Brendan meets the ocean!

Brendan is 17 months old and such an active boy. He likes to ride toddler bikes, climb, throws balls, play outside in the sprinkler and often screams out loud in joy. He talks in whole conversations; we just don’t catch his words, lol. Along with “Itsy, Bitsy Spider,” he now sings “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Of course, in his own words. He actually says few words- Mama, Dada, hi and ball mainly. He has said many more in the past but once he’s mastered them, he drops them from his everyday usage. Now, he UNDERSTANDS plenty. Tough things like “Go close the door” and “Let’s go brush your teeth.” He’ll point to Bob the Builder on his curtains and pillow if you ask. He knows where his nose, head and belly button is and gets a few others right sometimes also.
Brendan has his own computer game now. He has Disney’s Toddler Winnie the Pooh. All that is required is that you use the mouse to put the arrow over things on the screen. He rolls the mouse everywhere, but he either isn’t aware of the arrow-mouse connection or his muscles aren’t coordinated enough yet. But he loves to hold the mouse as we help his pop balloons and play music on his game. I got him a Pooh book from the library today to go along with his game.
I would guess that Brendan is 26 pounds now. He wears 2T clothes, with slightly smaller pants, and size 4 pampers. He’s been eating pretty well lately and I can tell he’s growing taller too. He loves macaroni and cheese, cheese, meats, beans, rice, strawberries and fruit snacks. He won’t touch grapes or broccoli. He goes to bed easily but needs a quick pacifier check in the middle of the night most nights. He rarely gets a pacifier during the day. He still cuddles the strings on his bear to go to sleep. We tried to have a family snuggle time in our bed before putting him in his own bed but he did not transition well.
Brendan adores his new backyard and loves to help pick tomatoes and water the grass. He also like to play with his puzzles, fetch a ball, watch cartoons and go for walks. He likes to look at book and see the pictures, but rarely sits still long enough for me to read the words. He likes to practice drinking from a regular cup. He likes being able to manipulate the buttons on the tv to turn it off or on. He can stack blocks 4 high and loves to push them over. He is also Daddy’s little boy and loves to toddle along wherever he goes. He loves to play chase, hide and go seek and rough-house.
We’ve taken Brendan to the ocean twice now. He adores the seagulls- and birds in general. He loved feeding them crackers. He enjoyed running into the edge of the water and back and playing in the sand also.
We are working on not throwing our food and not hitting others currently. He mainly throws food when he is full or doesn’t want it. I can tell he is watching to see what you do and how you’ll react when he hits.
Brendan and Mia a really good buddies too. The love to explore together! Mia says his name as “Bren-man”. We thought that was so cute and he’s often called Bren-man now.
He has his lovey days where he’ll initiate kisses and wants to snuggle. He likes to kiss characters in books or on tv and blow kisses too. I really miss the days where he said thank you for everything though. It was really cute.