Alphabet Adventures

Ha ha, I am such a dork for putting that title...but oh well! I just had to post these couple videos of Brett playing with his "Alphabet Pal," and later reciting (er, repeating) the alphabet. No wonder this kid's head is in the 100th percentile...it's housing a huge, growing brain! ;) Last night we were just marveling at how he truly ISN'T a baby anymore. He is just growing (both physically and cognitively) by huge leaps and bounds. So fun! I guess that means it's time for another one!...and NO, that was NOT an announcement. :)

Brett decided that playing Alphabet Pal with Daddy was way more fun than that silly old caterpillar!

My favorite letter in this rendition is the ABCs is the letter "I."

cuz you're my cheeseburger

We had so much fun celebrating Mommy's 25th Birthday! Brett even got his very first cheeseburger meal at Fuddrucker's. We'd been wanting to go there for awhile now, because Brett has a pretend toy hamburger at home that he loves to build and take apart. At Fudd's, you can add all your own toppings. We just knew he'd love building and devouring the real thing...and we were right!

Three Firsts on Brett's Second Fourth

We had such a fun Fourth of July this year! Last year, being Brett's first, we played it down a lot because 6-month olds tend not to enjoy staying up past 10 p.m., and they definitely don't fancy the ear-splittling noise that accompanies fireworks. This year, we figured we'd have to play it pretty safe again for our big 18-month old...but he proved us wrong! What a little champ.

For some afternoon fun, we headed down to the Salem River Front Park with Grandma and Grandpa Brown. They had a fun little carnival with rides and games for all ages...and a car show just for Grandpa. We thought it would be packed out, but thankfully it was really easy to find a parking spot and mill around! I guess everyone else decided to wait until the day cooled off a bit. On the south end of the park sits Salem's gorgeous indoor carousel. Brett absolutely LOVED it!

Then we headed home for a delicious barbecue dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's, complete with steak, corn on the cob, and home-made (home-grown!) cherry pie. Yummers! We stuck around until after dark so Brett could enjoy some little fireworks on the patio. I think his favorite were the pop-its because he could do them himself. Then on the way home, we stopped to watch lots of fun shows - some little - some illegal...:) Brett LOVED it! He was sooo tired (did I mention he didn't nap more than 15 minutes on Saturday?!), but he kept those droopy little eyes open as long as he could. After walking up and down our street for a few last "booms," Brett finally crashed at 11:15 p.m. Whoa.

So, what were his three firsts on his second fourth, you might ask?

First Fish:

First Horsey Ride:

First Fireworks: (well techinally he saw one little sparkler last year...but it doesn't count because THIS year he got to throw the pop-its all by himself!)

And just for fun...Brett has also learned to sing along: