Braden at 18 months

How is it even possible that you are eighteen months old?  Where did my baby go?  This boy is a baby no longer…he is a full blown toddler now!  The popular saying “time flies” has never been truer.

At eighteen months old, you have the most lovable and spunky personality. 

• Your smile is sweet, and your laugh is infectious. 
• The term “all boy” fits you to a tee.
• From the moment you wake up until bedtime, you want to be outside.  You especially love being with the dogs and playing fetch with Daisy.  Other outside favorites include throwing rocks, walking running up and down the sidewalk, and playing with anything you can get your hands on in the garage!
• You are still a really great eater, and have picked up the nickname “gordito” from grandma lidia.

• You’ve been waking up pretty early these days, and as soon as you wake up, you are ready to eat.  You’re actually quite grumpy until you get a few bites in you!
• We’ve been having to teach you about “soft touch” lately.  While you seem to have sweet intentions, you can be a little rough with friends.
• You love your sister and the two of you are really starting to play well together.  Waking her up in the mornings is one of your favorite things to do!  Sometimes she can wake up a little grumpy in the morning, but never for you…she is always happy to see you.  Just in the last few days, you’ve started following her around the house, always wanting to do what’s she’s doing :) !
• You can point out lots of body parts – eyes, ears, hair, head, belly button, mouth (stick tongue out), hands, toes, nose.  You especially love to point out other peoples eyes.
• Your vocabulary has increased tremendously over the last month!  Your current list of words include mama, daddy, sissy (riley), bear, daisy, dogs, outside, car, ba (banana), milk, biscuit, papa, bath, shoes.
• You still love taking a bath!  As soon as you hear the word bath, you run to our bathroom and start trying to climb into the tub (even with clothes on).
• You are such a little charmer and love waving to strangers when we are out.

• You LOVE your papa (my dad) and really love to say his name! 
• Whenever we try to get you to say Granny (my mom), you scream PAPA!!  It’s actually quite funny, especially because you think it’s so hilarious!!  We’ve heard you say you’re version of Granny a couple of times, but nothing consistently yet.  Currently you just like to scream papa when asked about Granny!
• You love to play ball, throwing and catching. 
• You’ve got nodding yes and no down.  Both your yes and no are very emphatic and we always laugh thinking you’re going to hurt your neck when you nod!!
• While you adore your daddy and sissy, you are definitely a mama’s boy, which I secretly love!  There’s nothing greater than hearing you run through the house saying “mama”.

Braden, you are growing up so quickly and we cannot believe how fast this last year and a half has gone by.  We feel so blessed, and thank God every day for choosing us to be your parents.