Little Artist

He just constantly amazes me with his drawings.

I asked Brice who he drew here, he told me “Aunt Whiz” (Colin’s mom, Liz).  A few days later he drew Colin…but I couldn’t get to my camera quick enough.  He’s fast with the erase.

I think he told me this was “dragon”.  The kid is obsessed with the movie How To Train Your Dragon.

I forgot who he said this was…

And this one he drew Sunday morning and he told me it was him and Ryder.  I thought he did a really great job representing the fact that Ryder is his big brother and therefore bigger than him.  Yes they are only stick figure drawings, but it amazes me that he draws them round faces and can do so well with proportions.  Tonight he drew a picture of him in his footie PJ’s and he did such a great job of coloring his PJ’s in nice and thick for the body.  I think it’s quite incredible for a 2.5 year old.

Little Artist

He is quite the little artist!  He’s always drawing little guys and has to make sure they have arms and legs.  And high foreheads apparently…

Our Little Artist

Brice has a little Magnadoodle that he got for his birthday this year, and he LOVES to draw on it.  The kid is an amazing circle drawer.   Aaron decided he needed to get a bigger drawing surface and of course he loves it.  I know it’s close to Christmas, but he so rarely gets things like this that I think it was okay.  He drew this all by himself, without any help from us.  Aaron said that he was on the floor behind him drawing and said “Look at this!” and this is what he saw.  He figures the drawing on the top of the head is his hat, as he’s always telling Aaron to draw a hat on the faces he draws him.  I am just amazed that a 2.5 year old could draw a picture like this.  

Big Boy Potty

We’ve been trying for a few months to get Brice use to the training potty.  He is now to the point where he has to come sit on it every time I'm in there going to the bathroom.  I think that’s good progress.  When I'm changing diapers I always say to him “You could use the potty, you know…anytime you want!  Just let mommy or daddy know.”  And he always says “No.”  The other day I was changing his diaper after he woke up and noticed it was bone dry!  That never happens for this kid (he drinks a lot).  So I asked him if he wanted to use his potty and he thought for a second and said “Yes.”  I was so surprised!  So we got up and walked to the potty and he sat on it for a minute.  But he didn’t like the feel of it on his skin I don’t think.  So up we got and back to the diaper.  Oh well.  It’s progress.  I’m in no rush and not pushing it.  He has time.  Sometimes when he lifts the lid I laugh hysterically at the things he’s put in there.  A few weeks ago he had Mr. B stuffed in there and this week it was tampons.  Guess I need to put those behind a locked cabinet door now.

Two

Dear Brice,

Today you are two!  And I couldn’t be happier about it!  Everyone says “Don’t rush it!” but I love you at this age.  Except for an occasional melt-down, you are so loving and fun.  You amaze me every day with the things you know and learn.  For the last six months, I kept thinking to myself “Well, you are two…” but you really weren’t, and I had to remind myself that you were still just my little baby.  But now you are two!  And we have lots of fun. 

You love to yell “BEAT DOWN!” whenever daddy gets home from work and run as fast as you can to our bed to wrestle.  You’ve taken to running circles around the kitchen island at night, in the hopes that Honey will chase you.  (Unless you have food in your hand, it’s probably not going to happen.)  You LOVE outside.  You want to spend all day out there, unfortunately you don’t understand when it rains that we have to come in. 

You love everything that has to do with the movie Cars.  You love balls!  You have a red one, a blue one, soccer one’s and Wubzy ones.  You love to kick them around the house and have us through them high up in the air when we’re outside.   I’m pretty convinced you’re going to be a soccer player one day.  Although lately you’ve taken to getting surprised when ever we see something with a baseball on it… 

You just melt my heart when you come up to me and say “I love you, mommy” or when you tell me “Thank you, mommy”.  Today you told me “Bless you, mommy” when I sneezed and it just made my day.  It’s amazing how the little things that you do make life seem so much fuller now.  When I stand on the step stools you say “Careful, mommy!” and if I’ve done something to cause myself pain, you ask me “Are you okay?”. 

Of course, like any self respecting toddler, you love cartoons – Sponge Bob (or, Bob-Bob as you like to call it), Dora, Yo Gabba Gabba (you know all of their names, though we had to go look it up online to see for ourselves), Olivia (you like to sing the intro song) and Max and Ruby (which secretly reminds me of your uncle and myself when we were little). 

And speaking of your Uncle “Da-did”…you think he’s second to best, only to your daddy of course.  But you do cry when he gives you one of his gruff faces, but you’re just my sensitive boy and will soon learn your uncle is just a lot of bark and  no bite.  And he buys you some cool toys.  And of course, with Uncle David, comes David-Rachel, too.  You can FINALLY say Rachel and it’s just the sweetest thing. 

Of course you love your nana.  You get so excited to see her – you have to make sure and yell “Nana!”   And then that is usually followed by “What doin’?  You love to ask us all what we’re doing! 

And your "G-G”.  You get so happy when we tell you she is here to visit or that we are going to get in the car to go see her. 

Lately you’ve taken to speculating about seeing “Grama Bah-ne” (Grandma Bonnie).  I don’t think we visit with her often enough for you these days. 

You love to see your “G-G Dor-ty”, too!  You surprise me with how well you can say her name and you are very sweet and gentle whenever we visit.  You are so good to give hugs and kisses. 

And your brother Ryder…can’t forget him!  You have so much fun with him!  And pick up the oddest habits (like falling on the floor) – but that’s what big brothers are for.

Your best friend is Colin and of course we can’t forget Honey.  I don’t know what you’ll do without your Honey when she’s not with us anymore.  You and Colin have more and more fun with each other at every visit – whether it’s racing or playing kitchen and cars, you two will be best buddies as you grow together.

You love your Mr. B.  You HAVE to have him at naptime and bedtime.  A melt-down pursues if we do not find him for you quick enough.  You drag him everywhere and would take him with you when we went out, but I make you leave him at home.  I tell you “Go tuck B into bed and kiss him g’night.”  And you know what, you do!  He has to eat breakfast with you, burp with you and sometimes fart with you.  Yes, you’re all boy!  You love to pet him as you get sleepy and sit and watch TV and you like to tell us that B has a butt - “B butt.”

You are so smart!  It kills me how quickly you learn things and how much you love to read your books.  You can pretty much count to 5 and you know your numbers and letters, you also know that if you have one and add one more it makes two.  You are really liking the Beatrix Potter stories we are reading right now, and Bernstein Bear books are a favorite nighttime read. 

You still love to flip through your picture books by yourself, but your new favorite is a pop-up book we just got.  You also love to color – unfortunately you colored on the couch yesterday.  We were bound to have some misfortune befall us with those crayons. 

There is so much more, but that is what this blog is for.  Mommy and Daddy love you very much!  Happy birthday, my little man!  Now you are two and it is wonderful!

Love, Mommy

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It’s amazing how quickly they grow in one year, isn’t it?  This was Brice on his first birthday last year.  Just as adorable and wonderful as he is today.

Coloring With Mommy

He likes to get in my lap and draw, since I usually have a pad of paper and pen handy for notes and doodles.  Since I was working on my art journal, it wasn't the ideal time to draw on mommy's lap, so I set him up with his crayons at his table.  He was happy.  He had to tell me the color of every kitty.  He loves that he knows all of his colors. 

I am really surprised at how much he knows.  He's not even 2 yet and he can tell me all the primary colors plus some, shapes (including that the stop sign is an octagon), and most of his letters.  We even know numbers and he's counting consecutively from 1 to 5 now (although 8 will always be his favorite number to jump to).  He knows that if you have one of something, and add one more you now have two.  He can tell you how old he will be and show you two fingers for it. 

I'm so very proud of my little guy and forget that he's not quite two sometimes.  He loves to learn and is a sponge, which surprises me since he is so athletic and energetic.  Usually I think it's one way or the other, not both.  But with him it is. 

Today we started to learn how to write our letters.  He likes to do the loops of the big B, but hasn't quite got that you need a line with it.  He's young, we have lots of time for stuff like that. 

Cereal

      
Aaron snapped these this weekend. This boy loves his cereal!  Every morning he wakes up, runs to the kitchen and says “Oh, cereal?”  Only it sounds more like “cee-ree-all”.  Sometimes he wants “oh-meal” (oatmeal) with “boo-bee-ree” (blueberry).  Whatever it is these days, he insists on eating at the big table.  No more little table for this big boy!

Coloring

He LOVES to color.  Which is fine by me.  I feel so bad because I kept telling him “not right now” for two days, so on Sunday I made time and we colored together.  We both have fun.  But I need better crayons.   He usually sees his little kitty crayons sitting on top of his play kitchen and says “coh-er?”   Too cute to resist.  His words that he knows is exploding again!  He is even making small sentences for us.  The other night he said to Aaron “Read book?”  There is so much more and I need to start writing it down as he says it so I can share with you.

Color

Brice saw his kitty crayons on top of his kitchen and says “Color!”  I was like “What?”  And he said it again.  The kid knew that these were his crayons and that you color with them.  We’ve colored with them once!  He’ so stinkin’ smart! 

I got Ryder to get down and color with him, too.  

 
He loves his new haircut.  I think it’s a little too “radical” for me.  But he loves it!

 

 
I pulled out the regular crayons for Ryder and I to color with and then Aaron joined us, too.  It was a true family moment of coloring.  Brice thought he had to be king of all the crayons and kept gathering them towards him on the table.