My goodness how time is flying! I say it each month, but this is my favorite stage so far. The older you get, the more and more we enjoy watching your personality blossom. You’re like a sponge and you soak up and learn so much so quickly. You are signing quite often and are incredibly receptive to commands/anything we say. You sign: “Please”, “More” (which also just means “I want that”), “help” (hands raised in the air), “All done”, and “brush teeth”). We look forward to when you speak the words, but until then, we’re enjoying your sign language.  The other day we told you to throw something in the trash and now you do it without even being told – it’s amazing/cute. Whenever someone sneezes you imitate them right back.

The theme this month seems to revolve around you throwing things. You love to throw balls (football, basketball, colorful bouncy balls, etc…) You get so excited and run up to (anyone) and throw it directly at them and giggle and run off. You also throw toys that aren’t meant to be thrown. Your plate at mealtime gets thrown often, as well. This is a patience-tester for me. I know it’s just a phase and you’re learning, but I have to hold my breathe most days because I just know it’s coming – no matter how closely I watch you. Your food also gets tossed about  – even when I’m sitting directly in front of you. It’s amazing – hah!  You’re probably just testing my responses.  Dad taught you how to hold your hands in a “praying” position at meal times. It usually lasts for a few seconds, which is so sweet.

Dad was re-hired by Sidewinder and left for a 6 day shift on Feb. 7. It’s difficult for him to leave you/us – he misses you so much when he’s gone. The cell phone reception and internet hasn’t been very available to him so our communication is slim. I try to take as many photos and videos to share with him as I can.

You really LOVE graham crackers now. You prefer I give you larger pieces for you to hold on to and bite yourself. You don’t like it much when I hand you small pieces. YOu also like to “share” with me and see me nibble on the piece that you’re holding.  Sometimes (nearly daily) you’ll stand in front of the pantry door pointing and “telling” me that you want graham crackers.  You go through almost all your signs (“Please”, “help” (arms raised in the air), etc…) You don’t speak the word(s) yet, but it’s obvious what you’re communicating.   When I don’t oblige you, it usually results in an all-out tantrum, which is the other theme of the month. You’ll spin around and bang your head on the door/wall/floor, then wind your arms around like a helicopter, and fall to the ground. Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. hehe… sorry. Another new food you’ve come to like this month are smoothies. I went on a smoothie kick for a couple weeks and you love them! We put them in little cups with straws and you act like such a big boy drinking them.  It’s a great way to sneak you veggies I don’t normally include in your diet (spinach and other leafy greens).

We think you maybe learned how to “karate chop” and “sword fight” at Home Group from the other little kiddos? You love to karate chop and kick me during diaper changes. I try to discipline you and encourage you to stop so I can successfully/efficiently change your diaper without getting poop on everything, but you just belly laugh and kick harder. You will also swing random objects around like you’re sword fighting and you smile and make the real noises while doing it. Andrew from home group says you’re a “baby warrior” and he helps train you – haha.

Your bowel movements have improved greatly (thanks Miralax and pear juice!) since your last check-up. Your belly is still pretty distended most of the day, but it seems better somehow.  Maybe when you grow taller it will stretch out? You know how to point to your belly button – it’s hilarious. You quasi-squat your legs and lift up your shirt with one hand and point to your belly button with your other hand (that you can’t really see b/c your belly is so rotund). Then you make a funny face “o” shape with your mouth and look up at us like “woa – there it is!”

You colored for the first time with crayons. I saved an old roll of white seamless paper from my photoshoots and laid it out on the living room floor. You enjoyed it! Although, you preferred to put the crayons back in the box and/or throw them. You obeyed well about returning them to the paper, though. You’re really enjoying books, too. I find you “reading” alone often (sitting down with a book – pointing at different things on the pages and making noises).

You are more aware of noises and sounds around you. Whenever you’re eating a meal in your high chair, you point to the air at the noises outside (dogs, airplanes, cars, trucks, etc….) Whenever we’re outside and you hear an airplane, you point to the sky and look up – it’s incredible that you understand that concept already.

You love to pull your woobie, blanket, and pacifier out from your crib and walk around with it. You’ll drag them into the living room and lay down on the ground with them and “pretend” to rest. It’s quite adorable. You enjoy rubbing the tag of the giraffe woobie (your favorite) on your cheek to relax you before you sleep.  Sometimes you offer to rub the tag on our faces, too. I try to encourage you to return them to your bed though, so we don’t get used to having a pacifier out all day anymore. We’re trying to keep that for just times of sleep.

You experienced your first snow (although, it snowed/iced last year but we didn’t go outside b/c you were so little).  You thought it was pretty neat. It doesn’t seem like you’re easily phased by the cold. You played with the snow and almost immediately tasted it. hah. You were fine until your mittens were soaked through and then it hit you fast and you wanted to be finished with it.  Here’s a video:

 

I gave you your first hair cut this month. Here’s a video:

 

Wow, Brady. It’s amazing the capacity of love that we have for you and it just keeps growing! You are such a joy to watch blossom and grow and learn. Here are some photos from this month (Some of my favorites are from the arboretum when I dressed you up. The colors were so incredibly and the light was magical!) As you can tell, the weather has fluctuated. A lot. Also, I hope I’m as intentional at taking pictures of our future children. Geez, this is a lot of photos – hah.