How Brycen's Doing

With everything going on with Carter, many have asked us how Brycen is doing. Thankfully he's at an age where he doesn't understand what's going on, let alone that he even has a brother. We do show him pictures of Carter though, and whenever we say, "Where's Carter?" Brycen points to one of the pictures and smiles. Mostly he points to my phone because my main screen is a picture of Carter. In the NICU, the minimum age for visitors is 14 years. Two times a week there are 15 minute sibling visits where the siblings of the babies get to come in and see their little brother or sister. However, the minimum age for the sibling visits is 3 years. They do this because kids younger than 3 aren't up to date on the shots necessary to go inside. But it's fine for us because Brycen doesn't understand what's going on anyway. The only thing that's been hard are the times where either Tyson or I leave to the hospital and Brycen sees us go. That doesn't happen very often though. Usually Tyson visits Carter right after work since he's right nearby, then comes home and we all have dinner, then I leave to the hospital after Brycen goes to bed so he doesn't see me. It works out pretty well. Hopefully we won't have to do this for very much longer!

When Brycen came home from Idaho both times over the last month we were so surprised to see how much he had changed. He started putting "t" at the end of words so he was saying a lot of "that" and words that sound similar. He says a lot of "Ohh! That!" He also started expressing when he wanted to get down from his high chair by saying "Get it out!" That makes us laugh every time. In general, he's starting to put a lot more words together and just saying a lot more all together. Other words include hot, ouch, cool, and Melmo (Elmo).

My parents came to town Friday night and we had a great weekend with them! Before they got here, I got the guestroom all ready for them and Brycen helped put the pillows on the bed. He put them on in a way that apparently looked comfortable to him because he propped himself up and decided to hang out there for a good 30 minutes:

He had been carrying that balloon all around the apartment since Tyson gave it to me when Carter was born. We ended up sending it to its grave that very day.

 I put "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" on my computer for him. He loved lounging on the guest bed to watch a show!

Later that day we made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. (You can find the recipe here! They're pretty much the best chocolate chip cook ever.) I like to bake with Brycen and explain different techniques to him as I go. He doesn't really get it, but I'm hoping that my kids will want to be in the kitchen more when they grow up and tell their friends how their mom taught them everything. :)

 I let Brycen put the chocolate chips in. He started out putting them in one at a time:

 This lasted for about 7 or 8 chocolate chips until he dumped them all in:

 

 Such a good little helper!

 We're cookie dough eaters at this house!