowl to pick out his prize - or mom and dad's prize rather since he isn't eating candy quite yet. :) He took in all the costumes and wasn't even scared, but just stared and pointed. Next year will be a lot more fun, but we still had a good time seeing all the kids and taking Braden out.

That night we awoke at 2am with the flu symptoms, so needless to say on Monday we were all in a vegetable like state with Braden feeling the best. It was hard to all be sick at the same time, nobody could really play with Braden and we would have to take turns making him meals because every time we got up we felt sick. So, the flu is going around so we hear! We hope you all can avoid it, but it only lasted one full day for us thankfully.

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and the beginning of Nov. (yikes) is treating you well!

Phone Home

Braden has this fake phone that he keeps putting in the back of his head (way past his ear usually.) Then he will pretend to talk on it. I have no idea where he got this from. Sometimes when my cell phone rings, he puts his fake phone behind his ear and says hi...or if I say hi, he will grab his phone. Again, I have no idea where he got this from. Usually they model the behavior they see, but I never talk on the phone.