~TWO~

Braden is two. 

The fun has begun.

We thoroughly enjoy this brown-eyed little munchkin. 

He has so much personality, and little mini-me attitudes that mirror every one of the other kids. The last one learns the most I guess. Shall we just call him "well rounded"? (No pun intended about his head. He is looking adorably bald right now, due to a haircut gone wrong. He jerked his head, which caused a bald spot....so I opted to just shear the rest to match.... he looks like the Last Airbender, no?)

For the record :

-he is the only one who can match Levi when it comes to the infamous manly eyebrow scowl.

-Deacon has found a competent rival in the business of tease. 

-he perfectly executes Isaac's eyebrow raise, mischievous grin, with hands up in the air "what are you gonna do about it" look.

-when it comes to stub-born, Miss Lexxi has met her match. 

-just like Briah when she was little, Braden gets mad when he gets hurt. He will push you away if you try to comfort him. But also like Briah, when he's happy, he is very agreeable and affectionate.

-he chews gum like a big person, never swallows it, sometimes for hours. He'll take it out and drop it in the garbage when he's tired of it.

-he still does the "field marshal" stance and walk

-he has the cutest deep laugh

-he likes to sit and look at the Home Improvement book, usually stopping in the toilet repair/ replacement section.

-he loves to sit on the exercise bike and "ride" it, pushing the pedals as far as his short legs will allow

-his favorites are cheddar cheese, peanut butter, mini marshmallows, and noodles with alfredo sauce right now

-he is constantly humming, singing, or whistling

Right now Braden doesn't use many words, and when he does, he chooses them carefully. The funny thing is he knows words and understands everything we say, but if we tell him to say something, he scowls and shakes his head saying, "uh-uh!"

He mainly indulges us with the classic "Never!", as well as "yay!", "bub-boo's"(bubbles), "I-ah"(Briah), "Eh-ee"(Lexxi), "momma", "go way!"(go away), "yeah", and lots of signing and singing/humming.

I am often amazed at how well this tiny little boy can boss us all around with just the use of his eyebrows, facial expressions, and pointer finger.

Do we totally let him? Yes.

The "raspberry" has become Braden's trademark these days. If he is mad, frustrated, feeling shy about something, or you aren't moving fast enough, he will pull his eyebrows into a scowl and blow a raspberry at you.

He is also still such a cuddler and loves those favorite blankets. His favorites are two soft furry ones. They are huge, but he will drag them great distances to be wrapped up and held, or rocked, and we indulge him often.

To say we completely adore this little boy is an understatement.

For his 2nd birthday he enjoyed some play time at Aunt Melissa's house, then I made him some super easy cookie monster cupcakes and BBQ'd some burgers. 

He refused to blow out his candles, though he does know how. He'd just go into this trance, mesmerized by the flames, it was funny. Then we'd blow them out for him, and he'd insist we light them again. That whole process repeated several times.

I used a fold-up shelf and turned it into a beanbag toss game with a cookie monster target and cookie bean bags. Or actually, rice bags (since I had no beans).