Brady at 18 Months

I'm just going to go ahead and skip the 16 and 17 month posts... as it turns out I am not so great at blogging.  Bad mom. 

Speaking of bad mothering, Brady recently rode home from a lunch out in nothing but a cloth diaper fashioned into a tube top because his diaper leaked (big time) and I still haven't learned that you should ALWAYS have a spare outfit in your diaper bag.  Sadly, this experience taught me nothing because the very next night he rode home from our favorite Mexican restaurant in the same getup.  At least I get a few points for teaching him to love books - even girly books from Target's dollar section. 

In other news, Brady is talking up a storm and his vocabulary is expanding daily.  Among his favorite new words is 'vacuum', which he loves to shout at me while I am - you guessed it - vacuuming.  He has plenty of opportunity to practice this one because I have to vacuum daily thanks to someone in our family who has a seemingly limitless amount of yellow hair to spare.  Despite his offensive shedding, I think we'll keep him - he's such a sweet boy.

Another new word - hat.  Used to request his own hat occasionally, but more often used to request Bryan's hat and/or sunglasses. 

Brady's collection of animal sounds has grown to include monkey, horse, duck, and kitty.  His body part identification now includes pointing to his hand, thanks to the book 'How Big is Baby Elmo?', which I have read no fewer than 800 times.  I kid, but I'm thrilled at how much Brady loves reading.  Another of his new phrases is 'read it'... usually referring to the same book over and over AND OVER again, but that's okay.  There's not much I'd rather do than hang out with my favorite little boy, finding out how big baby Elmo is.  Spoiler alert - 'SOOOOOOOOO big!'. 

 

Brady at 15 Months

At some point in the last few months our baby turned into a full-on, bonified toddler!  These days, among Brady's favorite activities are:

Playing outside.

Hanging with Daddy, by far Brady's favorite pasttime.  Currently Bryan is treated to a tearful farewell every morning when he leaves for work and a thrilled, "DADAAAAAA!" when he returns.

Chatting.  Recently we've experienced a language explosion which has Brady requesting milk ('baba'), water ('wawa'), to be held (a whispered 'up'), to NOT be held (a stern 'dow'), to be reunited with his favorite person ('Dada?  Dada?  Dadaaaaaaa!'), to examine something more closely ('touCH'), to play in the backyard ('out'), demanding that Seven drop a toy ('BOP!  BOP!'), as well as expressing surprise and appreciation ('Wow!').

And, a true sign that Brady is a child of the age of technology, he loves Facetiming with Grandma and Grandpa on Daddy's new iPad.  These daily conversations consist mainly of pointing to and identifying various body parts, reciting his favorite animal noises, waving, and repeatedly kissing the screen. 





Christmas Love

Halloween 2011 - New Sheriff in Town

This year, Halloween proved to be much more popular than in 2010.  Sheriff Young has come a long way from the angry little bat he was last year.



Brady definitely didn't understand trick or treating, but he had a blast following his buddy Simon, who is two and therefore much more well versed in the art of trick or treating.  Simon showed Brady the ropes and kept up an adorable running commentary on all things Halloween: "First, we very careful crossing the street.  Then, we knock the door.  Trick or treat!  We have pumpkins!".

We hit a few houses and then the sheriff called it a night, and his parents enjoyed opening the door for other little trick-or-treaters and devouring the sheriff's candy.

The only Young who still has mixed feelings on Halloween?  The sheriff's prisoner, who had to be detained after some poor Halloween etiquette.  Seven was under the mistaken impression that when children come to your door, you attempt to *take* their candy, not *give* them candy.





Pumpkin Patch

What happens when you take four squirrelly boy cousins to a pumpkin patch and try to get a group photo?

Maybe next year.

Brady at 12 Months

Mysteriously, my little baby looks like a total big boy in this month's photo. I don't know how it happened, but suddenly Bryan and I are the lucky parents of a 1 year old! 

We had a fun month celebrating Brady's birthday - it seems like we never really stopped celebrating his birth and somehow a year has gone by.  We decided to wait on a big party until another year and just celebrated with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins - but there was no shortage of attention and gifts from this group. 

I am a total sugar fiend, so it came as no surprise that Brady enjoyed his birthday cake immensely.  He loves anything sweet, and anything he thinks is grown up food.  Currently his favorite way to score a taste of whatever we are eating is to dramatically smack his lips together and give a loud, "MMMMmmmmmmmmm". 

Brady was unsure how to handle gift opening but he did love the paper.

Brady weighed in at 24.5 lbs and measured 30.5 inches at his doctor's appointment and showed off 8 teeth and awesome clapping, waving, and walking skills.  Once Nurse Jaclyn appeared with her syringes, he also demonstrated healthy lung capacity, incredibly strong leg muscles, and an advanced ability to hold a grudge.  After his shots he was offered a toy baseball as a reward, which he indignantly hurled across the exam room.  He cannot be bought, Nurse Jaclyn.





Big Paws

Brady finally decided it was time to hold his own bottle. Only when I took the photo did I realize how very, very overdue this milestone is.




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