Brady is 2!

 Our sweet little Brady turned 2 a week and a half ago.  Can't believe it's already been that long since he joined our family.  We love our boy so much and are grateful everyday for his health and his smiles.  For his birthday (besides going to Disneyland), we just had some friends from the ward come over for cake and ice cream.  I kind of feel bad that his birthday is so close to Christmas, it's such a busy time of year and it was hard to do much more than that.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Elmo Cake.  Don't mind his shirt, he always tries to take it off!

Brady ate the small cupcake that was supposed to be his nose, so we had to substitute it for a clementine!

Fascinated by the candles

Brady's friends Ryan and Greyer

Enjoying some cake

His stats at his 24 month appointment were:

Weight: 27 lbs, 10 oz., 45th percentile

Height: 35 inches, 65th percentile

Here are some more things about Brady at 2 that I want to remember!  

Sleeping Woes:

Beginning at about 21 months, Brady stopped taking a nap everyday.  Prior to this, he took a good 3 hour nap every afternoon.  I tried everything to get him to sleep, but never found anything that worked.  I still put him in his crib for several hours each afternoon, and he slept about 2 days of the week.  I don't know how he did it, but I guess he just could entertain himself for hours without any toys or books or anything!  That was working pretty well, until one afternoon a few weeks before his birthday, I heard a little voice say "Mama" from the top of the stairs.  Brady could now get out of his crib, even with the mattress on the floor!  I wasn't too worried about night time because he has always gone right down.  But those first few nights of his new found independence were a disaster.  Right when you put him in his crib, he climbed out immediately, even in the dark when he was exhausted.  It took hours to get him down for a couple of nights.  This kid can fight sleep better than anyone I know! After seeing him almost fall on his head, we decided it wasn't safe anymore to have him in his crib, so we were forced to go to a toddler bed.  We turned the lock to the outside and took out the bookshelf and anything else that we needed to.  Night times have improved and he goes down easily again, but naptime is a joke.  He just has free reign of his room and really hasn't taken a good nap since.  I need the break time, so I lock him in there about 2 hours each day.  His room often looks like this afterward:

He still moves a lot in his sleep, and doesn't usually stay on his bed at night.  He really does need to be in a crib still, but we didn't have another choice.  We found him in this uncomfortable position one night.  (Side note: the big colorful pillow is several inches below the mattress!).  So, he has been going to bed each night as early as is realistic, sometimes as early as 5:00.  But, we can't do that everyday even though he needs the sleep!  So, I guess Brady is done napping.  And I thought kids took naps until they were 4...But I guess it's better to figure all this out now instead of 2 months from now when we have a newborn!


Eating:
Brady's favorite foods right now are eggs, crackers, fruit, yogurt, cheese, rolls, ham, and broccoli.  He eats a good dinner probably about half the time.  His favorite meal I make is chicken strips and potato wedges.  He loves dipping anything and that's usually a way we can get him to eat.  He often  leaves a big mess on the floor.  He swats things off of the table.  I started to make him help me pick up the floor, but that makes him want to do it more, so that's something we are working on.  Little stinker!

Playing:
He loves being with other kids, and plays with them if they are older than him.  He has some buddies in our ward we do a lot with and always points to their houses when we go by.  He also likes playing with Logan, Frederick, and Christian.  At home, the ball popper is still his favorite toy. He likes cars, trains, books, his letters, and watching videos of himself and "Mi-mi." (Beaker the Muppet).  He stills enjoys playing in the bath and loves playgrounds.



He has an obsession with lights, and the first thing I have to do everyday when I wake up is turn on all the lights in the house.  When we go to a store, he is looking at the ceiling the whole time and noticed immediately if any bulbs are burned out.  He literally can tell if just one of 3 fluorescent bulbs has gone out in one light.  He definitely pays attention to detail.  He says uh-oh when he sees something not quite right, like a trash can knocked over when we are out walking.
He is quite the jumper and loves jumping on beds, off the couch, and anywhere else he can.  Here is a jumping-off-the-couch sequence.








Talking:
Brady has started talking a lot more.  He says new words all the time.  He has started to string 2 words together.  He knows all of his letters, his favorites are W (doo doo), X, Y, Z.  He says the alphabet a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h...o, p...w, x, y, z, now I know....He's really good at noticing letters when we are out and about.  He calls his pretzels B's.  Anytime he sees things crossed, he says X. (Like where the corners of tiles come together).  He knows all his main colors, most of his numbers 1-9, and many shapes. He's a smart little guy!  He loves to sing and his favorite songs are Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Itsy, Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, Book of Mormon Stories, and any other song with actions.  He knows a lot of antonym pairs and will label things as hot or cold, on or off, etc.  He has started to say "Please" when he wants something and "thank you" when you give him something.






Moodiness:
Brady has never been clingy (minus the month he got 4 molars at once), until about a month ago.  He is constantly saying Mama and wants to be with me all the time.  He would even cry when I left to go tutoring, even though Dave was home and we had done that 3 times a week for a year and a half.  He wants to hold my finger when he walks down the stairs. I'm not used to a clingy boy, but on the plus side it has made him a little more cuddly.  I don't know if he can sense a change is coming, or his months of no napping has caught up to him, or if it's because Dave is not home as much with his new job, or this is just a 2 year old thing.  I hope it doesn't last too long though!  Now that he's 2, he has started throwing some pretty big tantrums.  He will freak out about little things like a dead-end on his train track.  He sometimes rolls around on the floor for 20 minutes crying over nothing (hence the 5:00 bedtime!).  He was not like this at all until he turned 2!  I guess the terrible twos have hit with a vengeance.  He's a lot more opinionated than he's ever been and naughtier than he used to be.  He loves getting into the fridge, climbing on the table, he even threw the toilet paper roll into the toilet, which has never been something he's done.  Good thing he's so dang cute!  I know all this is normal, but it just is not how he has ever acted before.

Other Things:
*Brady's favorite place to go is to my parents.  He loves Mammy (Grammy), Pop-pop (Popcan) and Coco (Bronco.)  Often when we get into the car he asks if we're going to their house, even though we're up there only about twice a month.  He also loves my Grandma Melville's house.  He talks about Nana all the time.  Good thing she's close and helps me out often watching Brady while I have appointments.

*Brady will pee on the potty several times a day if I put him on there.  I'm trying to decide if I should try and potty train him before our new baby comes in 2 months or less.  Any tips?  Should I push it?  After he goes, his favorite thing is to run and go lay on our bed with no diaper.  It's pretty funny.
*He has fun at nursery, although lately he's been a little hesitant to go in.  He likes to see his teachers in sacrament meeting.
*His cute curly hair gets multiple comments anytime we go out somewhere--mostly from older ladies!  His big blue eyes also are attention-getters.  People always tell me what a cute little boy he is and I just have to agree with them!

I'm sure I'll be adding to this as I think of more things over the next few days...