Brayden's 18 Month Happenings

My boy turned 18 months on Sunday and for some reason this one just sounds so big.  He's slowly but surely changing from my little baby boy to my big boy.  There are so many things about him that are so special, I couldn't possibly list them all.  Each day I feel like I notice something new that he's doing and just want to immediately write it down so I'll never forget.  I'm sure there's already things that have happened since he turned 1 that I've already forgotten about but better late than never.  I really hope to look back on this blog one day and reminisce over this special time in his (and my) life.

Brayden is on the go all.the.time.  He rarely ever sits still and when he does you know he's either getting sick or something isn't right.  At about 15 months he started trying to run and he's pretty much got it down now.  It's probably the cutest little run ever and he is FAST!  I go to bed completely exhausted but it's a good exhausted.  I love watching him learn and explore every little thing around him.  Some of his big interests lately are finding rocks (still....he's been doing this for months now) and he even has his own little rock box collection thanks to his Mimi.  We literally have to keep rocks out of his view if we don't have time to stop and let him explore otherwise we hear, "rock rock rock pease, rock" over and over until we give in.

Brayden also loves coloring and writing.  He will get his little notepad and take it all over the house with either crayons or a pencil and scribble all over it.  Sometimes he'll bring me something to write with as well and say, "clawlor" for "color".  Of course how can I say no to that? :)

He repeats almost everything we say these days.  He's trying so hard to learn so many words and is super proud of himself when he finds a word that he can say pretty well, like the word "yellow" he says it all the time.  I've been working with him on his colors and yellow is definitely his favorite one to say and point out.  He also loves the ABC's and numbers.  He constantly requests "BB's" which is his way of telling me to sing the ABC's and he loves to listen to me count.  So far he's able to count to 3 on his own.  His vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger by the day.  Like I said, he repeats just about everything we say but the words he says consistently are:

Da (Dasher)
Daddy, DaDa
Mama
Mimi
Gaga
Pa (Pops)
Ba (Bath)
Ni Ni (night night)
Yellow
Red
Purp (purple)
Boo (blue)
Geen (green)
Eat
Bye Bye
Hi
Bee
Car
Wow
Pap (paci)
Ree (Rain)
Bed
Nose
Eyes
Teet (teeth :-))
God
Amen
Mo (Elmo)
Bread (he's totally my child)
Blank (blanket)
Poop....he's all boy :-)
Ball
Raw (rock)
Go (he loves to say this to Dasher to get him to move out of the way)

Brayden loves giving kisses, blowing kisses, eskimo kisses and butterfly kisses.  He knows all the main body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, head, hair, arms, hands, fingers, feet, toes, belly button) and he loves to point all these out when I rock him before laying him down for bed at night.

Brayden loves all things water whether it's the bath, water table, a pool, the sprinkler, the hose, the dog bowl...you name it, if it has water he's going to be playing in it.  He got to experience the beach for the first time last month and actually surprised us by not really wanting to do with ocean but more so the sand....he loved the sand!  I really wasn't expecting him to since he doesn't really like things on his hands but he proved me wrong.

Brayden's also very shy when it comes to men.  He doesn't have a problem with women but when it comes to men outside of the family he's a little standoffish.  He will either cry or bury his head to avoid eye contact haha.

He's not really into watching much TV but when he does he loves Elmo and Daniel Tiger.  And Brayden LOVES music!  His favorite song of all time is "Uptown Funk"...probably not the greatest song out there but it's the beat that he can't get enough of.  He calls it "Doo Doo" and if you've ever heard how that song begins you'll know why he calls it that :-)  Brayden also has two things that he carries around with him just about everywhere...his little dinosaur and a duck.  For some reason he really loves ducks and no matter where we go if he sees a toy duck, that's what he will go for :-)

Brayden has just recently started telling me when he's about to or going poop.  It still seems a little early to start potty training but I'm thinking we may start sooner rather than later.

I just can't believe we're 6 months away from having a 2 year old!  That's crazy to me!  It feels like just yesterday he was this itty bitty thing in the hospital room.  But we are so blessed and thankful for the sweet and loving little boy that God gave to us.  I pray that we will raise him to have a strong relationship with the Lord and that he will become the man that God created him to be.