Brandon and I finally got out for a walk again! One of our favourite parks is open again! It is hard to believe that 2007 is drawing to a close. This year has really flown by. A year ago Brandon was still a baby, and now he is well on his way to being a toddler!!! This is one kid that will need a dog one day... he loved all the puppies that we saw on our walk!
Being all bundled up in a snowsuit may mean that you are warm... but you definitely are not stylin and profilin in it!
I have neglected Brandon's blog for the past month. Oops.
All in all, November really wasn't that exciting of a month. October was jam packed with lots of fun outings and day trips, and November seemed to blitz by with me learning the ropes of a new job, the rains starting, and well, just adjusting to a new schedule. We did get in a trip down to the states to take advantage of our stronger dollar, and did get some great experiences in. As you can see, I have worked some magic with the dates to help fill in a few of the gaps.
Brandon is just over 16 months, and is talking up a storm. He is picking up a handful of words every day, and always is charming us. He has cut three more teeth in the last week, and the rest are all pretty close. So that will be it until the 2 year old molars come in. It is weird, he had 5 for so long, and now they are all coming in fast and furious! He is almost walking. It feels like we have been waiting forever for him to take his first independent steps, but Brandon has been cruising around the furniture, pushing his pushie toys, walking with us holding his hands, standing for a brief moment solo, but still not on his own. He is a little late, but still in the normal range. I always figured he would walk early and talk a little later on, but he seems to have his own mind on that. He has so many words, and is picking up things so quickly, that the walking just doesn't always seem to be the number one priority. However, it seems to have really changed in the last few days - he gets up and in to his chairs all the time, and really wants to get up and walk with either the pushie or around the coffee table and do laps pulling himself up on just about anything. We are also walking more with him, and you can almost see a daily difference with his confidence. I think one day he is just going to take off and leave us all in the dust.
Time and time again Brandon teaches us that how things happen and when, really is up to our kids (with some nurturing to help nature along) and that you really do need patience because you can build it, but it is up to the magic moment they are ready to take their next step.
PS We really did go from a lot of snow to torrential rains and +13 degrees all in the space of about 48 hours.
Hanging out with Dad and cousin Mike.. and then with Mom. 
Often the best laid plans can go awry - Mike came over to babysit while we attended a holiday function only to discover that our hill was not navigable. So, when life hands you lemons - we played in the snow, and had a relaxed night chilling. Nothing like getting some extra time with your loved ones!
You can't hear us, but we are both going "wheeeeeeeeee" Brandon loved the wind in his face and whipping around the corners. Once he is moving, he is going to be running!
Driving up island, we noticed signs up as we passed through Goldstream that the salmon were spawning. This was something I had always been curious about, and we lucked out and happened to pass through at the right time. Every one and their dog were out, and parking was at a premium! There was a festive atmosphere celebrating the salmon run (a little bizarre in a sense) and the seagulls were having a good time as well.
You can make out the salmon fins in the water, and the gulls are there like a monty python episode, poking at the bodies as they fight their way upstream.. I can hear the fishes - "We're not dead yet!! Bugger off!!!!"
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vacations
On route to Vancouver Island... the long way from Anacortes (a great trip)
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vacations
And us, hanging out in the park.
After a successful morning at the aquarium, what better thing to do than go for ice cream together?? We stopped at the crown glory of gelato places on the way home from the city.. and the funny thing about kids.. you do not have to teach them how to eat an ice cream cone!!!
These are like big drums...
You can tell, Brandon is communing with the Great Pumpkin, wondering what great art is going to emerge from within...
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Halloween
So much harder to get that "money shot" now that he is getting older, he moves a lot more, and I am trying to get candid shots, but it can be tricky. This is truly an advantage of digital cameras - you can take a zillion shots, and then edit, edit, edit!!
Well... 14 months just flew by, and Brandon is talking up a storm. He has many words already, and his favorite phrase is "Where is the ball?" That is the first thing he says in the morning, and the first thing he says when we get home.. you can have many toys, and it all comes down to the simple stuff. He says momma and dadda, poppa, hi, ball, car, shoe, he has said moo but it has been a while, go (a few times), almost said buzzzzz, apple, nana, and bye bye. He is getting there - he is a talker, what a surprise! He is close to walking, but not quite. He is cruising along, and moving between pieces of furniture, but he just doesn't want to stand solo yet and take steps by himself.
He will walk with someone holding his hands up, and he is getting stronger all the time. It is easy to get impatient at times, and try to will him to walk, but he will when he is ready and it is obvious that his skills are improving all the time, and that is what you want to see.It seems that kids mature and do things when they are ready and we have to learn patience.
He likes to play, and he likes to wrestle. He likes stacking toys, and is learning how to push cars around. He loves his stuffed, soft animals and he is a really good eater. He does well with bottles and sippy cups, and is learning how to use a spoon. With me, he is a messy eater, and with his dad, well, Ken helps him more and I let him make more of a mess, so together we have some kind of balance thing going on. He doesn't really make strange much, and he sleeps for about 9-10 hours at night, and takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. This has been pretty stable for a while - sometimes on the weekends we sneak an extra nap in there - we are all tired when saturday rolls around!
He has fit in really well with daycare, and we consider ourselves really lucky. I am starting a new job in a week, and without feeling good about our daycare, I could never have contemplated this move. It is really exciting. I am trying to think of what else I can update you with - ah yes, I have spent time going through Brandon's clothes this weekend - he is 24 month old clothes, or 2Ts... He is about 34 inches long, and I figure about 30 pounds. Funny how in the beginning all that information is so precise, and then as your child gets older, these answers become much more approximate as you relax in to parenthood. He is growing like a weed and that is fun to watch. He is tall - we are paying forward a few hand me downs to a boy at daycare, he is 25 months old!! In all fairness, he is smaller from his age because his parents aren't that big... He likes interacting with other kids, and is changing all the time. The baby stage seems like a lifetime ago already (which is part of the reason I am trying to capture a few milestones here today). He still has 7 teeth through, and I think that the lower left 1st year old molar is poking through.. that final bottom front tooth (of the first 4 that come in first) is really, really close but not confirmed to be through yet. Those first teeth came in so fast, and the last few have been stragglers. It's kind of funny.
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milestones....
Probably the last time this summer we can get this messy at the beach! Especially since the rains are predicted in the near future...these days are priceless.
We made a sand castle and played in the sand, and then we went for a swim. It was a great way to celebrate being alive!
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the beach
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up against the pads
But really, funny as hell!! Why is it so hard to take your baby seriously when they start to cry?
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vacations
