Our house is getting less and less baby-proofed by the day. Braden really enjoys his new skill: climbing on furniture. Whether it’s a couch, bed, chair … you name it, he can climb it. We think he enjoys the sense of accomplishment for getting up there and sitting with the adults.
Speaking of new skills, Braden can occasionaly open our doors (we have the long handles vs. the knobs). He gets on his tippy toes and reaches for the handle, and sometimes he can grab it long enough to pull it down and open the door.
Braden’s throwing skills have improved as well. Brian loves the face Braden makes when he puts both arms above his head to throw–we’ll try to get a picture soon.
What Braden has not yet mastered is climbing down stairs while standing up. He used to “slide” down on his stomach, but now he prefers trying to walk down. His legs are a bit too short to do this, so we hold his hands and float him down each step.
In case we forgot to mention: Braden is able to take his own soiled diaper, put it in the Diaper Genie and rotate the cylinder.
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More TV, less food. Braden is starting to enjoy watching TV. He’ll just sit there on the floor and silently watch the screen despite not completely understanding what’s going on. On the other hand, Braden is starting to eat less, if you can believe it. He no longer will finish an entire banana (plus cereal) at breakfast. In fact, when Braden’s done eating a certain item, he’ll either throw the leftovers on the floor or at you.
Journal
feeding, new skills
Braden likes to get his way–or put in another way, he hates it when he doesn’t get his way. If he’s playing with an object and you take it away, he will throw a fit. If you pick him up when he wants to be put down, he will kick his legs and flail his arms. Kristin’s book confirmed that the “terrible twos” actually starts at 15 months, which is exactly how old Braden is.
Besides his demeanor, Braden also is changing physically. For one, his face is changing (Brian says he looks noticeably older). He is going from new-born cute to infant cute, if that makes sense.
Braden also is taller. We have noticed he can reach things he couldn’t reach before. This is going to add an extra layer of difficulty in baby-proofing the house.
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We are constantly amazed how quickly Braden can learn things. For example, he will take his soiled diaper and put it in the Diaper Genie, then flip the handle over. It was quite the sight to see the first time he did it.
Today, Brian was doing some jumping exercises. After Braden laughed for a while, he began crouching and trying to jump, though he was only able to straighten up (still super cute!).
He can almost feed himself with a spoon, though he keeps flipping the spoon upside-down before it reaches his mouth.
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Braden added another sleeping position to his arsenal: arms behind the head. It totally looks like he’s just relaxing. We’ll get a picture soon.
He’s getting close to being able to put himself to bed. We usually just rock him a little bit, to about 10-25% sleepy, before putting him down. Prior to that, he had to be 75-100% asleep.
Journal
new skills
Yesterday, while Brian was sitting on the ground, Braden grabbed Brian’s arm to stand up, then he let go and stood for seven seconds! It was an amazing sight to see. Braden’s legs are getting stronger, and his balance is getting better and better.
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Braden had his nine-month check up last week. He has not been gaining as much weight as before because he’s been crawling and climbing so much. In fact, he went from the 95th percentile in weight down to the 83rd! If you take a close look at him, his cheeks aren’t as pudgy as they once were.
Braden also got his H1N1 shot at the appointment. He has to get a booster shot in four weeks (or, as Brian likes to joke: he got his H1 shot last week, and he’ll get his N1 shot later).
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Braden really enjoys climbing the stairs, which he can do in only 30 seconds. The first time he ever did it, he was out of breath. Now, he’s not even close to being winded. He’s in good cardiovascular shape!
Journal
new skills, pediatrician, standing
We are constantly amazed with the new skills Braden learns. One day Kristin’s sister was babysitting, and when she went to check on Braden in his crib, he was sitting up. We both soon witnessed how he gets up on his own: first he rolls to his stomach, then he walks his hands toward himself until he is upright.
Braden’s crawling has improved, too. Instead of dragging his legs with him (like an accident victim), he can now move his right leg as well. He’s actually pretty fast, so we really have to keep a close eye on him. Unfortunately, the gates we bought don’t fit our stair system (in fact, we don’t think any gates will fit), so we’re not sure what to do. Once we get our new furniture, we’ll create an enclosed play area for him, and hopefully that will help.
We once said that we thought Braden would walk before crawling–well, he was close. Braden can now stand if he rests his hands against something. For example, he can stand facing the couch. He seems to enjoy it!
Lastly, Braden can shake hands and give high-fives.
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We are now feeding Braden two meals of solid foods each day. The hard part is knowing when to stop–he seems like he could eat indefinitely. When we went to dinner at Fitzgerald’s, we fed Braden almost the entire time we were there!
Journal
crawling, feeding, new skills
Last Wednesday, Braden started shrieking in the morning. It’s high-pitched, and he’ll continue it for quite some time, but it doesn’t signal anger, hunger or tiredness. We just think he’s simply trying to talk.
He unfortunately did it all throughout Kristin’s birthday lunch at Restaurant Muramoto, and he has been shrieking every day since. Braden has now increased the challenge of taking him places, especially restaurants.
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We hate to mention this, but here goes: Ever since we added one meal of solid food each day, Braden’s poop has solidified a bit. Brian swears he’s now done changing poopy diapers.
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Lastly, Braden’s two lower teeth are coming in nicely and are really starting to show. Now if he could just grow some hair …
Journal
diapers, new skills, teething
Braden turned six months old this past Monday–wow, does time fly. The day before his birthday (Sunday), we started him on solid foods. Most of it ended up on his face, as he wasn’t sure how to eat something other than milk. Braden has gotten progressively better at eating throughout the week. We’ll show some video of him eating soon.
To recap the last six months of his development, Braden has learned to:
- Smile and laugh
- Roll over
- Sit
- Grab objects (and put them in his mouth)
- Fall asleep on his own
- Eat
- Not be afraid of taking a bath
Plus, his bottom two teeth are coming in. We can’t wait to see what the next six months bring us (hopefully more sleep).
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Check out the photos from July. Included are photos from Concerts on the Square, the Madison Mallards and the Dane County Fair.
Journal, Pictures
birthday, new skills
Last Saturday we went to Fontana (on the west end of Lake Geneva) for a mini-vacation. We stayed at a resort called the Abbey, which had an indoor and outdoor pool, several restaurants, tennis courts, a marina and a full-service spa.
Brian’s intent was for Kristin to get a spa treatment after 10 brutal night shifts in a row at work. So while Kristin did that, Brian and Braden went to the indoor pool, where Braden floated on a raft (in 4 in. of water).
The next day, the three of us all got in the pool together (Braden wore a swimming diaper). It’s funny, Braden kicks his legs so much on a day-to-day basis, but in the pool, he didn’t move them at all.
We’ll have pictures and videos of our trip posted soon. One thing you won’t want to miss is Braden laughing–it’s so cute!
Journal
new skills, vacation
Happy Father’s Day to Brian!
The social committee at our condo organized a Father’s Day breakfast, and Brian took Braden there in the morning. There, he was the center of attention (in fact, the Lee boys were the only two males there at one point).
Kristin took Brian and Braden to Fleming’s for lunch. There were two other babies seated near us.
After buying his mom a nice gift, Braden got his dad a nice one as well: two-tone gold cufflinks. What a son!
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Braden had his four-month check-up today, which meant he got three shots again (poor guy).
He now weighs 19 lbs. 11 oz., moving him up to the 97th percentile (up from 95th)! His length of 26.5 in. moves him into the 86th percentile (up from 85th).
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Braden can now put his feet (one at a time) in his mouth. It’s really cute to see!
(Just like his dad, always putting his foot in his mouth.)
Journal
holidays, new skills, pediatrician
See for yourself in Episode 9 of “Brian and Kristin Plus One” on the video page. This just happened about a week ago!
Video
crawling, new skills
Braden will be four months old tomorrow (June 3). How time flies!
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His sleep, unfortunately, has regressed lately. Before, he would sleep from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Now, he wakes up at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. We’re not sure why this is. Maybe he’s teething?
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Brian will be in Washington, D.C., for a conference Wed-Sat. Kristin will be staying overnight at her parents’ new house Thursday night.
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Braden’s hand-eye coordination is getting really good. He can easily grab objects in front of him and put them in his mouth. He is really close to learning to hold the bottle and feeding himself.
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Braden rolled over the other day! We’re not 100 percent convinced he did it intentionally, but he did it nonetheless.
Journal
new skills, sleep