Decorating the Christmas Tree

While Papa and Mimi were in town we decorated the Christmas tree.  We listened to Christmas music and had fun putting their own ornaments on the tree.  Every year Oma and I pick themes that the kids are interested in that year and buy ornaments for each kid.  Here are some past ones for Julia: cell phone when she got her first one, drivers license when she turned 16, volleyball when she played, ice skating, purple butterfly, American Girl, red purse, purple heels, and this year one for her high school graduation.  Here are some past ones for Ethan: Tony Romo when he met him at EIU homecoming, White Sox, guitar, basketball, baseball, drivers license when he turned 16 and this year one for swimming.  Grayson got two ornaments last year for baby's 1st Christmas and this year he got an airplane from the movie Airplanes, a real airplane with his name as he is obsessed with them and a German guy that has moving legs from the Chris Kringle Market at the Daley Center.  We also get the kids an ornament that has the year and our family picture inside.  My mom had a tradition of giving ornaments for Christmas and then we took these when we got older and had a good start on our own trees.  I wanted to pass this tradition down to my kids so we have fun picking these out every year.

Family Tradition - Ornaments:

1st Set: Family pictures from 2004 - 2014

2nd & 3rd Sets: Family pictures close up

4th Set: Julia's ornaments

5th Set: Ethan's ornaments

6th Set: Grayson's ornaments

  

Grayson Videos ~ 15 Months

Here are the videos from 15 months:

Grayson ~ 15 Months

~ 15 Months ~

Grayson is 15 months old!  He is talking so much now, climbing on everything, growing taller and thinning out, getting all 4 molars (although only two have broken through the skin), loves airplanes, Elmo, playing chase and running under our legs, vacuuming, dancing, loves his Oma, Papa and Mimi (and Momma, Dada, Juju and Ethan of course).  He has now started yelling for Momma and Dada and then waits for us to respond.  He does this at our music class and then runs over to me after I say yes, honey? and gives me the biggest bear hug.  

He is talking so much now and will repeat almost every word we say.  His new words are Oma (Grandma Beurskens), Papa (Grandpa Braham), Mimi (Grandma Braham) ~ (they came to visit Dec 4-9 so I will do a separate post on their visit), happy, yes, doggy, monkey, car, apple, all done and does the sign for it with his hands, open, up, hot, and the following words in Spanish: si (yes), agua (water), mono (monkey), comida (food), naranja (orange), pan (bread), and carro (car).  

He is obsessed with airplanes and loves to watch for them through the window.  He gets so excited when he sees one fly by and will point and say airplane.  He will say bye bye to the airplanes when he he grows tired of looking for them.  He loves Elmo and squeals when he sees him on tv.  His new favorite thing is throwing things over the gate down the stairs.  He is now a pro at opening the gates so we had to buy locks.  We can't keep our eyes off of him for long as his little mind works so fast.  He loves to throw and kick balls.   I'm hoping he will be a soccer player like his momma and I will be signing him up for lil kickers soon.   

Oma came to visit for 2 weeks and Grayson was in heaven.  He loves loves loves his Oma.  And I think she is pretty obsessed with him too.  Their bond is like no other.  One day I was yelling for her to come upstairs and from that day on Grayson yells for OMA! when he wants her.  It is so cute how he yells for her.  I can't even describe it, but I will hopefully get a video of it.  He is so sad when she leaves and can't wait for her next visit.  

~ Doctor's Appointment ~

He got 4 shots at his 15 month appointment and started crying as soon as we held him down before he even got the shots.  It was so sad.  He weighs 23 pounds 13 ounces (50-75th percentile), 32 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile) and his head circumference is 19 3/8 (95-98th percentile).  His doctor said he should be saying 3-5 words now and I was in shock as he's saying more like 20-30 words.    

Papa and Mimi come to visit

Grandpa and Grandma Braham came to visit Dec 4-9th from Las Vegas.  We were very excited for them to come, but a little worried as they are not used to cold weather.  Luckily the weather was very nice for winter in Chicago.  We will now refer to Grandpa and Grandma Braham as Papa and Mimi as this is what Grayson calls them.  It's so cute to hear him call for his Papa and Mimi.  He is pretty obsessed with them and I know they think the world of him.  Grayson loved giving Mimi big hugs and blew her several kisses and loved playing with Papa.  

We took Grayson to Navy Pier's Winter Fest and it was quite the attraction with so many fun kid games and rides.  Grayson was a little too young for most of it, but he had fun when the Christmas carolers sang and played their instruments.  He started dancing, clapping and tapping his feet.  It was so cute and he had a blast.  I think he will enjoy the Winter Fest more next year when he's a little older.  Ethan came with us and as always he was so good with Grayson and it's fun to see them hang out.