Well, no sooner did we show excitement when Carson used the potty unprompted that he’s now refusing to use the potty anymore (yep, back to diapers). And Carson will hate us later for saying this, but he wets the bed every so often, while Braden almost never did.

At least Carson is starting to dress himself. He will pick out his own outfit and get dressed, though sometimes his shirt, pants and/or underwear are backward. He also has been putting on his own socks and shoes, so it’s starting to make Brian’s mornings a little easier.

The next step is for Carson to buckle himself into the carseat, as Braden has been doing for a while. Carson can do the top clasp, but the buckle is proving too hard (it’s even hard for us!).

Speaking of mornings, Braden is often making his own breakfast, which entails putting a frozen waffle in the toaster. (Both kids still frequently help themselves to snacks in the pantry.)

Finally, we’re happy Braden has finally learned how to tie his shoes. He just doesn’t tie them tightly enough, so he frequently is walking/running around with his laces untied.

Journal new skills, potty training

Carson has finally been getting some teeth over the past few weeks, as his bottom two are starting to show. Looking back at our archives, Braden’s bottom two began showing when he was five-months old, about three months ahead of Carson.

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Carson is great at swatting our hands away, usually when we try to wipe his face but sometimes when he’s done eating.  He’s also much better at crawling, going all around the house now at will. Just recently he’s tried to basically stand up, grabbing a taller object and moving his legs toward it.

Journal new skills, teething

Just a few weeks shy of his six-month birthday, Carson is able to sit up without immediately falling. That’s good timing, as we’ll likely have six-month portraits taken of him, like we did with Braden.

Brian also got Carson to stand all by himself by having him hold the bar to his bouncy chair. We’ll post a video soon of this. Carson appears to have strong but chubby legs. Braden, on the other hand, had much chubbier arms at the same age.

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Yesterday, Kristin fed Carson some solid food (rice cereal mixed with breast milk). Carson didn’t seem to like it but ate it nonetheless. We’ll post a video and photos soon.

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Congrats to Marcie and Josh, who welcomed Parker William Kurtz on July 5! Brian and Kristin are now an uncle and aunt.

Journal new skills

Just a few days ago, Carson held the bottle that Brian was feeding him. Carson held it low, so after a while Brian had to assist to get the milk flowing toward Carson’s mouth.

And on the subject of grabbing things, Carson grabbed his foot and put it in his mouth this weekend. Braden did that all the time around the same age.

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Braden knows how to spell his name. In fact, he pulled the magnetic letters out and spelled it out for Brian on his chalkboard. Very impressive.

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We constantly can’t believe what things Braden says. About a week ago, while he and Brian were at the dinner table, he yelled to Kristin, “Mommy, your food is getting cold!”

This past Saturday we told Braden we were going to the Farmers’ Market “by the Capitol.” He said, “Oh, by our old house?”

Braden also copies what Kristin says. For example, he calls Carson “little man,” as Kristin does.

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Brian will always remember the look on Braden’s face when he woke up from his nap the day we moved into the new house. You could see the smile gradually appear as he realized he was in his new room. His face further brightened when he saw all his toys–previously in storage, at Kristin’s parents’ house and at Brian’s mom’s house–altogether in his basement playroom.

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Carson likes peak-a-boo now. In fact, sometimes he will laugh, in his chirpy sort of way (see video from previous post). Braden enjoys playing peak-a-boo with his brother, too.

Journal laughing, new skills, spelling

Brian called Kristin the other day, and Braden answered the phone! At first, Brian just heard some background noise, then he finally heard Braden make some noise.

Brian: Braden? This is daddy.

Braden: Hi daddy.

Brian: Where’s mommy?

Braden: Upstairs changing Carson’s diaper.

Brian: Braden, please give mommy the phone.

Braden: No.

Brian: Braden, tell mommy that daddy’s on the phone.

Braden. Okay. (Walks to the bottom of the staircase and yells:) Mommy, daddy’s on the phone! (Proceeds to climb stairs and hand Kristin the phone).

As far as we know, this is Braden’s first real phone conversation. Even more amazing, he was just playing with the phone and knew how to answer it.

Journal new skills

As Braden’s vocabulary continues to grow, we’re still enamored by how he pronounces certain words and phrases. For example, he says “they-air” instead “there” and “Bob Bob Pair Pants” instead of “Sponge Bob Squarepants.”  

He still confuses proper nouns, too. He’ll say “Braden hungry” instead of “I’m hungry” and “Daddy feed you” instead of “Daddy feed me.”

We also enjoy watching him try to sing along to songs, like “Sesame Street.” He’ll mumble for a bit and them jump in when he knows the words, such as “air is sweet.”

We think Braden isn’t learning Mandarin as easily as he once did because now he thinks words are contradicting. For example, he doesn’t understand why there are two words for “hat” or “rice” or any other word.

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We were a bit hasty in thinking Braden exited the terrible twos, because over the month of July, he re-entered. It really comes down to him not wanting to ever change his clothes in the morning or at night.

Sometimes the timeouts we give him works, sometimes offering him a treat works. However, letting him pick out his own clothes, which as we previously mentioned was the supposed “cure,” no longer works.

Just this past week, he’s starting to despise baths, too. It’s funny, we used to not be able to get him out–he just loved baths. Now, it’s a struggle to clean him.

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Braden is getting better at brushing his teeth. He used to just suck on the toothbrush, but now after watching Brian “scrub” his teeth (done deliberately), Braden does the same thing.

He also figured out how to unlock the gate blocking the staircase, so we got rid of it (good timing, too, as our house is now on the market). Braden also can connect the top clip of the seatbelt of his child seat (fortunately, he can’t undo it–yet).

At the Brewers game last week, Braden helped Brian with the grill by flipping the meat. We’ll post pictures soon.

Journal bath, new skills, talking

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

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

It’s been hard to see how many new teeth Braden has, as he hates it when we prod around his mouth. Brian counted eight on the top row (four new), and there appears to be about the same in the bottom row. At least with some molars, Braden is finding it easier to chew.

Braden can now say “bow wow,” and he’ll also respond with those words when you ask him what sound a dog makes. He can also say “darn it,” along with slapping his hands on his thighs, which he learned from his great uncle Chuck. It’s so cute to see him wind up as he gets ready to say it and act it out.

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Braden used to love bananas–in fact, he ate one every day at breakfast–but now he dislikes them. So basically he’s eating around 2-3 bowls’ worth of cereal in the mornings, it seems. On the flip side, Braden now likes strawberries, which he wouldn’t eat before. We don’t understand why his tastes have changed.

These toddler biscuit/cookies we found are his new favorite food. He will open the pantry door and point at them, often stomping his feet, until you feed him one. And he still likes ketchup, to the point that we will put it on various foods just so he’ll eat them.

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We did end up taking Braden to two Concerts on the Square this year. The first time he ended up playing with Brian’s former supervisor from DPI and his wife. They (fortunately) enjoyed his company.

The second time we were able to keep him from wandering as much, but in both cases we left at the half. We missed last year in which he fell asleep during the concert.

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Last update: Braden can sort of jump. After watching Brian do it a few months ago, he tried to imitate it but couldn’t get his feet off the ground (but he got the arm gestures down). Now he can sort of get one or both feet in the air (about 1 cm tops). It’s really adorable when he tries.

Journal going out, new skills, talking, teething