Swimming!!!

 

We FINALLY got him into the water!!!!! :)  This was his free trial class at the Dolphin Swim Club in Elk Grove (on a snowy Saturday morning, so it was a little different than what I was hoping for in China), and his instructor was very impressed with how well he did.  He never cried, coughed, spit up water, or tried to drink the water!  She dunked him a few times and although he didn't LOVE it, he took it! 

 

Brayden loved this pool noodle!

 

 

Look at that form!  If it's not gymnastics for Olympics 2030, maybe swimming? ;)  No pressure though kiddo! 

 

 

Trying sooo hard to get that duck!  The teacher dumped out a ton of these and the kids had to "swim" to get them and put them back in the basket.  I was terrified that once Brayden had a duck, he either wouldn't give it up or flip out that he didn't have two (he still likes having things in BOTH hands!).  We're not sure how much English he is picking up (to his advantage, I'm sure....he's not stupid!), but he listened and followed all the teacher's directions!  That's our boy!!! :) 

 

We thought that a private swim club would be pretty pricey, but we don't think it's too bad!  We didn't sign him up yet since they're taking a winter vacation also, so we'll ask Santa since they have gift cards (hint hint hahaha) :)

Christmas (so far)

 

Putting the very first ornament up of Christmas 2013 together.  Of course it was one of the many Baby's First Christmas ones :) 

 

 

My tree PALES in comparison to my mom's (and dad's....but anyone who knows us knows it's all my mom!). It rotates, has garland, and is so full of fun ornaments!!  My sister's job on Christmas Day is to guard the tree from our newest family member, but he did very well with the trial run earlier this week!  Later on, he did start batting at the ornaments like a cat, but we put a stop to that :) 

 

Silly Pics

 

After his haircut the day before Thanksgiving.

 

 

Vibrating teething ring (in a super cute outfit from Grandpa!) :) 

 

 

Snack time is very formal in the Bautista household :)

 

 

As evidenced with the proper way to sit ;)

 

 

"I'm not too sure about this outfit, Mom."  However, he left the hood on the ENTIRE day! :) 

Being a Pinterest Mommy

 

I started with a hidden board for my future kid(s), then when we announced we were going to adopt I changed it to public, then when we got matched it became For Brayden.  A few weeks ago I went through all the pins that had to do with fine motor/gross motor/indoor activities.  My favorite one was the Montessori activities that you could buy at the dollar store.  Brayden is definitely like me...he likes to run errands so we went to Michael's and the Dollar Store one warmish morning.  Pipe cleaners and any container with holes kept him busy for a good 20 minutes!  I haven't opened up the straws yet.  Puff balls in ice cube trays didn't go over as well....he kept trying to eat them. 

Mischief!

 

We put the tree up Friday night after he went to bed and he didn't seem too impressed with it when he woke up Saturday (a little confused because the tree was right where his toys were).  Each day we added some ornaments and by Monday or Tuesday it finally clicked that he could touch and grab at some of the ornaments.  Even now though, Brayden has been really good about leaving the tree alone.  The Nativity on the other hand....as you can see it's laying down.  He always puts it down when he notices and he has a thing about Joseph not being with his family!  I always find him on the other side of the living room???  What a goof!  We talk all the time about how Baby Jesus was adopted just like Brayden, but again, he's not impressed.  It will be VERY interesting how different this set up will be next year! :) 

 

 

Brayden is slowly realizing that 1.) we won't take his food away and 2.) there is a lot of food here.  He doesn't shovel his food in as much as he did before, so when I found him with his hand in the cereal box, I wasn't TOO nervous.  His mouth wasn't stuffed with food and he did a pretty good job of portioning out his handfuls.  Baby steps!!