For the Record Ian

Ian: 12 months

You are serious about your food. You need it in a particular order and if we don't get it right, you refuse to eat. 
You are serious about your sleep. You need to be in bed by 8:30 at the absolute latest. You are sleeping 15 hours a night. Lucky! I wish I was too. 
You are serious about your juice. Yes, my son, you are a juice stealer if you don't have yours. 
You are serious about door stoppers. You have found every one in the house & bang it repeatedly while your brother covers his ears. And apparently this week you have taken to hiding three of them. Please find them and put them back. 

You are walking -- have been so for over a month. You like to walk around with a balloon in your hand. You like to eat/kiss Elmo. You are a climber, dishwasher and in the refrigerator and the stairs. I haven't let you try anything else yet. You are called the "Destroyer" because you like to demolish Braeden's train sets & dominos. 

You are as much like me as Braeden is like Brandon.
You are a yeller when you are unhappy. You like your sleep & food. You feel trapped inside, spend much time in front of the windows and dash for the doors when they are left open. You love wrestling your brother. You thrive off adrenaline: being thrown, spun, swinging high & going fast in your stroller or shopping cart. Your love language is physical touch. You enjoy massages & being held & giving me & Bug kisses. 

Your teeth are horrible to you. They come down and give you pain for weeks and then retreat! It's a sick game to play on you. You don't have many teeth(8) for all the pain you've been through. You chew on everything.

You are a talker. It is crazy to us that you say Mom mum, Dada, PaPa, & Baba for Braeden. We will not be surprised if you start talking the same time as Braeden.

You will stop playing and watch all of Wheel of Fortune. You like spinning wheels. You will not tolerate your picture being taken. Well, you don't pose or smile for them. Most of the pictures I have of you are: of your back while you are walking away, with your eyes shut, or a blank stare of your face. So do not grow up thinking that you were treated with a second child syndrome of not as many pictures as the first born. This is your own doing. Let it be known! I want more pictures to show off of you kid! 

For the Record Braeden

This entry is a snapshot of my boys as they are now, it changes so quickly I don't want to forget as we move on to the next phase.

Braeden: 3 years 2 months.

My alarmist. yes, he gets me up in the morning. I am referring to his panic button whenever anything is "wrong". This is most helpful when Ian is getting into things I hear, "BABY! BABY! BABY, NOOOOO!"; when Brandon leaves cabinets open or forgets to put things away I hear, "AH AH AH" while pointing and jumping until it is fixed, when I change the place of an object or a method of getting something done I hear, "Uh oh" and he fixes it. It has to be the same as the first time he saw it. Now this is fantastic for making sure things are put in their place! Somehow this doesn't translate into picking up his toys ... hmmm. :o)


He is starting to use words. His vocabulary has increased immensely in the last two months. He picked up a new sentence that he has used repeatedly, " I see you." Christmas lights are "NOOW" emphasis on no. We got snow Thanksgiving week and Christmas lights went up too and he thinks they are the same. We have a lot of noow in the trees downtown right now.
I love you is "bubbye."
Ellie is " Ne."
Train is "choo-choo."
My mom (Granny Bug) is "Bug."
My dad is "Pa Pa."
I am "Mommie."
Brandon is "Da ya."
Ian is "Baby."
Tyler is "T."
Amy is "Mayme."
Home is "hoome."
Hello is "hell loo."
Go is a short "go." 
More is "mo." 
Gone is "gon."
You're in my way is "beep beep."
"Hey You!" 
Ball is "ball."
Football is "ball."
"Hey Guy!"
No Way is "No Waay."
Wall is "waall."
"Chayya" is Africa. The song on our presentation.
Candles are the sound of blowing candles out "pft pft."
Words that all sound the same 
"juice, shoes"
"no, snow"

Technology wiz! He texts, as many of you have been on the receiving end of his jibberish. He has been restricted to texting one person only, T. I had to start using a log in system on my Mac to keep him contained as to what programs he is allowed to access. He can set up our projector and do our Ghana presentation without our help. He can figure out any new techie phones and gadgets within seconds and knows it for life. We are not high tech folks, but our friends are, especially Joel who keeps Braeden savvy and up to date.  


Can he speak? Not so much, but he can recognize words, dare I say read.  He knows his letters & numbers. He can find in our contact list on our phone Bug's & Pa Pa's home, Joanne's cell, Brandon's office, Brandon's cell, Pa Pa's cell, T, Mayme & Rachel. If we allowed him to call others, he would know those too. When he hijacks my Facebook account, he finds his buddy's mommies & his Bug & types them messages. He allows my account to play the games he chooses. He can google pbs and find pbs kids. He can navigate to disney.com from there.  He googles espn3 to get his football games. He understands which games he can play and those he can't and obeys cause if he doesn't, he loses his privileges. 


Music fiend. He loves playing the drums, piano, and his guitar. He dances and sings & stops to listen to music every time he hears it. Brandon says he has perfect rhythm. He is music. It seems to envelop him.


He is a daddy's boy. Their personalities are the same. Their eating habits are the same: juice, fruit/veggies, pizza & ice cream if left to their own devices. Brandon got up in the middle of the night as a toddler to play in his room, Braeden does the same but from ten to eleven. And that panic button... yup, inherited that one too. :o) Their love language: quality time.


He loves taking pictures and well smiling and poses for pictures.  The latter when he's in a good mood. So I have been blessed with lots of great shots of my buddy.


Loves trains & building one dimension domino trains and squares. Everything has to be exact on the masterpiece.  He loves airplanes. I'm thinking he is almost ready for a visit to the Spruce Goose.


Football. Last week, Thanksgiving, was the best he has ever known of football on tv. He loves to play. Soccer: strong left foot -- we are thinking a left winger. Everything is "GOAL!" which he learned during the World Cup. He is left handed but his strongest and most accurate throwing arm is his right.  Yet he golfs lefty.

He is astute with navigation. He knows exactly where things are in town and how to get there. He has a phenomenal memory. Has just recently decided he will sit through a book being read. He is very sensitive and gentle yet tough when it comes to getting hurt.

Self-portrait at Thanksgiving