We like watching Braden play by himself, as he’ll often talk, sing or attempt to read. Regarding the last point, he loves spelling the letters of words he sees, whether they’re on signs, the TV, books … you name it. Usually he says “Braden” at the end of spelling a word, after we previously taught him what his name looked like.

Braden has just about learned the alphabet song. It’s so cute when he sings along to his alphabet game device (or without it). Even if he messes up the “now I know my ABCs …” portion, he’ll always end the song correctly on “me” (and hitting the right note).

In terms of speaking, Braden is getting much better at communicating in either two- or three-word sentences as he learns the meaning of more and more words. For example, he says “are you?” quite often when he’s looking for something or someone, as in “daddy are you?” or “blanket are you?”

He’s also very quick to repeat words he hears, so we have to be careful with our langauge. He usually repeats the last two words of a sentence he hears, then puts them into a question form. We may say something like, “Braden, it’s time to eat dinner.” He’ll reply, “eat dinner?”

As Braden’s vocabulary continues to grow, it’s funny what he calls certain things. For example, Brian was trying to explain what syrup was, but eventually he told Braden it was “waffle juice,” and now that’s what Braden calls it.

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Braden can count to 10 in both English and Mandarin. Sometimes he switches back and forth if he forgets a number.

In terms of understanding both languages, he’s definitely getting more fluent. He also know his Chinese name is Jie (though he’s affectionately called Jie Jie by Brian’s family).

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Braden likes to do things himself. For instance, he may want to go down the stairs without our assistance. Often he’ll either shoo us away and/or say “Braden do it.”

That independence extends to the morning, when Braden prefers to pick out his clothes and take off his own pajamas. Too bad he’s not potty trained yet, or we’d be set!

When he’s in our downstairs area, he likes to pretend he’s exercising. He’ll pick up the medicine ball, or he’ll lift the shake weight up and down.

His fine-motor skills also have improved. He can do things like turn on Brian’s iPod Touch, swipe it to unlock it, then run the Video app to watch “Wiggles.” He can also use his wrench and screwdriver from his toy workshop.

Journal new skills, talking

Thanks to Kristin, Braden can read just about the entire alphabet. Sometimes he confuses “I” and “T,” and he has trouble saying “W,” but he’s really getting there!  

In his bedroom he has foam cut-outs of letters and numbers, and it’s neat to seem him pick one up and say what it is. Last night he picked up the “V” and said “Y,” then he flipped it over and said “A.” He’s definitely recognizing the shapes.

Along those lines, Braden is getting much better at identifying objects. He has a book with pictures of everything from A to Z. When we read to him at night, we ask him things like “which one is the dog?” and he’ll point to it.

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Braden’s language is evolving into sentences (usually just two or three words long). From “more, please” to “night night daddy,” his speech grows every day. He also can understand what people are saying to him in both English and Mandarin.

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Braden calls Brian’s grandma “ma,” as that’s what Brian’s aunts call her, and he mistakes that as her name.  To Braden, she should actually be “tai po.”

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Braden was slightly sick last week. He learned to cover his mouth while coughing–it’s really cute. He also knows to grab a tissue paper when he has a runny nose.

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It seems like every new generation is more comfortable with new technology than the previous. Braden knows has to unlock Brian’s iPod Touch by swiping the screen. He also knows how to use the YouTube app on our smartphones.

In addition, Braden loves playing with Kristin’s dad’s iPad. We would probably buy him a tablet device if they weren’t so expensive.

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Somehow Braden learned to roll his eyes. It’s really funny to see him do it. For example, he’ll roll his eyes and then look at Kristin after Brian does something goofy. We suspect Braden will be rolling his eyes throughout his life at his dad.

Journal sick, talking, technology

We can’t believe it–Braden is two years old! We took him and Kristin’s parents to the Nitty Gritty for lunch (he was the first name on the board), and the staff sang him “Happy Birthday.”

Afterward, we all went back to our house for vegan cupcakes that Brian found at the Willy Street Co-op. Braden loved the frosting! It’s obvious he has his mom’s sweet tooth.

Braden also celebrated his birthday, along with Chinese New Year, on Friday at Brian’s mom’s house. By the way, Friday the 11th marks his Chinese birthday (Brian’s is Thursday the 10th).

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Braden prefers to pick out his clothes in the morning. In fact, if we pick something else for him to wear, he gets upset. So far, he’s picked shirts and pants that match (fortunately).

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When Braden gets gassy, we take him to his own toilet, where he’ll sit down, read a book for a while then grab some toilet paper (too much) to “wipe.” He has yet to poop for us, though he has peed in his toilet.

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Brian read Braden a bedtime story the other night. On a page where Braden was “counting” the objects on the page by pointing to them, he got up to eight (Brian was counting outloud the whole time) and paused (so did Brian). Then Braden said “nine.” Brian couldn’t believe it, though it may have been a coincidence that he made a noise that sounded like “nine.”

Journal birthday

Braden had his one-year follow-up allergy appointment last Thursday. As it turns out, he’s still allergic to peanuts and tree nuts (even more so), as well as dairy. However, the doctor believes Braden will outgrow the dairy allergy, since the levels were so low.

Meanwhile, the doctor gave us the OK to give Braden a little egg (one-fifth teaspoon)–the levels were very low, and Braden had already had it when it was baked into foods. So we gave him a little scrambled egg on Sunday, and he did not have any negative reaction.

We will slowly increase the amount of egg over time, and hopefully he will still be fine. We’re also praying he gets over his dairy allergy by next year.

Just in case, we also purchased an EpiPen in case of any accidental exposure.

Journal allergies

Braden is getting better at repeating and pronouncing words. For example, he can say “I” then “love” then “you,” though he has some trouble stringing it all together. His “please” is more like “psshh” and his “xie xie” (Mandarin for thanks) is “shh shh.”

But he does know the meaning of the words he can say. He says “more” when he wants a food refill (quite often), “bow wow” when he wants to watch the Wiggles (it’s the name of one of their songs; he also knows how to say “wiggles”), “Elmo” when he wants to watch an Elmo DVD or Sesame Street and “ball” when he wants to play catch.

Brian and Braden were searching for something in Braden’s bedroom the other day, and Braden was so cute in looking under and in everything (drawers, closets, his crib, etc.), and each time he came up empty-handed, he would declare “nope!”

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Braden is way ahead of us technology-wise. One of our computers is a touch screen, and he knows how to operate it, especially when he’s picking videos to watch on YouTube. A few days ago, Braden opened the protective case to Brian’s iPod Touch, then turned it on and swiped the screen to unlock it. It was unbelievable (we never taught him this).

Apparently, he can work Kristin’s dad’s iPad as well. We’ve been considering buying him one of those cheap tablets (~$100) to play with.

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Braden is getting closer to dressing and undressing himself. For instance, he can unzip his one-piece pajamas and take it off (this is actually quite impressive). We’ve seen him put on/take off pants and shirts before, too.

He’s getting to the point in which he picks out his clothes in the morning. Once, Brian dressed Braden in something he did not choose, and he was SO mad.

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Braden has an allergy appointment this week. We’re hoping it brings us some good news that he’s grown out of some of his allergies (peanuts, dairy, eggs).

Journal talking, technology

On Sunday we took Braden to get his first haircut! For someone as bald as Braden has been, this was a long time coming.

We went to Cost Cutters, which had a race car for him to sit in. Actually, it was a pretty good setup. A little TV in front of him played “Rugrats,” plus they gave him a balloon at the end.

Braden was shy at first and sort of cowered when the barber tried to cut his hair, but he eventually warmed up and then became fascinated at seeing his own hair on the race car.

If you can believe it, Braden actually looks younger now that his hair (especially around the ears) is not so scraggily.

Check out the photos of his first haircut.

Journal haircut

Hope you  like our Christmas card this year. It was extremely fortunate to have Braden look into the camera (set on “auto”) AND smile at the same time all five or so times we took this picture.

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You can pretty  much ask Braden any question and he will respond with “un un” (no). Even if he really means yes, he will still say un un. This has been going on for about two months now. As of this week, he’s starting to say “no,” which is cute.

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Braden is getting better at jumping. Previously, he could only leap one foot at a time, but now he can take off from both feet. He also can march in place (just like Brian did in the UW marching band).

In addition, Braden is starting to give “zerberts” or “razzberries” (he lifts your shirt and blows on your stomach).

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Braden’s new favorite food seems to be raisins. He likes to take a huge handful and stuff his face with them. If any fall on the ground, he knows to blow on them first (to get rid of any dirt, dust, etc.) before eating them.

Kristin tried to feed Braden a grilled-cheese sandwich (with fake cheese) the other day, but he hated it. However, we suspect if we topped it with his favorite condiment–ketchup–he would have eaten it.

Speaking of eating, Braden doesn’t always want to sit in his high chair. For example, at breakfast, he usually eats at the coffee table in the living room or in his play area. Otherwise, he likes to sit on a dining chair like mom and dad.

Journal feeding, new skills, talking

For the most part, it’s easier to put Braden to bed. After brushing his teeth, giving him some water and reading a couple of books, we can put him in his crib while he’s still awake, and he’ll go to sleep on his own. Much better than the old days of having to rock him to unconsciousness.

On the flip side, it’s become harder to get him out of bed in the morning (isn’t that supposed to happen in the teen years?). He’ll usually lie there and talk to himself. When we try to pick up him, he puts up a fight. Braden also won’t let us change his clothes or diaper in the morning (or at night).

In other words, the morning routine has become quite the struggle. We attribute part of it to his reduced hunger in the morning. Previously, he couldn’t wait to head downstairs to eat. Now he’s not that hungry for some reason and doesn’t mind the leisurely pace.

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Braden babbles a lot, and is starting to string together the few words he can say (e.g. “mama dada”). He’s getting better at repeating words, and he certainly understands a LOT of words in both English and Mandarin.

We know Braden can say (and understand the meaning of): mama, dada, nai-nai (paternal grandmother in Mandarin), up, yes, uh-oh, hot, un-un (no) and Bucky. He also likes to say “yeah yeah,” which stems from TV show segment we once watched.

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Braden for sure has reached the terrible twos (hopefully it doesn’t get worse). When he doesn’t get his way, he well lie on the floor and throw a tantrum if you try to pick him up. His bossiness has increased, too.

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Some times Braden likes to take his sponge and wash himself in the bathtub. It’s so cute to see him try to wash his own feet, for example.

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Braden has been getting hives on his back and face lately, though we’re not sure why, since he hasn’t been exposed to any of the foods to which he has allergies.

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Braden continues to show that he is half Kristin, half Brian, especially in social situations. We were recently at our condo’s flea market, and all our neighbors wanted to say hi to him. Instead, Braden begged Brian to pick him up, then he buried his head in Brian’s chest. Anytime someone try to move to another angle to see him, he would further try to hide.

After 5-10 min., he was running around the room like a crazyman and being his normally cute, outgoing self. It’s funny that it takes time for him to warm up and drop his shyness.

Journal bath, new skills, sleep, talking

Braden’s second Halloween was obviously more rewarding than his first. We went to Marcie and Josh’s house and then went to a few houses in their neighborhood. Braden walked with us–which in itself was fun, especially since he couldn’t last year–and then picked the candy himself at the houses. He also waved bye-bye to all the people as we left each house.

(We imagine the experience must have been weird for Braden, to keep going from house to house and getting a treat each time. Plus, he doesn’t even know what candy is.)

Unlike last year, in which he kept taking his pumpkin hat off, Braden left his bumblebee costume intact once we started trick-or-treating. (However, it should be noted he wore his candy pale on his head for a while). As you can imagine, he was super adorable!

When we got home, we let Braden eat a little bit of his taffy. Some of it stuck to his teeth, and it was cute watching him pick it off with his fingers. As expected, Kristin began eating the rest of his candy.

Journal Halloween

Almost a year to the day, Braden took his second flight when we went to Myrtle Beach for vacation. He fell asleep halfway through our mid-morning flight to Detroit, and he did pretty well on the two-hour flight to Charleston until he acted up a bit in the final 15 minutes (when we had to shut off all electronics).

The way back was good, too. We did a better job of keeping him occupied from Charleston to Detroit, and he eventually fell asleep from Detroit to Madison (a late flight that also was delayed). We used food, books, DVDs, YouTube videos on Brian’s phone, videos on our iPod and toys. Both our carry-ons were totally devoted to Braden.

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We think Braden’s favorite part of Myrtle Beach was the alligator zoo (see pictures in the photo album). He loved spotting all the gators and crocodiles, especially the ones lurking beneath us at the bridges.

For that reason, we thought Braden would love the aquatic animals in Ripley’s Aquarium, but he seemed fairly indifferent. The aquarium was located in a huge area called Broadway on the Beach, and so we went walking around a bit. We found a bridge in which you could buy pellets and feed the large fish and ducks below. There were so many we couldn’t believe it–they would jockey for position and sit on top of each other for these little pellets, which Braden enjoyed tossing at them.

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As expected, Braden ate pretty well. We had a condo so we went grocery shopping for Braden. At restaurants, we fed him some seafood, which he tolerated to some extent. He seemed to like hush puppies and fried shrimp, but only in small quantities.

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Braden liked the beach, but never for more than 30-60 min.; we think it got to be too hot out there for him, even though we went out around 10 a.m. We bought him a volleyball, shovel and bucket, all of which he enjoyed using on the sand. We also bought him a floatation device, which he liked using in the pool.

Apparently, Braden takes after his dad in his ability to tan. In just the few days we were out there, Braden developed a small farmer’s tan. He did not get any sun burns!

Journal travel, vacation