Anyone want a tricycle?

So we gave Braylon his bike helmet (which was supposed to be a Birthday gift) early so we could just turn him loose on his trike and let him enjoy the nice weather. Instead we discovered that Braylon does not like to ride. I've known that he has shown very little interest in it in the house, but who wants to ride a bike in the house anyway, right? Well, its not just the house. These two pictures are about the only time he spent on his tricycle when we took him to the park this evening. It took more time to get all his safety gear on than he actually spent on the trike. But he at least pretended to be having a good time for the picture.

Cowboy Pablo?

As most people know by now, I start back to work on Monday. This week I had to go into the office for a couple of days so Mom and Dad took Braylon to Camp Runaway with them. This picture is on the way to meet them on Tuesday. I looked in my rearview and he looked too cute not to snap a picture. And of course he had to wear his cowboy hat...anytime he is going to see Dad he has to wear his cowboy hat. Although, it looks more like a sombrero.

Potty Party

Well, I did it. One of those things that I have always thought was kind of ridiculous: I threw my son a Potty Party. But now I know why other Mom's do it...When you are desperate, you'll try anything. We have been working on potty training forever. Braylon has never disliked the potty or been afraid or refused to go. In fact for about the last six months, he has been out of Builders (or Pull-Ups as the normal people call them) and in underwear....He would use the potty anytime we took him. The problem was, up until about three weeks ago, in a stubborn move I blame on his Daddy, he refused to tell us when he had to go. So we were playing a game of luck. If we were lucky enough to take him to the potty at the right time, we were ok. If not, big mess for Mama to clean up. So we came up with the Potty Party idea. Braylon requested two things: cupcakes and jello. In order to have his party, he had to have three days in a row without going in his pants. To keep track of this and to encourage him, we made a Potty Party Calendar. Every time he told us he needed to go or took himself to the potty he got a check mark on his calendar (yellow for pee, brown for poop). If he didn't tell us and lets say, pulled down his pants and peed in his TV chair or went and hid under the table to poop, he got a frowny-face on his calendar (sorry for all the details, but those of you who haven't had to potty train yet, I'm just warning you, and those of you who have, have seen way too much for this to gross you out) . So after three weeks and several postponed potty parties, we finally met our goal. Yesterday was Potty Party Day. We kicked it off by decorating a pair of underwear for him to wear. They said Hip, Hip, Hooray, Its Potty Party Day on the front and Good Job Braylon on the butt. And Braylon covered them with multi-colored poka dots. Then we had the big shin-dig. Lots of food that was not good for us, but was fun: pizza, jello-jigglers, cheese curls, funfetti cupcakes with sprinkles and candy party hats on top, and blue Kool-Aid. Thanks so much to April, Mark, Paula, and Lydia who came to celebrate with us and put up with our craziness! But when it was all said and done, it was fun. And Braylon had a blast. That's worth me looking ridiculous. And it will hopefully pay off big time in terms of potty training. I think he is almost there!

Another Braylon Story

I find myself wanting to post every funny thing Braylon says or does. But as Paula said, this will be nice to look back on as time passes. Anyway....Braylon and I were on the front porch having a picnic lunch today. I left him to finish up his carrot sticks and celery and came inside to make Drew some brownies. When I finished I brought the brownie batter out for us to lick the bowl and found that Bray still hadn't finished. I said you have to eat your veggies before you can have the brownie batter. He then asked if he could dip his carrot in the batter; I let him. He said, "yum, this is delicious." So I said, "well then give me your celery and I'll put some on it too." He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Mom, you don't put brownie batter on celery. That would taste yucky." Silly me, huh.

Camp Out

Last night I read Bray his bedtime story and tucked him in. I thought from the way he was acting and because he had a late nap, that he might try to get out of bed. I was really tired. So rather than going back downstairs I went on to bed. I read and listened for Braylon to get up for about 30 minutes. I never heard a peep so I went on to sleep. When I woke up this morning, this is what I found. There was nothing left on his bed except his bed sheet. He had taken every stuffed animal he sleeps with, both his pillows, and his blanket and "camped out" in the nook above the staircase.

Check out that pile of books he also took with him. What scares me the most is that he was quiet and sneaky enough to do all this without me hearing in the room next door. Or that he stayed awake for 30 minutes, until he noticed I had turned out my lamp and stopped moving around and then quietly did all of this without waking me up. Either way we are in trouble. What a squirt!

Mud Puddle Maddness!

Who knew rocks and a mud puddle could make a kid so happy.
One of Braylon's new favorite things to do is to walk down to the end of our street. There is a big mud puddle down there and he would stand there and throw rocks into it all day if we would let him.
Dad caught him a butterfly when they were up here last week. Now our walks have also turned into "butterfly hunts," as Braylon calls them. We purchased him a butterfly net the other day and he is very excited about it. But I still think his favorite part is throwing the rocks in the mud puddle at the end.

Playing Outside

Braylon loves playing outside.

Eventhough, we don't really have a yard, we are making due.
What a face!
He loves picking flowers. He also loves collecting rocks and sticks.
Some of his recent projects!