Video of the Year: the Christmas Program

I love this video so much that I have to post it again....Braxton at his daycare Christmas program a few weeks ago.  It makes me laugh every time I see it. 

A view of our day

Video:  Dancing and spinning

Video:  Banging on Pans

Video: Hand where are you?  Thumb where are you?

Merry Mimus with Gramma

We celebrated Christmas with Grandma Debbie today.  Here are some cute photos and a video of Brax and his Grandma playing at the restaurant.   

First Long Sentence

Braxton spoke his first long sentence yesterday.  He said, "I jump out of the bed daddy!"  And the reason that he was very excited to tell Brock this is that at naptime yesterday for the first time ever he climbed up and jumped out of his crib.  Brax was so proud of his accomplishment!  A new era begins!

Talking with Braxton

Braxton is starting to talk more these days.  His most repeated phrase this week is "oh no what happened?"  This morning he walked over to me with Grover in his hands and said:  "Oh no, Grover crying!  Kisses, hugs, all better Grover.  Nice Grover."

Here is a video of us talking. Here is a translation of what he says:  "Hi Daddy, Hi Mommy, I you morning, I you nana (banana), I you pizza, I you pictures. I you one, one, two, Eat eat eat, Play play play play, Jump, okay."

The Great Snow

This weekend our house got 20 inches of snow.  Our street (which is always plowed quickly) remained unplowed because there were so many stalled cars and accidents that the snow plows couldn't get through.  It started snowing Friday night and our street remained unplowed through the entire storm.  Brock drove home from work Saturday afternoon and barely made it through the unplowed road.  He was supposed to work on Sunday but had to take a "snow day" from work because our road was impassable.  Two feet of blowing and drifting snow covered the entire road and everyone on our street was snowed in (the plow finally came through for the first time Sunday evening).  Adults never get "snow days" so we made the most of it by watching football and relaxing.  What a rare, unexpected, and very snowy surprise!

oh...and Braxton has a new favorite music video.  Here is a link to the Maccabeats singing about Hanukkah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU  Braxton watched this song so many times over the weekend that he has started to sing along.
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Christmas Program 2010

The holiday program at daycare featured two songs "Little Elf" and "Jingle Bells".  The first video is of "Little Elf" which starts "there's a little elf sitting on my nose" followed by the verse "there's a little elf sitting on my knee".  Braxton is in the front row in a blue striped shirt.  He sticks out because he's one of the only kids singing and doing the motions.  You gotta check this first video out!

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p.s. The Christmas party was fun but we should not have gone out in this weather!  We've had a ton of snow and the roads are terrible.  I got home safely but got stuck in our driveway.  We have the best neighbors ever who helped shovel out the car and brought over a snow blower to clear the rest of the driveway.  Thank God for their help.  Our neighbors are awesome!!! 

Brax and his daddy

I came home from work this week and found that Brock had taken two fun photos of Braxton and our hutch.

Also, here are two videos of Braxton and Brock playing "airplane".

The Play Class Disaster

Here is the story where I explain that my child is not perfect, nor is his mommy.  Be kind with your comments, mkay?   A few months ago the Burnsville Community Education newsletter advertised a Toddler Play & Art time.  I was happy that it was on Mondays (because that's the only weekday that works for me to take Braxton) and 3 days of class for $15.  It seemed like a good idea. 

The class started last week (and I forgot about it!) so we missed the first day of class. Today Braxton and I went to day two of the class.  It was a disaster.  We were the first ones to classroom and the main teacher immediately told us that we were early.  I said, "oh, I'm sorry - I thought this started at 10am!"  We both look at the clock and it says 10:02.  She said, "oh, I was looking at my watch.  Why don't we head to the gym".  I look down and Braxton is happy and sitting on a toy tractor.  I try to tell Braxton that we're going to the gym - but he wants to keep playing with the tractor.  Tantrum #1.  Braxton is laying on the floor crying & kicking...while the teacher is staring at us.  Wow.  That was not fun.

Eventually we got to the gym.  The other 4 kids arrive...all boys around 18 months old and they all know each other. Braxton starts playing with a toy, one of the other boys trys to take it from him.  Braxton freaks out.  Tantrum #2.  I try to distract Brax and show him the big carton full of balls.  He's happy playing with that until another kid starts playing with one of the balls.  Braxton wants it back immediately.  The other boy won't give it back.  Braxton grabs it from him and runs.  The other boy has a screaming, stomping tantrum.

I try to distract Braxton from the toys and point him to the jungle gym - Braxton climbs up the stairs and slides down the slide.  This works well for a few minutes until a different child with fantastic timing pushes a car in front of the slide at the same time that Braxton is sliding down.  Braxton slams his head into it and starts crying and saying "owie head, owie head".  The other mom tries to get her child to appologize and her son yells "no" and runs away.  Braxton sets his eyes on a big toy car.  He sees a different kid sitting inside of the big toy car, grabs the kid's arm and starts pulling the kid out of the car by his shirt.  Really not cool Braxton! 

All of the other kids had tantrums during gym time too but the other parents just stood back and "let it be" and only stepped in if a kid was getting hurt....I was the only parent who pulled my kid aside and said things like "you need to calm down" and "we need to practice sharing".  My words were not changing his behavior.  Braxton needed a quick flick on the cheek to startle him...or a spanking but I got the vibe that I was in a "no-spanking zone" so I did neither.  I tried to "let it be" as Braxton continued to grab toys from other kids & make them cry. The teacher announces that gym time is over (because it was total chaos?) and says it is time to move into the classroom.  Braxton doesn't want to leave.  He starts crying.  Tantrum #3.  Braxton was by far the worst behaved and most aggressive kid in the gym.  I was really at a loss for how to discipline him while the teacher and the other parents were watching us.

We eventually got to the classroom.  Braxton walked into the room and saw another kid sitting on the tractor (the one he was playing with when we first arived).  Braxton started crying (holey cow, what the heck is wrong with Braxton?  He never acts like this!  Is he hungry?  Need a nap?  Getting sick?  He's acting very, very naughty!)  The classroom aide came over to distract the kids by blowing bubbles.  The parents and kids were divided - which meant that the parents go sit on one side of the room while the kids play with one of the classroom aides.  The teacher asked the parents how we were doing. With my eyes welling with tears I said, "I'm completely embarrassed.  I've never seen my son act so naughty."  One of the other parents said, "they are all like that.  They trade off every time.  One time my kid is very naughty, the next time its someone elses."  The teacher then says, "Is Braxton around other kids often? (which I'm pretty sure is code for "your kid is acting like a maniac, is it because he never gets to play with other kids?")  I mumbled that Braxton is in daycare 2 days a week and does great there.  I could tell my face was bright red and I wanted to flee the scene...but we were stuck in the classroom and only half-way through class.  The teacher said that Braxton was acting appropriately...just like a toddler.  She passed out a sheet of paper titled "Toddler Property Laws" that said:
1.  If I like it...it's mine!
2.  If I can take it from you...it's mine!
3.  If I had it a little while ago...it's mine!
4.  If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way!
It was lame but did describe how all of the toddlers were acting.  All of the boys were grabbing things out of each others hands, having tantrums, and generally just being...toddlers.  I had never seen Braxton act so naughty....but I had also never seen him interact with 4 other toddler boys before.  Luckily classroom time went much, much better.  The parents made an art craft while the kids played.  Braxton was playing calmly and independently during classroom time, thank goodness.  He was very well behaved while the other boys were out of control, crying, throwing tantrums, fighting.  After two of the other boys started fighting the teacher said, "wow these kids are acting very strange today.  It's a little ahead of schedule, but let's move on to snack time".

Snack time went fine.  Each kid got a sippy cup of water and 3 Nilla wafers.  Braxton ate his cookies and was the only kid who didn't ask for a second helping of cookies.  Brax used snack time to show off his vocabulary - pointing at things around the room and saying, "house", "donkey", "bear", "hat", "ELMO!!!".   None of the other kids were talking (or could talk?) and the teacher said, "wow, Braxton has a big vocabulary" (but I think its her goal to say one good thing about each kid...because the words sounded very positive...but as she said it you could tell that her heart wasn't in it). I looked at the clock, only 30 minutes left to endure. 

The kids finished their snack and moved to more play time which continued the all-of-the-boys-fighting-over-the-same-toy saga.  One boy started screaming at the other kids, particularly Braxton.  The teacher said, "wow - their personalities are really clashing today."  Then the teacher anounced "circle time".  I didn't know what that meant so I stood still as all the parents sat in a circle on the floor and held their kid on their lap.  Brax and I sat down last.  The group sang some special welcome song that all the other parents knew...except me (I felt stupid just watching them sing).  ALL of them knew the awords to the welcome song.  Then we sang "Row, Row, Row your boat" and "You are my sunshine".  At this point the teacher anounced, "lets stand up and sing the Goodbye Song.  While we were standing up Braxton said, "ABC song?  ABC song?"  The teacher had pity and led the group in a round of the ABC song (thank you!). Then all the parents started singing "The Goodbye Song"....and they ALL knew the song (I did not know it.  I felt like I was "outside the special club") and even the other kids all knew the song (because there were special motions and the kids were all doing them without the help of their parents). 

Jeesh....this class was stressful.  Next week is the last day of class and we will go to it again (we can't let it intimidate us...plus I'm wondering if Braxton was perhaps just nervous to be in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and that is why he acted so naughty?....maybe next week he'll feel more comfortable and perhaps act a little more like himself?)

So as I reflect on the events of the Toddler Class it's easy for me to think of things to blame for why it all went so wrong:  Couldn't the teacher have stopped the chaos?  Couldn't I have taken Brax into the hallway to help him calm down? Was Brax acting naughty because he saw the other kids get away with it and realized we were in a "no spanking zone"?  If I believe that spanking (within reason) is a good form of discipline, why did I let the influence of the teacher & other parents pressure me to not discipline?...or maybe every toddler class is like this and I just didn't know because we've never been to one?  But, what I do know is that Brax likes playing with kids his age or older...so if we do another community ed class in the future I'll look for a class with older kids 2-4 years old,  if possible.  

After we got home I talked to my sister Denise on the phone and told her the story about our crazy morning (my child repeatedly having tantrums, feeling mortified at my child's behavior, and feeling "out of the group" with the other parents)  She told me a quote about parenting that she just learned--it made us both laugh.  It goes like this:  "When your child is acting naughty, the other parents secretly like you better...because you are making them look good."

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Two Videos

Braxton is silly!  Here is a video of him playing in the bathroom mirror while balancing on an empty Huggies diaper box.  If you listen closely you can hear him saying "No touch!", "peek-a-boo" and "oh-no!"

And here is a video featuring Braxton and mommy singing Jingle Bells.  Normally he sings this song loud and strong, but on this video he is pretty quiet.  I was just happy to catch it on video at all (now days when I try to take a video he stops singing and asks to look at pictures on the camera).  Braxton now has five songs that he sings regularly:  Twinkle Twinkle, Jingle Bells, Open Shut, the Alphabet Song, and the Wheels on the Bus.

Special Rocker

Back when I was a kid, somewhere along the way for someones birthday or for Christmas a kid-sized rocking chair came to the house.  My sisters and I rocked on it, we balanced on it, and my little sister Denise regularly put her teddy bear "Huggy" on it.  Well, last weekend while Brax was at grandma's house his name and birthdate were added to one of the bottom rungs and the chair moved to our house.  What a fun family pass-it-on! Thanks Grandma!

Thanksgiving in Sandstone

This weekend Braxton and I drove up to Sandstone (Brock worked). Braxton had a lot of fun playing at Grandma Debbie's house and his highlights included stacking the spices (emptying the spice rack), playing with a pair of goggles, and eating his weight in Oyster Crackers.  

 

And her are the three videos I took at Grandma Debbie's house.  They are titled:  "Rock It", "Wastebasket" and "Jingle Bells"

 Then on Saturday we went to "Papa's House" (to see Grandpa Dwaine & Celia at the farm) to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. Braxton loved walking to the barn to touch the tractor and play with the cats.   

 

We spent two days in Sandstone and came back home Sunday afternoon.  We got home to find that Brock put up the Christmas tree and manger scene while we were gone.  The house looked beautiful!!! Then I found a scavenger hunt around the house with notes from Brock saying he loves us.  It was a great ending to a great weekend.

Thanksgiving Day

Brock and I both had Thanksgiving Day off.  Brock and I woke up at 4:30am, made hot tea, lit candles, and listened to Christmas music.  Braxton woke up at 5am to join us.  We went to Caribou Coffee...which was great because the whole place was empty and Braxton played in the kids corner while Brock and I relaxed in the comfy chairs.  Then we went to Walmart to get a few snacks and look at the fish tanks (Braxton loves to see the "fishys").  For the rest of the day I don't have photos (sorry!)...but we got together with Brock's sister De, her son Travis & his wife Lauren and their daughter Avery and went out to eat together for a big Thanksgiving feast...then everyone came back to our house where Brock made a great fire in the fireplace and we watched football.  A great day!!! 

 

8 Tips for Enjoying Life

Eight Tips For Enjoying Life - by Braxton Heldt

1.  Start the day by gathering a few of your favorite things and declaring the phrase "I Love You Morning"

2.  Take a moment to reflect on who you are.

3.  Take some time to search for yourself (this game is also known as "Braxton where are you?")

4.  Try to look on the bright side of things "You can't always choose your circumstances but you can choose your attitude". 

5.  Take joy in the simple things (spoons!)

6.  Take joy in a task well done.

7.  Don't be afraid of change.  Sometimes change is good (the slide came inside for the cold Minnesota winter!)

8.  Be thankful for your family & friends (Brock drove through freezing rain to get to work at 2am this morning.  Thank you God for keeping him safe!)  

Do you know Gogo?

This summer Brock & I looked for some educational videos (counting, colors, etc.) and we found Gogo!  He's from a British cartoon called "Gogo's Adventures in English". Braxton loves the 5 minute videos and we love that it is free to watch on YouTube.  He doesn't know "Dora the Explorer" or "The purple dinosaur Barney" but he knows Gogo (so if Braxton starts speaking with a British accent we will know why!)

...if you see Braxton's two favorite Gogo episodes click on the links below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLN1B_eXuyE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCpvujaLnNk&feature=related

And on a different topic...Braxton's version of Twinkle Twinkle is advancing.  He definately knows the tune but we're still working on the words…and then he launches directly into "Yes, Jesus Loves Me".

First Snowfall

 

Gettchu & Goodnight Moon

Here are two new videos of Brock and Braxton:  one video of the new game "gettchu" and one video of a bedtime bookreading of "Goodnight Moon". 

Happy Anniversary

Brock and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary today!  The food was themed after our worldwide travels, the music was a playlist of 80's ballads which turned into a dance fest, and then the boys let me take crazy photos (which was really fun!)

 

I love these boys.  I am so blessed! 

sick day #2

Pumpkin still isn't feeling well.  Here are some photos of him looking feverish and a video of him playing & then putting his head down to rest.

 

Playing Trucks with Daddy

I've got a sick baby...or should that be a sick kid?...sick child?  When does he stop being a baby?  When he takes his first steps?  When he starts talking?  At any rate...Brax is sick.  102-103 degree fever.  He's uncomfortable and very cuddley.  Hands and feet are ice cold, head is burning hot.  Some kids throw up when they are sick, some kids loose sleep, Braxton runs high fevers every time.  That's his style.

So enough about sick...here is a fun video from last week of Brock and Braxton playing trucks.

First Teacher Conference

Today I met with Braxton's "Toddler Room" daycare teacher for a conference.  Here are the questions I asked and her responses:

1. Is Braxton's development on track for his age?  Absolutely.  There is no sign of a preemie delay at all.  Verbal skills, motor skills, and coordination are all right on track.  I have no concerns at all about his development.

2.  How does Braxton interact with the teachers?  Great.  He is very comfortable with the teachers he knows.  After playing with toys he is good at helping the teachers pick up toys and put them away in their proper spot. 

3.  How does Braxton interact with the kids?  Great.  He gets along well with the kids his age and shows empathy when other kids are sad.  He is a leader in his class and others follow his lead.  In the mornings when he plays with the 4-5 year old kids he runs around and keeps up with all of them.

4.  Does he participate in group activities?  Yes.  He participates well in groups and he loves music and dancing.  He also loves book time and can sit through a story without getting up and walking away (a rare thing at his age).  He stays engaged and is good at paying attention.

5.  What is his personality like in the classroom?  He is a clown.  He thinks he is funny and regularly makes the other kids and the teachers laugh (pretending to trip and fall and laying on the floor laughing). He is very social and willing to give hugs to others.  He is also very much a daredevil and will climb up and jump off of anything.

6.  What skills are you working on right now in class that we can practice at home?  We are working on "two command" phrases, hopping on two feet, sorting things by color or shape, and using our imaginations. Braxton has mastered all of the key goals for the Toddler One Classroom (drinking from a cup, using silverware, napping on a cot, sitting in a chair at the lunch table, and eating at least half of his food at meals) and he will move on to the Toddler Two Classroom in January when he turns 2 years old.

Halloween 2010

First came the photo shoot in the bathroom mirror...

 

 

Next came grocery shopping in costume (which gets you a free cookie!)...

 

And finally the annual "Trick or Treating" with Avery (the beautiful fairy)...