Looking back, I realize I didn't post much over the summer. We were very busy and perhaps I was enjoying the wonderful weather too much to want to sit in front of the computer for long. It would be silly of me though to let this past summer slip into blurry memories of a time when my boy was only 2 and a half. He experienced so many "firsts"that I think it's worthy to make a note of them.
Our summer really started in May when we had a visit from my cousin Meg, her husband Greg and their little boy William (only 1 and half). They were coming from Paris to attend a wedding. They stayed with us for about five days and it was lovely to have them. Brandon got a real kick out of being the "big boy" around William and he learned some valuable lessons about how to share with people even smaller than himself. While they were here, we visited the zoo and the local mall. We went shopping and Meg and I had fun catching up. I always did enjoy spending time with my big cousin!
Next up in June was a visit from my Mom and Dad. Our day home was closing for a week so they were generous to come out and babysit Brandon at that time. Brandon adores his grandparents and he had a lot of fun taking them to the park and making them push him on the swing ;-) They also went shopping and out for lunch and generally enjoyed each others company.
In July we had a visit from Jamie's sister Julie (or "Julia" as Brandon liked to call her). She was 4 months pregnant at the time so she was busy gathering baby stuff and getting Brandon to test run her new stroller. Brandon had tons of fun with his auntie and wasn't shy about taking her to the park and making her push him on the swing!
For the August long weekend we decided to do something daring . . . we took Brandon camping. This wasn't the kind of camping that I was used to - sleeping on the cold hard ground in a damp tent with tons of bugs everywhere. We had been invited by Jamie's friends Fern and Bryan. Those two have camping nailed and so we were spoiled by sleeping in their huge trailer, driving their quads, eating their amazing camp food (roasted pig on a spit) and enjoying the awesome fireworks they lit off every night. Brandon absolutely loved camping and took to it like a fish in water. He was up from 7:30 in the morning until 9:00 at night and never got cranky for a second (this is basically where he dropped his afternoon nap as well). It was a great time had by all.
Later in August my brother Tyler and his family came for a visit. They stayed with us for about four days and Brandon was, once again, over the moon. He thought his big cousins Alexa and James were amazing and he did all he could to keep up with them at every step. They are really great kids and they were very patient and played wonderfully with Brandon. I think it's a good experience for him to spend time with older kids and who better than his cousins? Another first for Brandon was that he was treated to a trip to the Royal Tyrell Museum. He went with Tyler and was a very big boy - he wasn't scared of the dinosaurs at all!
In September, while the weather was still beautiful, my Mom and Dad came back for a quick visit. Brandon was thrilled to have them return and spend more time at the park and on the swings ;-) Afi also took him for ice cream and showed him how to fly a kite. Another cool first when you're only almost three.
Shortly after they left, we took Brandon to his first parade. A little parade in the town of Cochrane. Brandon loved the firetruck, the guy riding a bull and the clowns that threw candy into the crowd. He just couldn't quite believe it.
Other fun times included BBQs with our friends, sunny days at water parks and spending lazy hours on our beautiful deck. We would blow bubbles, draw pictures with our washable chalk or build sandcastles in the sand box. The long warm days of doing next to nothing were always the best.
And over the summer, Brandon grew a bit bigger. He moved out of his crib and into his "big boy" race car bed. He dropped his nap entirely and he started to use the potty regularly. Though he's still not perfect with #2, he's getting really really close to being 100% potty trained. He talks non stop and some of my favourite Brandon words right now include:
"Space Pants" - this is what he calls his big boy underwear
"Messquiss" - necklace
"Bumble Beans" - bumblebees
"High Pad" - iPad
Also, thanks to camping, his all time favourite thing right now is quads. Oh yah and monster trucks. How could I forget about those?
Seriously cute stuff and all of it worth remembering.
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