Cousins By Blood, Friends By Choice (I hope)

Nearly every child has friends built right into their family tree. These hopefully close friends are called cousins. At the very least you get to play with them a lot growing up. When you gather for family functions the cousins go off to play while the adults sit around and talk about the weather, politics, or whatever adults talk about.

Growing up I had two cousins, a boy and a girl, on my mom's side of the family.  We got together with Mom's family about once a month. In other words I saw these cousins all the time  The boy cousin was quite a bit older than me so we weren't that close. He used to pick on me too. That might be another reason we weren't that close.

The girl cousin was close to my age so we were friends early in life. As we grew older I took to sports and hunting. She took to shopping and other girlie pursuits. We grew apart fairly quickly.

I did have one cousin that was my good friend. My Dad's Brother had a son named Eric. I posted about him here a while back.  Eric and I grew up together on the farm. While our Dad's worked or more often discussed the best way to do the work, we played. There is no limit to how much fun little boys can have on the farm.

We promised to be best friends forever. Of course we grew apart too. I have seen him twice that I can remember in the last 10 years. Once was at our Grandpa's funeral. The other time was after Braden was born when his family came to my parents house to meet Braden and Arica.

During that visit we reminisced about the time we dissected a turtle. I had totally forgot about that and was quite impressed with my younger self upon remembering. We also remembered all the little things we built from junk we found, like the boats that we floated on the pond. It was fun to talk with my old friend.

I started thinking about cousins recently when I transferred a video of Braden and his cousin, Jackson, to my computer.  Jackson is about 2 years older than Braden, and belongs to Arica's brother.  At first Jackson didn't want to share his Grandma with Braden. That is to be expected. He eventually did warm up to Braden. They had plenty of opportunity to play together so I guess it was just a matter of time.

Here is the aforementioned video. Braden is pushing Jackson on a train. Yes, they are both wearing Batman pajamas. No, that was not planned. Yes, it is pretty cool anyway.



As you can see they are working on a friendship already. This has the potential of a special cousin bond that could last forever and provide a lot of great memories. I hope they get along and can be friends for a lifetime.

I think a lot of that might hinge on what Braden has to say once he starts talking.

Professional Blogger

Why do people start blogging? There are many reasons out there. Some of them are good reasons. Others are a little bit silly.

When I first started blogging we had gone from a 2 person 2 income family to a 3 person 1 income family.  I thought maybe I could make a little money blogging. I can be entertaining. I am a decent writer. Braden was a great subject. Surely he would provide me all kinds of material. So I decided to give it a whirl and see if I could develop some kind of following.

It didn't take very long for me to realize that my reason for blogging was a silly one. It is very difficult to make any money at this. It takes much more work and time than I can put into it.

Of course I found the same benefits from blogging that everyone else finds.  It's a great way to meet new people, share ideas, and have a good time. There is something to this social networking craze.

Now it has all changed.

In the past month I have actually made some money blogging.  I now consider myself a professional blogger, but please don't tell the IRS.

I don't want any of my blog friends and readers to be intimidated by my new professional status. I am still the same bewildered dad that I was over 15 months ago when I started this thing.  I promise to still be approachable and down to earth because it is still all about my fans.  Thank you all for your support in helping make this possible. I hope to continue seeing you all here every day.

Please check with my personal assistant or my agent to make an appointment.

Toddler Gibberish, What Does It All Mean?

Arica and I are coming to the realization that Braden is going to be a talker.  Right now he says about 15 different words on a daily basis. His favorites are "bite", "no", and of course "mama".  Arica just called me this afternoon to tell me he had started saying "stop".  That is a new one, but it seems to fit with his personality of wanting to do things his way all the time.

These words are not the ones that give us the feeling we are raising a conversationalist.  That comes from his non stop gibberish. No matter what Braden is doing he talks while doing it.  He doesn't just make noises though. He is telling a story complete with smiles, laughter, and hand gestures.  If you don't listen to his stories he will march right up to you and get your attention. He just likes to talk.

When I was a kid I was a talker too. In grade school I was constantly disrupting class and getting in trouble. I would rather talk to my neighbors than listen to the teacher. At that time we got citizenship grades. The grades were either S for satisfactory or U for unsatisfactory.  I got an S minus every single time.

My mother is convinced to this day that the only reason I didn't get a U is because I was a straight A student and they didn't want to scar my record with an unsightly U.  I appreciate their discretion because no one wants a government background check to turn up a U.  That is right up there with criminal mischief and substance abuse.

So I am starting to wonder if I am going to "pay for my raising" with Braden.  Am I going to learn how my mom felt all those times I brought home notes for misbehavior.  Am I going to relive the fun of talking to teachers about my sons incessant talking.  It's way to early to tell. Braden is a great kid, and for now I am going to assume that he will be the perfect angel.

I do, however, like the fact that Braden seems to be so outgoing. That can serve him well in life.  Being shy is very difficult so maybe he won't be burdened with that. 

You never know.  He might use his gift of gab to become a great orator like Winston Churchill without the British accent.  He might even be a talk show host or a sportscaster. At this moment anything that requires a lot of talking seems like a good possibility.

No matter what comes of Braden's chattering, he is certain to be highly entertaining along the way.

Father and Son Time

This past weekend Arica went on a MUCH DESERVED girls weekend.  She and a friend left town for some shopping and relaxation.  This left Braden and Dad alone together for the longest time to date.

I had a church board meeting on Sunday so we pretty much were limited to Saturday afternoon for a guys day.  Of course Braden took an extra long nap on Saturday. Maybe he knew his Mom was gone and wasn't too interested in getting out of bed.  I finally woke him up because the daylight hours were waning.

We went to get a chocolate milkshake and headed to the park.  The milkshake was an iffy choice because it was getting cool late that afternoon. My hand nearly froze off and Braden wasn't interested at first because he had too much exploring to do.

The park was packed on this particular day. I am sure everyone has cabin fever.  If the sun even threatens to come out people are flying kites and wearing shorts like it is the middle of summer.  I saw plenty of blue-lipped geniuses out in short sleeves that day. I guess Winter can make us all a little crazy.

Braden was happy to see all the other park goers.  His first move was to run off towards the basketball courts.  Like I have said before this kid loves basketball. I figured that the teenagers wouldn't care for him interrupting their game so I headed Braden off and turned him towards the rest of the park.

Braden didn't want to slide or swing.  He only wanted to go hang out with the largest group of people he could find.  He wandered around every piece of playground equipment looking at all the kids. Once he had seen them all he headed for the pond.  We threw several sweet gum balls into the water.  Braden wanted to either get really close to the water or actually get in the water.  We had to leave the pond.

It was getting cold by now so we started our walk to the truck.  As we went Braden found a renewed interest in the chocolate shake.  I fed him bite after bite.  If I was too slow he grunted or said "bite" with frantic hand motions included.  I guess he likes milkshakes like the rest of the planet.

It was a fun time even if it was cut a little short by napping and mother nature.  I really look forward to the spring and summer when the days will be warm and long. Hopefully then we can play outside every day. We can go to deer camp, to the ball park, to the regular park, and everywhere else.

I know this was just the first of many Father and Son outdoor excursions for us. I can't wait for the next one.

Toddler Imitations

Braden continues to mimic what he sees his Mother and I do on a daily basis. I have reported those things for quite a while now. In the last several weeks he has added some sound effects to his mimicry.

He has his Mom's routine down pat. I have seen him get her hairspray, hold it by his head, and say "shhhh".  Then he moves it to the other side of his head and does it again.

I've seen him do the same with perfume bottles as well.  He makes the "shhhh" sound on both sides of his head.

Sometimes to entertain Braden I run across our hardwood floor in my socks and slide. He thinks it's funny.  After seeing me, Braden will walk across the floor dragging his feet and saying...you guessed it...."shhhhh".

It would seem that he loves that sound.  He makes other sounds too.

He gets the dust buster and pushes is around making his best vacuuming noise.

He makes truck sounds for every car or truck that he pushes around the house.

Maybe we have the next Michael Winslow on our hands.  Braden should be old enough for Police Academy 47 if they can revive that terrible movie series. Hollywood has revived everything else so don't count it out.

Braden mimics silently at times too.  Once he watched me using the phone book. Yes I still use one of those sometimes when I am at home. I don't always have the computer cranked up after work. Anyway, after seeing me Braden leafed through the pages, got my cell phone, punched some buttons, and proceeded to talk to someone on the phone.

Whenever we are eating Braden goes to the drawer where his utensils are kept. He opens the drawer and gets our attention because he can't quite reach into the drawer yet.  Once someone gives him a spoon he shuts the drawer and goes to get a plastic bowl so he can eat too.

When we are cooking the little man goes to the drawer with the wooden spoons. After he gets a wooden spoon, he goes for a pot or pan.

Braden pretty much likes to do whatever we are doing. Not only does he like to do it, he likes to do it well. I think he might be a little perfectionist always practicing his skills.  It's so fun to watch him learn about how us humans behave.

We just have to be careful when we take him to Wal Mart. There are a few human-like creatures there that I could stand for him not to immitate.