The Shuldberg Zoo: Progress and Discovery

First off...a few more pictures from our Washington trip that I forgot in the last post.

Brayden's first campfire. It was way past his bedtime so he wasn't very happy about it and ended up falling asleep in the truck after about 15 minutes.

Roy's mom takes care of a man in Montana that has MS. Back in the day, he was a master hunter so he had a ton of trophies, from mounted deer heads...

...to bear skin. And he was nice enough to let us indulge in parental insanity for a few minutes.

Brayden loves time with Granny because she spoils him rotten and he gets all the attention e could possibly want.

Next up: Progress!!
Brayden is growing and learning so fast! He's gotten way too big (mostly long...my little string bean) for the infant tub so he has started taking his bathes in the big tub. Pardon my adorable naked boy for a moment...

Just yesterday he figured out how to get from on his tummy to sitting and now he does it all day long...

And if that wasn't cute enough for you....

June 19, 2012 marks the day Brayden got his first tooth. He tried to chew on my finger and it hurt! He is now working on getting his second one in before the first has completely broken through...

You can't really see the tooth but I took this picture just after I felt it. Below, he is sucking on a washcloth with frozen applesauce in it. I saw the idea on Pinterest and it really seems to help with the sore mouth.

This was the great car seat escape. I left him there for a few minutes because he was playing with the seat belt and seemed content. Next thing I know he is climbing out of it...

He is also SOOOO close to crawling. He's got the army crawl down and can move around the room pretty easily. He gets up on his hands and knees and tries to move but flops back to his belly. I am scared to death of him getting so mobile. My house isn't baby proof at all! It's been on my list but ask Roy how often things "on my list" get done.
I love the stage Brayden is at right now (besides the teething...not fun for either of us). I love watching the little wheels in his head turning and constantly learning and discovering. I love the way he studies a new object for a long time and then, when he has learned everything he can from sight, he shoves it in his mouth. When he has learned what he can about that, he starts banging it on things. If it makes a cool noise, it is now an acceptable toy (whether it is supposed to be or not).
Last night he was chewing on a toy while sitting in a blanket in the grass. He dropped the toy and it was just out of his reach. He tried several times to reach it, to no avail. He sat for a moment staring at it...then grabbed the blanket and started to pull the toy towards him that way. It was amazing to watch the problem solving skills already developing and the joy in his eyes when something works.

Last weekend we went to the Strawberry Days rodeo with my family. It has become something of a tradition for us and I love it! The rodeo is always fun and the strawberries and cream are to die for!

This was Brayden's first rodeo and we just could not resist getting him all dressed up for the occasion.

The bull riders were a little disappointing this year but we saw some recording breaking roping. It was a lot of fun.

There was a fireworks show afterwards. It was Brayden's first time seeing fireworks and I think he actually kind of enjoyed it. Given, it was several hours past bedtime so he was grumpy beyond all reason but he has always enjoyed watching moving lights. This show was really good for his first because they didn't use a lot of the really loud ones. The finale was loud so Roy just covered his ears. It was a really nice night.