Thursday, November 27, 2014

Bray Bray is TWO


Sweet B,

You are TWO years old today! I must admit that I am emotional about this day because you are my baby. Does this mean I'll be sappy every year on your birthday, mourning the loss of another precious age of all three children? I hope not. But, it does make me sad that you, my youngest, will never be one again. You are growing and talking and running and learning and I wish time would slow down!

You started your birthday celebration last night and partied in your crib until 9:45 PM. Even though you have been slow to talk, you are getting the hang of it now and love practicing your words. Just in the past month, you have started stringing words together. My favorite phrase lately is "more trash." I have a children's album recorded in my car, and track #8 is the garbage truck song. You love to listen to it on a loop. Every time the song ends, you yell for "more trash!"

Your other words at this age include "wah-er," apple, "moov," where?, (I wish I could insert a picture of you with your shoulders shrugged and hands in the air as you say "where?"), "papi," mommy, daddy, sissy, mimi, baba, pop pop, "hel-p," "ta-dah!," "si-zers," car, and a few more. I love that you can say scissors but cannot (or won't?) say bye bye. While your vocabulary is improving by the day, you are still far behind where your brother and sister where at this age. We are not worried, though, because you definitely get your point across!

You are an electronics addict. Your favorite TV shows are “ah ah” and “woof woof,” which translate to Curious George and Clifford. Any time you are in a room with a TV, you will bring me the “mote” and ask for a “sho.” You are so darn cute (and persistent!) that it is hard to say no, but I cannot in good conscience let you watch television all of your waking hours. You also love to play the Elmo game on my phone. Like any TV, you will run up to me and start saying “Elmo” when you see me holding my phone. And last, but not least, you LOVE watching Jib Jabs on the computer. Jib Jabs are these silly videos that your Baba makes you – he will insert our families’ faces onto cartoon characters that sing and dance, and you go berserk over them! I almost have to hide my laptop while you are awake because you walk around so pathetically saying “JIB JAB!” Your poor Baba cannot keep up with your requests for more Jib Jabs!

You are a pretty good eater. Like your siblings, your favorite foods are mac and cheese, hot dogs, pizza, apples, bananas and pancakes. Fortunately, you will eat vegetables too and usually ask for second helpings of broccoli. Despite how much you eat, you only weigh 26 lbs, 2 oz, and are in the 27th percentile for your age.

Like it or not, you go by many names: Brayden, B, Bray Bray, Brady, Boomer, Buster Brown, Crazy Boy, just to name a few. I love hearing Taylor call you Bray Bray and Matty call you Buster Brown. Clearly, you have your big sis and big brother wrapped around your finger.

You love cars and trucks. It’s a good thing your big brother is willing to share his cars with you because you take them all over the house. You also enjoy playing with your sister's markers and dot paints. In fact, you love to take all of the lids off of the markers and leave the markers lying around to dry out. You are starting to color more. You enjoy doing whatever your big siblings are doing, so if they are coloring, you want to join in the fun.

Compared to Taylor and Matty, you are much more physical than they were at this age. I suppose what you lack in verbal skills, you make up for in physical skills. You go and go and go and go!

  • I already blogged about this, but you ran circles, literally, around Matty’s preschool class at the trike-a-thon a couple of weeks ago. You must have done 25 laps! Every adult in the gym commented on your stamina that day.

  • Taking you out to run errands is my least favorite thing to do. You are a nightmare. You refuse to sit in a cart or stroller. If I convince you to sit in a shopping cart, it is usually short-lived. In a matter of minutes, you work your way out of any belt/harness and proceed to stand on top of the cart, jumping and screaming until I grab you. Then, you squirm and thrash your little body about until I lose the battle and set you down. The minute your little feet hit the floor, you are G.O.N.E. I figure I probably spend at least 30% of the time I am in any store chasing you versus actually shopping. I could not tell you the number of times my heart has stopped in shear panic because I cannot find you. Just the other day, we were in Michael’s shopping for Christmas crafts. After you did your usual routine and freed yourself from my arms, you took off. We were in the middle of an aisle when this happened, and you bolted to the end of the aisle. By the time I chased you, you had rounded a corner and gone down another aisle. I started looking down every subsequent aisle, but you were not there. Panic set in. I abandoned my cart and started running around the store… when I heard a giggle from the last aisle. There you were, hiding in the yarn aisle, giggling as you hid from me.

  • You are very resourceful. I suppose I should be proud that you are such a good problem solver. A few weeks ago, I was playing Chutes and Ladders with Matty in the family room when you brought me an apple. I murmured something like, “Oh, you want a snack? Okay, let me finish my game with Matty” The next thing I knew, you brought me a carving knife from our knife block. You had pushed a kitchen chair to our fruit basket first for the apple, and then you pushed it across the kitchen to retrieve the knife. Yikes! When your daddy got home from work that night, every chair in our kitchen was on top of the counter to keep you safe.

  • You are good at carrying stools around the house, including up and down the stairs. It is not uncommon for you to carry a stool from your upstairs bathroom down to the pantry, just so that you can rummage through our food!

  • You are also surprisingly good at riding a scooter for a two-year old. You will jump on Taylor’s or Matty’s and take off. Any friend of mine that has seen you do this comments on it – they do not expect to see such a little guy handle a scooter so gracefully! Your grandma and pop pop are giving you your own scooter for your birthday. Pretty soon all three of you will be gliding across the hardwood floors. I can hardly wait (note sarcasm).

Your hair is still sandy blonde, but I am afraid it is getting darker like Matty's did at this age. You still have blue eyes, and your funny facial expressions bring smiles to many, many faces. You are particularly good at scrunching up your nose and then belting out a big scream with your hands in the air. You still love your paci and loveys, you hate for me to brush your teeth, and you are showing an interest in potty training. You give great big bear hugs and sweet little kisses, but you are also very capable of pulling my hair and hitting me square in the face. Ouch! Generally, you are a happy little boy with a great disposition. You adore your family. We can hardly wait for you to join us in some of our family activities (like swimming lessons, skiing, going to movies). Don't get me wrong, though, I am not wishing away any second of this cute age!

You are full of joy and full of life. You are a great reminder of life’s innocence and blessings. I pause when I check on you before bed every night to thank God for giving me such a little miracle. We love you to the moon and back!


Love,
Mommy

 

 


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