19 months - BLM

Ah - blogging with three little ones is proving to be a little difficult. I did the monthly updates for Ryan for the first two years and told myself I have to try and do the same for each child, so hopefully I can make myself continue!

Bradley has just become even more of an interesting character this month. He is a very spirited little toddler and definitely makes life interesting for everyone he is around. We always talk about just what a great personality he has, although with that comes its own set of challenges. He keeps us on our toes, defying our authority at every turn, but just loves life and loves to have fun. He can throw a temper tantrum like no other, but then can be a sweet as they come as well. He's not supper cuddly, but if someone comes around he is unsure of, he is all of a sudden a momma's boy.

His OCD nature has developed even more so this month. He can't stand when doors are open and wants all doors shut, all the time. He also loves all the lamps to be turned on. If we turn one on, we must turn them all on in that room. He also loves to be clean and loves to clean. He is constantly pulling wipes out of my purse to clean his face, then he will take the wipe and start wiping down tables, chairs, etc. I think the thing he is obsessed with the most are the brooms. He is always in our utility room pulling our brooms, mops, etc. and running around our house trying to clean. He even has his own Swiffer and broom set, but still prefers the adult sized ones instead.

Bradley and Ryan are really starting to play and interact more these days. Along with it comes a fair amount of fighting, but I guess that is to be expected. B loves to play with my make-up brushes in the morning, so of course Ryan needs one too :)

 Reading some books together

I try and make B have snacks on his little couch to reduce the crazy amounts of mess that somehow accumulates every single day. Ryan will usually go sit with him - he's pretty sweet.

This couch serves dual purpose as a wrestling mat, since it folds out into a bed. Every day when Wes gets home from work and the boys finish dinner, B runs over to this couch, unfolds it, moves it into position, then starts pointing at it and screaming for Wes to come over and wrestle. The kid loves to be tickled, messed with, tossed around - he's just a rough and tough little boy. He screams with delight and however long they play around, it's never enough for him. Now he's learned he can stand on Wes' chest and tries to balance himself. He is pretty proud of himself, too. Whenever he gets really excited, he throws both arms straight up in the air and lets out a really loud shrill.

Obviously, we aren't getting rid of the pacifier anytime soon. We try and hide it during the day because for him it is definitely out of sight, out of mind, but now with Charlie having a pacifier, it seems to be getting a lot more attention these days.

He still climbs on the furniture all day, every day. And falls off quite a bit as well. He's really into jumping on the couches right now and we've just about lost our will to fight him on it

 This pic makes me laugh!

Coloring is probably one of his favorite things to do, second to cleaning on course. He and Ryan are really good about coloring together.

As far as eating goes these days, again, not too much has changed. He has started eating strawberries and absolutely loves bananas. He eats an entire banana each day. He seems to not love pouches as much anymore and eats about 1 a day, sometimes two, but he hasn't replaced them with much more table food either. So, for lunch, sometimes he hardly eats anything. He loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch and eats lasagna for dinner every night still. We have tried a bunch of different things, but he won't even give them a shot. He's pretty much mastered feeding himself as well. He is really good with a spoon and does not like to be fed.

A few weeks ago, he figured out he could grab the loaf of bread off my parent's pantry shelf, and for whatever reason loves to eat just plain pieces of bread. I am sure part of it is the novelty of being able to get it himself, but if he'll eat it, we aren't going to stop him!

This past month, we started pulling down all of our stuff for Charlie which helped B prepare for the baby and learn that these things were not his, but his brother's. For the most part, he was really good about it and if we asked him where Charlie's things were, he would go point to the swing, bouncer, etc. For whatever reason though, he LOVES the bouncer. It's his own personal lounge chair. He will go grab his lovey and pacifier and just go sit in it and bounce. It's pretty funny.

With Charlie coming, we decided to finally put together one of his birthday present so he would have something new to play with it and he loves this car! 

 Wants to be just like dad. He is determined to learn how to use this ab wheel.

As we prepared for Charlie, we started talking more about him to Bradley to help him get ready and he has been just so sweet. When we would ask him where the baby was, he would come point to my tummy and want to lift my shirt to kiss my tummy. Just after doing that for a couple of weeks, he seemed to become very attached to him. And that has continued since Charlie has joined us. He is obsessed with kissing him all day, every day.

As far as his monthly stats go - he seems to be getting a little pudgy. Not sure of his exact weight, but the Stouffer's lasagna is obviously putting some meat on his bones. He's wearing 18 month- 24 month clothing and size 4 diapers, still. He has added a few new words to his vocabulary - Baby, brudder (brother), bo bo (he scraped his knee at the pool and ever since shows off his bo bo everyday), and Berta (our housekeeper). Still doesn't know Ryan's name, GiGi, Poppy, or Yami (our nanny), but knows our housekeeper who comes every other week. It makes no sense. Maybe because her name starts with a B and apparently he only likes B words and/or things related to cleaning!?!?

The day before we had Charlie, we took the boys to breakfast at Black Walnut as our last outing as a family of four. B enjoyed some chocolate chip pancakes, as did Ryan.

 He thought he was such a big boy because we didn't make him sit in a high chair. He looks so old here!

 And of course, he loves to taunt Ryan

Bradley has now officially assumed the role of middle child and seems to be taking it pretty well so far. He seems pretty unphased at the moment, but I am sure that has something to do with all of the family around and attention he has gotten in the first two weeks at home. He hasn't taken out his frustrations on Charlie, yet, but we can't leave them alone for two seconds either. He thinks he can pick Charlie up, which scares me to death and along with all of the kissing he likes to do, comes so eye poking and finger pulling. More to come on that with an update of our first days at home. I know he'll be a great big brother....one day!!!