Miss Laura

When I was in college I was a nanny to the most amazing family.  Garrett was around 2 1/2 when I started watching him.  I loved him so much and I loved his family too.  They were so generous and treated me just like I was a part of their family.  I loved that little boy.  We would go on the ferry down in Balboa, we’d walk around Fashion Island and get ice cream and take the puppies at the pet shop for walks.  We’d go and look at construction sites.  He was so smart.  He knew all the airplanes and construction equipment by name.  What’s crazy is that he’s now 12!  I unfortunately lost touch with them when I graduated from college.  

Now we have our own nanny.  Laura lived in our old neighborhood.  Just a few houses from us.  Her parents would always tell me about their daughter and how wonderful she was and how great she was with kids.  I was hesitant to leave Brayden with anyone but family.  But, I soon realized that I needed more help than our parents could give us.  She started coming over a couple of hours twice a week just so I could get a shower or get a little editing done.  She’s now been with us for close to a year and a half and B just loves her.  She’s so patient with him and loves to teach him new things.  She reminds me so much of myself when I watched Garrett.  You can just tell how much she really does love Brayden.

One day when I was walking Brayden by our park he picked up a dandelion and blew it.  I know I didn’t teach him how to do that!  Chuck said that Laura had.  I just thought it was so cool!  I wanted to get a few pictures of them playing with the dandelions and just hanging out together.  Brayden gave me exactly 3 minutes and 53 seconds before he had a breakdown, but I still think I got some great ones

Thank you for everything you do for our family, Laura!  B loves you and so do we!  

PS  Laura says she’s not photogenic.  I couldn’t disagree more!

Happy 22 Month Birthday, Brayden B!

Dear Brayden,

I feel like I’m writing these letters way too often.  Time is literally flying by!  

This month you have really turned into a boy.  You are not a baby.  You are starting to speak in sentences, which is just crazy to me.  You’re learning new words every day.  Just today you said “heart” and “goat” for the first time and we haven’t even been working on them.  This past weekend you said “dog” and “cat”, which we’ve been working on for awhile.  Until now you’ve always just said the sounds.  You also said “shoes”.  I love how you say “hot” when you actually mean “bright”.  While you’re learning tons of new words you also still have a secret language, which I LOVE!  You say, “I love you, Mama” as “E O eyes, Mama!”.  It’s my favorite  

Your Daddy turned 30 and we practiced singing happy birthday a lot.  At the end of the song you pretend to blow out birthday candles.  When we finally sang to Daddy you helped him blow out his candles.  I can’t wait for your second birthday to see if you’ll do it on your own!

You still say “ha” instead of “yes” and everyone (including me) thinks it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever heard.

You are still obsessed with choo choo’s.  It’s all you talk about.  You wake up talking about them.  You go to sleep talking about them.  You think there is going to be a choo choo every new place we go.  We went to Irvine Park and got to ride the train all by ourselves.  It was so much fun!

You went to the snow for the first time.  Let’s just say you didn’t love it.  You learned the word “cold” very fast.  You liked to put the hood of your sweatshirt on and cover as much of your face as possible and say “Cold! Cold!”.  Every time you saw snow you would also say, “Cold!  Cold!”.  We tried to get you to play in the snow, but you cried the whole time.  The only time you laughed was when I hit someone with a snowball.  

You’re eating so much better, but you have to be able to dip whatever you’re eating.  Preferably into barbeque sauce or ranch.

You are obsessed with your Papa and Pop Pop and talk about them constantly.  Whenever there is someone at the door you think it is one of them.  Sorry Grandmas!

I’m just so proud of you, Brayden Bittel.  I’m proud of every teeny, tiny accomplishment you make.  If I’m this proud when you say “dog” or “heart”, how am I going to feel when you start preschool?  Graduate from Kindergarten?  Score your first goal?  Get your first A?  Graduate from high school?  Get accepted into UCLA?  No pressure!  :)  Graduate from college?  Get married?  I can’t even think about that one!  I just can’t imagine being any prouder of you than I am today, but I know we have so many more fun and exciting things ahead of us.  

The fact of the matter is, I will always be your number one fan.  Cheering you on if you’re the best at something or the worst at something.  As long as you are happy and having fun I will be there with you supporting you all the way.   

E o eyes, Brayden Bittel!

Love,

Mama