Leave as Two, Return as Three: April 2015

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

First School Picture

No words are really needed to describe the overwhelming cuteness of this picture!!

I had to email Brayden's teacher about something else and mentioned how much we LOVED this photo and have no idea how the photographer got him to pose like this. She replied back that his aide and herself were making fools of themselves jumping around and playing peek-a-boo, but agreed it was well worth the effort!! Like I said before, early childhood does NOT get paid enough (there's NO way I'd do something like that for my 5th graders haha)

Friday, April 24, 2015

First Day of Pre-K

We are so blessed to live in an amazing school district!!!!! With Brayden still not really talking (but we've been told we've done a great job with his functional sign language!!), he was able to start school when he turned 3! I was so worried, because when he transitioned him to day-care, Benson went in with him and they played together for a few hours, and then the next day they went back and Benson left for part of it, and the next day Benson left right away and returned an hour later. With this, he had seen his classroom and met his teacher a few weeks earlier VERY briefly, and I constantly pointed out buses we'd see on the road and talk about how he'd get to ride one soon, but that was about it! He turned 3 on a Tuesday and I refused to send him to school on his birthday (even though he did have to go to day care because we had taken a lot of days off the past few weeks with him being sick and other appointments). We then decided to wait one more day so that his first day would be a Thursday and he'd get off the bus and go home to me (the bus has to be consistent, so it picks him up at the house every morning and drops him off at day care; the two days I don't work I meet the bus in the parking lot). It's a good thing we did this because he slept from 11-3!!! The 2 1/2 hour school day wore him out!!! He didn't freak out when we left him on the bus, and was excited to see the bus again the next day! It's funny how we try and protect our kiddos, thinking they just can't handle some things, and then that's when they shine! No helicopter parenting here! Brayden is such a strong, brave little guy!!!!

His first full week of school was the next week and his job was door defender.....we joked that it was a stereotype....not all Asians are ninjas haha Since we're both teachers, we know how hard our job is, but there is NO WAY it's fair that high school teachers get paid more than early childhood/early elementary. The amount of organizing and prep for Brayden's teacher boggles my mind, and their ability to help out is minimal (I have my 5th graders trained....they decorate for holidays for me and help me pack up the room at the end of the year!!!).

We've seen sooooooo much growth in the little over a month he's been in school!!! From notes and emails we've received, they've all just fallen in love with him (I mean, how can you not?!?!?!).

Who needs toys??

Thanksgiving 2014: coffee cup and plastic spoon. He carried these two things around Benson's aunt's house while he explored.

Stole a Tupperware container from the counter.

Benson's co-worker nicknamed Bray Wreck-it Ralph! True story!!! He LOVED pulling on the cabinet and slamming it shut. Luckily, my father-in-law is super handy and he was able to fix it....and install heavy duty baby proofing materials!

Please ignore the messy living room....we were slowly putting the house back together after the holidays! I re-organized his toys and how we were storing them and somehow wound up with this green bucket not being used. He would half carry it, half drag it around.

This is him attempting to get it on top of the coffee table....

....thinking through his game plan....

....VICTORY!!! And there was room up there for him too!

And if he stood there was even more room! Don't worry, Benson is just out of camera range in almost all the un-safe photos!

Ignoring poor Mickey in favor of a measuring cup. It's amazing I'm able to cook/bake at all! ;)

Since we figure he's staying around for awhile, we gave him his own drawer...in the kitchen haha And yes, that is a huge handful of plastic silverware!

Trying to get some more drawer real estate ;)

I had to give him a cookie container to "store" his plastic silverware.

Stole my 4-cup measuring cup (and needing a hair cut!!)

Trying to get his little grubby hands on Daddy's protein container!

His new favorite over winter break was to dump out all his books and put them back in the basket. He then dumped out the diapers from their basket to use that one too :)

It looks like he's trying to fly here :)

Pulled his lamp down from the dresser to give that a closer inspection.

Standing in the former diaper basket, surrounded by all the books he carefully took out and arranged around himself. Bray also likes to sit at the end of the crib, point between the bars at the books and have you hand them to him. I would LOVE to know what is going through his mind!!!

Too cold to go outside and play on a swing? Daddy will swing me!!

Going a bit stir-crazy so we tried to put as many random things on him to see how long they lasted. Of course with him in almost constant motion, getting pictures is hard.

Peek a boo!!

Being silly.

This boy used to be terrified of the vacuum! Now, he jumps up and down with excitement when we bring it out. Bray loves getting the cord unwrapped by taking some and then shaking his arm up and down as fast as he can until it all unspools.

His fascination with lights continues. He doesn't need the step stool anymore; he can reach all of the light switches in the house. There are times it's super sunny out and all the lights are on in the house! :) I keep telling him we're going to pay the electric bill from his college fund haha

Before Brayden, I doubt I ever noticed these things at the mall, library, grocery store, etc. But now....I took him to Woodfield to play at the kids place and he stayed for maybe 5 minutes and then we spent the next 30 walking all around it looking at these things (some have covered electrical outlets, some are who knows??) Bray also loves sewer grates so taking a walk with him does not count for any weight loss ;)

All of his buckets and containers a few weeks after the obsession began :)

(Finally) Christmas 2014

My parents had given me some decorations from their house that were bought for me when I was a child. I LOVED carousel horses and apparently Brayden likes taking them off the stand and placing them around it. He would then try to fit them back in (facing all different ways just to drive me crazy I just know it haha) and/or throw them. Somehow I was able to pack up all four horses at the end of the season = he didn't lose any of them!

Breakfast with Santa! :) He liked the food more than Santa, shocking I know, but we were able to get this semi-clear photo. I love the background!!

One of my students gave me that dog a few years ago and when you press the button on his paw his mouth moves up and down as he barks along to Jingle Bells. At the end of the song, his little tail shakes and there's a bell on it. Brayden loved this toy his first Christmas and right away remembered what to do this Christmas :)

Brookfield Zoo Lights. It was a great night weather wise and super fun to see everything lit up! My parents met us there too. I'm going to miss our zoo pass this year!

My job-share teaching partner bought these musical instrument toys for Brayden for Christmas. I still can't tell if she likes me or hates me! ;) He LOVED them.....of course! He also loves the container they came in....a little wooden box.

Probably not how the two instruments are to be used together, but leave it to my boy to figure out how to make the most possible noise!

A few of Brayden's therapists were a bit concerned that he couldn't (wouldn't) stack little blocks. He showed them what he was more interested in stacking!!! ;) I hadn't put the baking materials away after I went shopping for them since I knew I'd be using them so soon, but he must have gotten tired of seeing these bags sitting here with stuff in them so he decided to help me unpack....and then stack! :)