Like velcro!

Brenden has always been a very social baby. He has never been clingy or needed to be able to see me at all times. At playgroups he never had to be right next to me or on my lap. When we take him out to go shopping or to eat he screams to get attention from complete strangers and then pretends to be shy so they will smile at him. He doesn't hesitate to run after other kids (I've learned to have good reflexes to catch him before he grabs them) or animals, and has always leaned away from me to go to anyone and everyone. So when he screamed at me when I left him with his grandma at the table at church I was shocked. Who is this child? I have always been able to let other people watch him without any sort of fussing. Not only that, he was with his grandma! He doesn't seem to understand that she will spoil him WAY more than I ever would. (Coincidentally, that was the night she shared popcorn and ice cubes with him...EEK!) That same night I also got to hold Bailyr, which was amazing. I cannot believe Brenden was ever that small! I turned around to show her to Brenden and his face contorted into the most horrible sad face imaginable. He then proceeded to scream, and fling and wiggle until I gave her back to her dad and came back to hold him. I can only assume that separation anxiety is kicking in, which was not something I was prepared for. I've started to notice that he is behaving differently at home as well. If I am in the room he wants to be on my lap. If I am standing anywhere near the baby gate to where he can see me, he grabs the gate and rattles it until I look back. When I take him to the dance studio with me he gets upset if I am not paying attention to him and won't let me get anything done until he's being held. I know that he's teething and has a double ear infection, but he's been sick before and hasn't acted this way. I guess it's just one more developmental stage we have to deal with, although it's not as welcome as walking or crawling. He has also learned how to arch his back and fling himself on the floor. Yay for early tantrums...NOT.

We also heard from the insurance adjuster this week. He said that it is almost impossible to prove negligence and that he doesn't want to try. Tim believes it's all about how much money it would take to prove it. The guy did say that if they went after every case that our premiums would be crazy expensive. Guess what...our premium is going to go up anyway if it's not ruled negligence! Unfortunately for Tim, I wasn't about to sit back and let some guy in San Antonio who has never seen our car decide that Tate Boys did nothing wrong. I mean really, wheels don't just fall off of cars! The mechanic said it was one of two things, either the 2 lug nuts that were gone were loose which caused stress on the other 3 and made them snap, or the other 3 lug nuts were too tight, which caused them to shear off and strip the other 2. All I said was "DUH!" I could have told you that the day the wreck happened. So the adjuster agreed to send our case to a subjugation board which will decide whether it will be pursued. We are sending the pictures of the wreck, along with the receipt for the work done on the car to prove how long it had been since the work was done. Hopefully we'll hear something positive, although it doesn't seem like anyone wants to stand behind us. If nothing else, I just need a mechanic to say "This was not a failure of the car, it was human error" so we can go to Tate Boys and try to get our deductable back and a darn good apology for my mom, who is still nervous about driving on Hwy 75. That's the least they should do.

My, my I'm a gripey one today! I really would rather end on a happy note. :) Tim and I have been discussing the fact that Brenden has not had his first hair cut yet. I understand that he has beautiful little curls, but he looks so shabby sometimes! Luckily he's husky so no one has ever thought he was a little girl, which is exactly what happened to Connie when Tim was little. Yep, at one point Tim had beautiful, curly blonde hair! I really need to find a picture. When Brenden grows up and gets upset that his hair isn't straight he won't be able to just blame me! So last night I was looking at old pictures of Brenden and was shocked to be reminded that for a long time the boy was practically bald. He dealt with some pretty awful eczema until he was 7 months old and we're pretty sure that is why he was unable to grow hair. Every time I mention a haircut to Tim he tells me he doesn't want Brenden to be bald again, which is just silly because even if his hair is shorter there is no way he'll look bald. Looking at those pictures, I can see what Tim is so worried about. He does look kind of funny! Our poor, bald baby. How far you have come!

Brenden at 6 months

Brenden at 13 1/2 months.