Two! - BLM

Our middle man is officially 2! Although a little late in writing this post, Bradley has really seemed to mature over the past 6 weeks or so. He seems to be finally coming into his own, albeit still a rambunctious toddler - he is full of life and generally a happy kid. He has definitely started talking more and putting more 2 word phrases together. A few new words and phrases include: "Doot" ("toot" he is very pleased with this word and loves to use it), "Guck" (Ducky our elf), Moon (he is crazily obsessed with it right now and loves to find it wherever he can. Whenever he spots it whether in real life or a picture, he makes sure that the whole world knows he found a moon by screaming it at the top of his lungs), Nigh night, Move Mama, Aw man (and he always uses it in the correct context, which I find absolutely hilarious), Num Num (when anything tastes good, he points to his tongue and says num num), and I am sure there are others, but those are the most notable. He still won't say his own name and will only refer to himself as Me or B. If I ask him to repeat any word, he usually says No very emphatically. He still has a ways to go in the talking department and we are going to watch him over the next few months and hope for a vast improvement. If not, we may look into speech therapy as he has just met the minimum in word count, etc. for his age.

He's definitely got some of the same OCD tendencies Ryan did at this age. He loves to line things up (especially cups) and everyone must always have what belongs to them. If your phone is not on you and he finds it, he will deliver it. Same goes with drinks (which scares the you know what outta me) as he is toting around glasses full of water, etc. across the house. He also demands when you come in the house that you take your jacket off and sometimes shoes as well. He loves to point out when he has lined things up that there are "two" of them. No matter if it's 2 or 20, it is "two" to him.

He is still loving gym class and each week I think he is getting more and more comfortable. The pics below are a pretty big deal for him! He has been terrified of the air track since Day 1 and he finally got the courage up to play on it recently. I think he enjoyed himself.

We took the boys to Frolic's Castle in Memorial City Mall recently, and this kid has no fear. He climbs on everything without hesitation and has no regard for his safety. He also does not seem the least bit concerned when we are out of sight, he just roams around with not a care in the world.

I took him for his second haircut in early December, and to my surprise, he had no fear this time. The first time was full of tears from start to finish, but this time, not a one. He was so chill and just sat there enjoying his lollipop.

Handsome lil fella

He is also quite the ham (as is his brother) loving dressing up in dad's clothes.

Anytime Wes wants to do push-ups or his ab wheel, you can bet B will be right on top of him or trying to emulate him.

Giving his stump speech

He loves to cuddle and snuggle

This is his favorite little nook to go and sit or stand in.

Cheese face

He is really into puzzles and books these days. I loves watching him try to build puzzles and just how focused he gets. He also brings us books constantly to read, which is pretty cute. Some of his current favorites include, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear," the Nursery Rhyme book, "Clifford goes to Bed," and the First Words books because he loves pointing to all the pictures.

As far as eating goes, things have really turned a corner in just a matter of days. All of a sudden, he just wants to try everything that we are eating, and 9 times out of 10, he likes it. Most recently, he has tried hamburgers, grilled turkey and cheese, grilled chicken salad with all the fixins, Chinese flank steak over rice, etc. He's even willing to just eat more foods plain and on his own like cheese sticks or tomatoes - it's crazy to me. We haven't ventured too much into veggies as I figure that we will just take it slow. Plus, I don't want to halt the progress we've made and just hope that it continues. It seems like his appetite has grown as well, which might contribute to him trying new things. He actually seems hungry, when before, he could just take it or leave it at meal time.

He LOVES these chips (below), so much so that he decided to dump almost an entire bag full of them onto the kitchen floor one day. We have since put a child safety knob over the door. Poor guy is locked out of just about every door downstairs now.

Big boy insisting on carrying his own nap mat into school

This was taken at B's preschool and is seriously one of my favorite pictures EVER! too funny :)

Sweet brothers before their Christmas Programs at school.

The only way B would take a pic was to pretend he was taking someone else's picture and kept saying Cheeeeee

B had a good two year check-up and lucky for him, no shots. Wes took him and couldn't quite remember all of the stats, but did get the percentages. I am going to have to verify next time we arethere, but this is where they stand as of now. Ok, they have now been updated!

Height - 36.5 in (92%)

Weight - 29 lbs 8 oz. (67%)

Head - 20 in (84%)

He still naps around 2 hours a day, and gets in bed around 8-8:15 pm (sometimes stays awake for an hour talking and singing to himself) and usually gets up around 7:30-7:45 am. He's been really good about only having the pacifier during nap time or nighttime in his crib, so I am not looking to get rid of it anytime soon. Especially since Charlie is sort of starting to like it. He has also been pretty good about wearing his patch without too much complaint anymore. We go for a check-up in a few weeks, but I haven't noticed too much improvement.

Bradley is obsessed, to say the least, with Charlie. It really is just so sweet. I have never once sensed any sort of jealousy from him around Charlie. It truly amazes me. He will do anything to help me out with him and just loves being near him. He does the cutest thing when Charlie is sleeping because we always tell him he has to be quiet. He puts his finger almost up his nose and whisperers "shhhhh." Now Ryan on the other hand, B loves to fight with him. He will literally walk right up to him and hit him for no good reason. It's crazy. Usually he has the good sense that it is not nice and will follow it up with a hug and kiss, but nonetheless, he loves to mess with him, takes his toys, sneak into his room when Ryan isn't around, and just irritate him because he can.

He is still very stubborn and when he doesn't want your assistance or doesn't like what you are trying to do, he will stick his arm straight out, Hitler style, and emphatically say "NO Mama!" Or if you ask him something that the answer is No to, he will get so dramatic and in a really high pitch, nasally voice yell out "Noooooooo!" He is also a very sensitive little person as well. His feelings get hurt easily and as tough as he may seem, he is a momma's boy at heart and just loves life. He might be the funniest person I know and keeps us laughing at all times. As crazy as he can make me day in and day out, I could not imagine life without this little firecracker. We love you buddy!