“Look What I Can Do!”

So all the sudden he can drink from a cup.  I was shocked.  We really haven’t tried drinking from a cup, cause he’s such a thirsty boy and I knew he’d get frustrated with a cup.  But one morning I said “I need coffee” and he said “I need coffee, Mama.”  So I gave him a splash of decaf and a ton of almond milk with Stevia and the kid was in hog heaven.  He drank the whole thing with only the tiniest of drops spilled on his shirt.  I just couldn’t believe it!   One more piece of evidence that my little guy is growing up!

“I Go See Doctor!”

“Yeah, yeah, mom – I go see doctor!”  That’s what he kept telling me after I told him we were going to see the doctor this morning for his (late) two year well check.  I took him to see my favorite family physician and couldn’t be more pleased with her as Brice’s “doctor” as well (she’s really a physician's assistant).  Everything checked out great!  She said he looked like a very healthy and happy little boy.  He is very tall for his age, and of course very skinny – but that’s no different than his dad and I when we were his age.  While he is something like 11th percentile for weight, he’s 97th percentile for his height!  I think he might be even taller than his Uncle David one day! 

He did pretty good at the visit.  He was a little whinny and uncooperative – but nothing new for two.  I kept telling him his reward when we were done and back home was to play with Big Buzz.  Of course as soon as we were home, he reminded me.  So out Big Buzz came.  He did SO good with him!  Usually he whines the whole time because he’s so big and he has a hard time playing with him an wants us to play with him.  So of course we usually tell him we’re not interested in playing with Buzz, that he should play with him, and then the whining starts.  So we don’t bring him out much.  But after today, with how good he did, I think we will be able to start playing with him a little more.  He got some more Big Buzz time tonight and once again did very well.  He even told us when he was done playing with him and we put him “nigh-night”.  I hope this means we’ll start to grow past a little of the whining phase – cause I'm REALLY tire of it. 

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.

Swings + Slides

He loved the swings!  The slides weren’t too shabby, either!  Unfortunately my battery died, but luckily I got some good photos before we left the park.

Big Boy Bed

Brice is a very special little boy.  His daddy MADE him this bed.  We made it to fit his crib matters and I love the shape of it.  It will work well for the next few years and I like that we don’t have a side rail on there so that I can sit in bed or next to it with him and read stories at night.   Right now he has the quilt his Great Aunt Diane made for him before he was born.  Kitties and doggies.  This kid has so many quilts (and more to come i’m sure) so we will be constantly rotating. 

 
He has slept in his bed for two nights and two nap times so far.  The naps he does REALLY well, sleeping his usual 3 hours without falling out of the bed.  When he wakes up you hear over the baby monitor “Maaaama.  Moooommy.” and he lay’s there until someone goes in to get him.  I’m not sure how long that will last. 

  
At night he does well with going down in his bed, but part way through the night he has fallen out the past few nights.   The first night we didn’t know he’d fallen out because he’d gone right back to sleep after he did it.  He just curled up on the pillows next to his bed (to cushion his fall) and slept.  We went in and covered him up, but otherwise just let him sleep.  Last night he fell out twice and was awaked by it, so I had to go in and put him back in bed.  But he was good about it and went right back to sleep.  He slept until 8AM!  If you know Brice, you know that’s not like him at all.  I like this “big boy” bed!  We’ll see how he does tonight.  I’m sure we’ll have a few more nights (weeks?) of falling out of bed, but he will eventually get it.  For now, i’m just so happy that bed/nap time isn’t much of an issue.  I predicted lots of “You need to get back into your bed” conversations with him, but when he’s tired and ready for bed, he goes down with little to no argument.  It’s nice….while it lasts.

Crazy Hair!

Can we say – time for a hair cut??

Today’s Adventure

The three of us had breakfast out this morning.  It was already past Brice’s morning nap when we got there, so he was a little tired.  But did very well considering.

He played with daddy’s phone, and watched some video of him dancing from the day before.  He got a kick out of that.  I’m going to get those off of my phone and post them here.  It was just about the cutest thing!

After breakfast Brice and I had to run to Babies-R-Us…hence the new dog.  But I hid him away until our flight on Friday (we’re going to California for Bethany’s wedding).  Brice is to that age where he wants stuff off the shelves, luckily it was an inexpensive stuffed animal, but I know I have years to come of expensive toys.  He fell asleep on the way home (actually, he almost fell asleep on the way TO breakfast).  I always love when he snoozes in the car and then goes down for a longer nap at home.  OH!  Almost forgot, he has two new words, ball and car.  He has been saying them all day!  I’m not surprised, those are his two favorite toys right now.