What's New

In addition to his increasing verbal skills, Bradley's physical skills are improving. A couple times this week, he walked up the stairs like a normal person. He just used one hand to steady himself along the wall. Brad has been getting better with the Lego blocks, although he had some help with the sculpture in this picture.

His vacuuming skills are excellent! He seriously cleaned up most of the family room. For the part he missed, we created a game. One person chases the other with the little vacuum. You have to jump on the couch in order to be "safe". Bradley likes being chased, but he also played the part of the chaser.

His throwing is pretty good too. There is not a lot of distance, but the accuracy is good. Catching is non-existent.

Finally, bubbles. Bradley made some bubbles in the bath tub this week. However, it was not the way children usually make bubbles in the tub. He did it with his mouth. Finally! We spent 10 weeks in swim class trying to learn this and never were successful. Now, out of the blue, he does it.

Watch Your Mouth

Bradley is starting to learn words that we haven't been trying to teach him.  On Thursday, he said "keys".  I was really stunned by that.  His vocabulary is expanding.  He can say "back", as in "I will right back".  Brad also says "beep, beep", as in "get out of my way".  Even his pronunciation of older words is improving.  Today he said "water", not "wa" or "wa-wa".

Best Day Ever!

After dinner on Saturday, we went on a donut run (Bradley's first).  Even though the Hot light was not on, they were making donuts at the Krispy Kreme.  That means Bradley got to see the icing waterfall!  He didn't express any excitement.  Come to think of it, he has never had icing, so I guess he has no appreciation of the icing waterfall.  We had bought the donuts for breakfast on Sunday, but ended up having them as a dessert on Saturday.  They were delicious.

It was also a good day for daddy, who got to feel the new baby for the first time.

Chore Boy - Video Added

Bradley continues to help with chores around the house. Today, he put his laundry away. He opened the drawer and took everything from the laundry basket and stuffed it in the drawer, in a completely random fashion. That will make getting dressed in the morning more of an adventure. Later, he helped vacuum the floor. UPDATE - Click picture for video.

Water Water Everywhere

We are having a heat wave in Chicago. Temperatures have soared into the double digits. To try to beat the heat, we hit the pool. We spent most of our time just splashing around. Bradley wasn't too interested in jumping into the pool, unlike when we were on vacation. Click on the picture for a video.

On the Next Maury...

We feed Bradley a chocolate chip cookie for the first time.  He promptly spit it out!  This makes me wonder if he is really Christine's child.  We will let you know the results of the DNA test.

 

Bradley can be pretty stubborn, so maybe he is related to her.

Mama for President

We had a little party for mama's birthday. Bradley unwrapped all of the gifts. Since he was so sick during Christmas, he didn't really get a chance to do unwrapping then. Later, he tried to re-wrap a few of the gifts. Mama now officially meets the Constitutional requirements to run for President.

Ex The Rex

For obvious reasons, the unborn will no longer be referred to as "Baby Rex".  We will just call him "The Deuce", for now.

New Additions

As most of you may know, we will be having another child this summer. We recently found it is a boy. Let's call him baby Rex. Here is the first picture.
The other new addition has to do with Bradley. He has got one new tooth coming and three more are soon to follow. Unlike when he was younger, he loves it when you put Orajel on his gums.

Can You Repeat the Question?

If you ever need a chuckle, ask Bradley the following question, "Do you need another hole in the head?"  About 80% of the time he will answer "yes".  On Sunday I asked him, "Do you want to get a job?"  Here, too, the answer was "yes".  However, mommy and I decided to interpret the response as "yes, sometime in my lifetime".  Even though he doesn't have a paying job, he is starting to be even more useful around the house.  On Sunday, he was using the little stick vacuum.  He really was cleaning the floor, not just playing around.  We tried to take it a step further by going outside and shoveling the sidewalk.  However, for this task, his efforts were more ceremonial in nature.

 

One other new talent I discovered is that he will sometimes cheer when daddy enters the room.  It makes me feel like the President.  Now, if I can just get him to play Hail to the Chief on his drum.