Mommy You Look Pretty

After going outside to do an errand with daddy today Braxton came into the house and presented me with these little yellow flowers.     

And, this video features a phrase that Braxton just started saying "mommy, you look pretty".  

 

2 year old Professional Photos

Today we went to JC Penny to have Braxton's official 2 year old photos taken. Here are the photos from the photo shoot.  Isn't he cute?!!!

2 year old Birthday Party

Braxton's 2 year old birthday bash was a success!

The guests:  Avery (with her parents Travis and Lauren) and Ruby (with her parents Chris and Erin)

The menu: raisins, mandarin oranges, ritz crackers, grapes, goldfish crackers, juice boxes and pizza followed by brownies and ice cream.(the grapes were the most popular!)

The craft activities: playing with pipe cleaners and using markers to decorate tamborines.
The gift bags contained animal crackers, a juice box, lotion, and the tamborine that each girl decorated at the party (it made me happy to put these gift bags together and they looked cute with the "thanks for coming" photo of Braxton).

 

 

These are the Happy Birthday Brownies that I made (not to be confused with the 2-layer cake that I baked, decorated, and ruined earlier in the day) .  These brownies were yummy.

Ruby, Avery, and Braxton

Two videos from the Birthday Party:

The party was a smashing success.  The biggest incident of the night came after the party was over.  Braxton was running around downstairs and tripped.  His head dented a corner of the wall and chipped off some paint.  Braxton is fine but the wall is not (photo below).  Brock sumarized by saying, "unfortunately Braxton has his mother's grace and his father's smarts." 

2 years old - About Braxton

Today is Braxton's second birthday!

FAVORITE THINGS: Braxton loves brushing his teeth.  He loves to sing.  He loves jumping off of things. He loves running, yelling, and playing outside!

FAVORITE FOODS:  Ketchup, pizza, mandarin oranges, bananas, grapes, goldfish crackers, popcorn, chips, ramen noodles, juice.  He will nibble an occasional baby carrot but still eats mostly pureed vegetables.  Sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash are his favorite veggies.

TALKING:  He counts to 20 and says his ABC's.  He is starting to correctly name a few letters and numbers and he can identify colors correctly about 70% of the time.   The first color that he could identify was "black". If he doesn't know what color something is he always guesses "GREEN".  He loves to be a helper and he asks "Braxton helping?" when he wants to help you cut a sandwich or wash his highchair. Some of the newest phrases that he says these days are: “I’m sorry about that”, “Yay, I did it!” and “Thank you SO MUCH”. He’s also becoming quite a negotiator and says things like, “No nap? Okay, no nap!”

QUIRKY:  It is football season now and Brock likes to yell during touchdowns in a good football game.  Braxton doesn't understand football and used to get scared at the seemingly random cheering.  Brock has had to adjust his football viewing a bit.  Now whenever there is a touchdown Brock claps his hands and says "yay, happy clapping" and then Braxton claps his hands over and over and says "happy clapping, happy clapping".  Then Brock says, "yay touchdown!" and Braxton repeats "yay touchdown!" With these minor adjustments Braxton now enjoys a good football game (but his favorite part of football is sitting with Brock and eating popcorn).

CUTE:  Braxton likes animals and likes practicing what different things say (recent stumper questions: what does a giraffe say?  what does a turtle say?).  Last night his conversation went like this:                
                  What does a horse say?  Nay.
                  What does a donkey say?  Eee aww.  Eee aww.
                  What does a pig say?  Oinky.
                  What does a monkey say?  Oo, oo, ee, ee
                  What does daddy say?  I love you.
                  What does mommy say?  I love you.
                  What does Braxton say?  I love you.

Video of the Year: the Christmas Program

I love this video so much that I have to post it again....Braxton at his daycare Christmas program a few weeks ago.  It makes me laugh every time I see it. 

18 month Professional Photos

Today we got electronic copies of Braxton's 18 month photos. The first four are the photos that we ordered.Here are the photos that we did not order.

18 months old - about Braxton

Braxton...today you are 18 months old! Here is a photo we took this morning to celebrate the milestone!

What are you doing these days?
1. You count to 5.
2. You run up and down the hill in our backyard like a champion.
3. You are able to follow new commands like: "turn around", "touch your toes", "nod your head", "give me five", "stay", "come here", "sit down", "give it to daddy" and "put it back". Though you don't say any of the commands you do listen and obey most of the time.
4. You can play the game "touch your...toes, belly, ears, head, nose, mouth"
5. You ask for a "cookie" often (who taught you that word?) and we always tell you, "here is your cookie" and hand you a cracker, or Cheerios, or fruit to eat
6. You like to say "uh-oh spaghetti-ohs" but it sounds like "uh-oh pagetti" when you say it

Good Times!!! baby boy......
1) I love it when you get excited and run to the top of the stairs screaming “aaaahhhh” when I walk in the house!
2) I love that whenever you give daddy a kiss you automatically turn to give mommy a kiss too
3) I love that you say the phrase "e-i-e-i-doe" repeatedly whenever you get in trouble...as if it has magic powers
4) I love to watch you tickle people because instead of saying "tickle tickle" you say "de de de" in a really cute high pitched voice
5) I love that you are not shy around other people (instead you say "hi" loudly to anyone you see and yell "dog" any time a dog walks past our house)
6) I love to watch you snuggle with daddy every night at bedtime
7) I love it when you do something good and then you clap your hands to applaud yourself