Little Golden Books

From the time Braden was born he has been the owner of quite a fine library. I wouldn't say proud owner because he has been way too busy for books most of his life. Arica and I were determined to read to our son so we bought books all the time. We encouraged the grandparents to buy books. We wanted books.

At first we could read them to Braden. He was small and immobile and thus unable to stop us. I believe it's important to talk with your baby when they are little. Hearing words and sounds helps them even if they won't be able to talk for a long time. Sometimes it's hard to say anything interesting. That is where reading comes in. If you run out of things to say just read a book. I read Dr. Seuss quite a bit during these days.

As time went on Braden wouldn't even let us read him a book. If we tried he would just take it away. Getting through one page was quite an accomplishment.

Eventually that led to him "reading" books himself. He would take them from us, but at least he would look at them for a few moments. After that you would sometimes find him sitting in the floor of his room surrounded by a pile of books.

We have one low bookshelf that is just above the floor. He can easily get those books and read them. He would look at one, throw it down, and get another. This would continue until they were all on the floor. He still does that.

A little while later Arica and I stored some of his toys and clothes in big plastic tubs. I was slow in getting them stored under the house so the tubs sat in Braden's room for a few months. During this time Braden started climbing up on one of the tubs so he could reach the books on top of his big book shelf.

This is when Braden really started to enjoy reading. Around that time this became his favorite book.

Braden called this his "Cars" book because he particularly liked the page that showed cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, and the like. He still likes to look at the book sometimes. He still likes the cars, but another one of his favorite pages has become the fish, especially the clown fish that he calls Nemo.

That leads me to our current stage of reading. Braden, as I have mentioned before, loves Cars and Toy Story. He has always loved the Pixar movies. And why would he be any different with books.

Braden has a nice collection of Little Golden Books. The same type books I had when I was a kid. He has some of the original stories, but they get little attention in our house. What Braden loves, of course, are the book adaptations of his favorite movies.

Arica and I have read each of these books 100 times.

Toy Story 2 seems to be Braden's favorite, though. At least it's the one I have read him the most. I read it to him almost every night before he goes to bed. The best part of this whole thing is that night time story. Before bed every night Braden wants me to read him a book. It's something you hear from parents the world over. Every kid goes through this stage. It seems so simple, but I love it.

Reading Braden his bedtime story is always one of the best parts of my day. Simple things like this are without question the best part of being a Dad.

Fix My Buzz

Kids always get duplicates of toys on every gift giving occasion. We were lucky this year that we only had one duplicate for Christmas. Last week Arica and I took Braden along to Wal Mart to return the duplicate toy and get another.

Our thinking was that we would get him some sort of Buzz Lightyear toy. Braden is on a huge Toy Story kick lately. He asks to watch Buzz at some point every day. Some days he never stops watching it. We got Braden all three movies for Christmas and he likes them all. We knew he would because he was mesmerized by the trilogy when his Mom watched them all recently.

Toy Story 3 is probably his favorite though because he likes the train scene in the beginning. Other than that scene everything is all about Buzz.

When we went to Wal Mart Braden wanted to play with the toy we were returning. To help encourage him to let us return it we promised him a Buzz. So the entire time we were standing in the return line Braden kept saying, "I get my Buzz. I get my Buzz."

Finally we made the transaction after the cashier asked for my ID, made me take it out, and swiped it. I guess he thought I was running a scam by going around the country and stealing $15 dollar toys just so I could return them to Wal Mart. And just to add to the disguise I brought along a woman and a small child that I kidnapped from McDonald's.

Nonetheless, we had our gift card, and we were off to the toy section.

First we handed Braden a rocket with Buzz as the driver. You shake it and Buzz and the rocket shoot off across the floor. Braden wanted that. Then he decided he wanted a Buzz figure. Then he wanted both. Then he wanted something else. Eventually he decided on the little Buzz action figure. It would be Braden's first action figure and it seemed like a good purchase. He was happy.

Before we even got out of the store Braden had to open his Buzz. So we opened it and handed it to him. He gripped it in his little paws and began pushing the buttons on Buzz's suit. Nothing happened. Then he pushed the button on his arm to fire the laser. Nothing happened. He tried to close Buzz's helmet. It wouldn't budge. Of course none of those things were intended to happen, but you try explaining that to a 2 year old.

All the way home all we heard was "bix my Buzz. Daddy bix my Buzz. Momma bix my Buzz" as Braden continually pushed the buttons with a disappointed look on his face. Finally we got home and he just threw Buzz aside.

All these talking toys have ruined our kids. I'm not sure many little boys even know how to make truck sounds anymore. Everything talks. Everything sings. Everything makes noises to drive Mommy and Daddy crazy.

I am happy to say, however, that Braden can make truck noises. And that next day he and Buzz became best friends. Now Buzz goes almost everywhere with Braden including "to infinity and beyond!"