OMG! Brendan- the boy who gets angry and hits when you ask him to say please- said please! He had climbed onto the dining room table and had a package of candy in his hand. I didn’t want to open it so I took the glass cat candy dish down from Mimi’s shelf. When Bren saw it in my hands he said, “Can-ee…PLEASE!”
YES! Here son, have four candies! 😀

It has been a fun Easter. Bren enjoyed 4 separate egg hunts- one at DH’s work, one at home, one at Mimi’s work & one at Mimi & Bopa’s house. For the first hunt, Bren was far more interested in the toys spread everywhere than picking up eggs. By the last hunt at Mimi & Bopa’s house, Bren was a seasoned pro and really got into finding eggs. He’d spot one and run to it shouting, “Oh, there’s one! Oh, boy!” He’d pick it up and toss it into his basket with a loud crack and all of us adults would wince. He dragged his ducky basket on the ground after it got to heavy to carry it. He was so cute and we had a lot of fun!! He ate his first jelly beans and his first two chocolate bunnies. Grandma Diane, Mimi, Dobie and I all made him baskets, lol!!
Since then, Brendan has been in heaven with his grandparents. He has played outside in the wide open country air and been Bopa’s right hand lil man. Gene is really good at scooping him up and taking him wherever he goes. Need to go into town for tractor parts? Come on, Bren! Get your shoes on!
His down time is even better up here. They have satellite tv with a Bagillion cartoon channels. There is always something good on. I have been glued to TLC and Discovery Health, soaking up the baby shows like A Baby Story and Birth Day. Yesterday, while watching Noggin, Bren watched a little boy do a somersault, something he has been trying to do for a couple weeks but hadn’t quite managed to get his feet over his head and into a nice roll. He got so excited- inspired– by this little boy that he ran to the middle of the floor and put his head right down and did that somersault!!! It was really neat to see. I sat on the couch and grinned like a fool, clapping madly.

Bren weighed 28 lb 6 oz once and 29 lb 2 oz once- he was screaming and totally did not want to be weighed. :/ He is 35.5 inches tall and 20 inches around the noggin. The dr mentioned a rapid weight gain since 18 months, but frankly, I am not concerned considering how poorly the weighing went and that they went with the heavier weight. He said it was fine for now but that rate should not continue for long, yada, yada…
He will ask next time about the gagging when eating- he isn’t too concerned since it has gotten better and is not every day anymore but he will moniter it and if it gets worse to see him. He was careful to ask when he gagged because sometimes kids will do it for emotional reasons and such.
He isn’t worried that Bren doesn’t say his name yet- he might not til he’s three or maybe even 4 (Coulda pushed me over with a feather with that answer). He just wanted to know whether or not he is putting words together into 2, 3 and 4 word phrases and sentences- and he is.
He asked if he ate well. I said much better- he’s opening up to more fruits but still very few veggies. He said, “But he eats table food?” 😯 I said, “Well, yeah… you mean some people still feed baby food at 2?” He replied yes!!! I thought that was funny but I guess if no one ever told you when to stop and you just didn’t know….
We chatted about how he sometimes wakes up early and won’t go back to sleep and that I now limit his nap. He asked if either DH or I had sleep problems (I don’t go to sleep very easily). He said 12 hours total daily was fine for his age and if I limit his nap to 1 1/2 hours then I need to let him sleep as long as he wants in the morning (I do). He likes to see kids nap til at least 4 years of age. He said to get rid of the pacifier even if he only uses it when he sleeps- but frankly, now is not the time to rid him of it because he is already having a bit of trouble going back to sleep and I have NO DESIRE to cause more trouble right now. I like my sleep! I am not concerned that it is affecting his speech at all.
We discussed Potty Training. I told him why I thought he wasn’t ready- no real interest, doesn’t undress well or dress himself at all. Doesn’t indicate when he is wet nor care about it, etc. He said to get him interested in his bathroom functions by having DH show him how to pee on a tree. Hahahaha! He said little boys just really think that is cool. He indicated that he may not get interested til anywhere through 3 1/2 years old. I am hoping to PT him before the next baby comes but do not want to even attempt it until he is interested, can take off his own pants and can tell me he needs to go.
He got a quick once over checkup- ears, mouth, chest, lil boy area. All fine.
He got a Hepatitis A shot. He doesn’t go back til he’s 3 and then he gets a Hepatitis A booster shot.
And did I mention he screamed at the first sight of the nurse til we walked out the door- 45 minutes????? 🙁 It was stressful!
And did I mention to DH that the next time Bren has a well visit I should be very pregnant? 😀 😀 😀 You bet I did!

Happy Birthday, Son-shine! I can’t believe he is 2 years old. Two years ago, at this moment, I was in a LDR being prepped for my c-section.

Then, our little joy arrived.

At 5:18- in just an hour, Darrell and I will go wake Brenny up from his nap and welcome him into his third year. It’s been a fabulous 2 years!

Brendan was chatting to himself this morning and I heard him through the monitor. As I went to open his door I could hear him saying, “Where iiiii uuuuuuuwww?” Awwwww! I opened the door and he was sitting up in bed holding his bear and calmly waiting for me. 😀
Even nicer- a whole night’s sleep! He has slept through the night exactly once per week for the last 2 weeks. Hope he gets back to normal soon.
PS Happy real birthday to Mia. She is 2!!! And she gave a whopper of a tantrum just now- throwing herself to the ground in rage because Brendan dared touch one of her toys. I sure hope Bren doesn’t learn that anytime soon, though I know it is the hallmark of two year olds.

One of the things that really has bothered me about Bren’s personage is his pickiness with food. From about 15 months til now his vegetable and fruit consumption consisted totally of bananas, apples, ketchup and occassionally a bit of spaghetti sauce on his noodles. I wanted to make sure I noted when any changes occurred for future reference. I am pleased to report he is easing up. He ate a strawberry a few days ago and then a bunch of watermelon. He eats applesauce again and drinks yogurt drinks with peach bits in them. He even tried some Greek pasta salad last night. I hope this continues.

I don’t think I ever mentioned this, but Bren now counts 1-2-3 all by himself without prompting (ie I don’t have to tell him “ooonnnneeee…”). If you say “four” after his 1-2-3, he’ll respond with “y“. LOL.
He also says both “Dora” and “Aww, man!” now. Guess what he watched this morning? Heh.
We laid on the floor this morning to color in his new Bob the Builder coloring book. He squatted briefly and ran a few crayons haphazardly over the page I was working on but that was it. We did not bond over the coloring book. Instead, he climbed on my back, over my back, stood on my back, etc.

Brendan’s language development is puzzling me. All I have read says that toddlers learn to call themselves by their name, followed later by Me/My, followed still later by I. Brendan does not say his name at all. Wasn’t that skill due awhile back? Nor does he say me, my or I. But he does say It’s. LOL. No, really. Last night he came up to me with a tiny stuffed animal and proudly proclaimed, “It’s Eeyore.”
Other puzzling stuff-
Apparently “Shu-Fee” means fishy. LOL. Totally backwards.
Also- Bren got a couple of Bob the Builder audio CD books from us for his birthday. So I popped one into the computer yesterday and turned off the screen. I called him over as the music started. He danced a jig and then climbed in my lap. Then the narrator started the story and Brendan was obviously puzzled. He looked at me and looked at the blank screen. Back to me, back to the screen. This being Bren’s first audio book, he had no idea that he was supposed to look at the book. He kept waiting for Bob to come on the computer monitor!!! Hahaha. I think by the end of the book he was getting the idea. I really thought these books had too many words per page to keep his attention but the narrator kept a quick clip, the voices of the characters were the real deal and there were lots of sound effects like the cat meowing and the bird tweeting. It was good.

Today marks 200 days until we try to conceive our 2nd child!!!
I never heard back from my RE so perhaps DH will call them up and relieve my overative mind that our very expensive vials of possibility are a-okay.

Brendan’s birthday party was last night.

It went pretty good. I have to say I was disappointed at the turnout though. Bummer. I don’t know what’s up with my family but not one of them came. 🙁
The weather was freaky- high of 92 around 3ish. Party started at 5:00 with the weather about 80ish- gorgeous but a bit windy. By 6:30 we were all freezing in the intense wind- it had fallen below 70!!! So we had to haul everything indoors.
Brendan’s racetrack cake turned out great! It was easy to make too! He really liked it and we kept catching him going up to it and getting a handful! LOL.

As predicted from Mia’s party, he freaked as everyone sang to him- just like last year. I really hope by next year he’ll like that part better. The food was good- the big hit was little cocktail sausages kept hot on a griddle and the kids loved going up and poking them with mini pretzel sticks.
The simple activities we did were a big hit! We had a $14 bubble blower that worked great!!! We also had a bubble set with a large shallow dish that 2 different giant wands fit into- one with lots of small bubbles and one that was one giant bubble. The kids would twirl around with them and the bubbles would fly out! Plus we had some very long “rocket” balloons that had neat stripey colors on them. After you blow one up, you pinch the end and let it go- it goes screaming through the air and does neat acrobatics. They loved the hand-clappers and twirly helicopters too. Perfect simple fun for two year olds.
Brendan got some really nice presents- a bubble lawn mower, 3 dvds, 3 outfits, 2 gift cards, some Bob the Builder shoes, a mini school bus and track that the bus moves along, a neat gizmo that lights up & twirls neon colors. He was in an odd mood during present time though and I have to admit it wasn’t fun to deal with- especially with an audience. He wanted to play with his cars and had a lot of trouble moving on to other presents. He did wow over them once opened however.
For future use: Staying home and having this type of party did not cost less! We spent $120 on groceries, probably $50 on utensils and decorations plus probably $25 on activities and the bubble blower. We could have gone to Chuck E. Cheese’s and bought every guest their own pizza, plus saved the trouble and the energy.
Bottom line: I am glad it is over. Sad, but true. It was exhausting to prepare for and I think Brendan would have been just as happy with a few kids over to play the games without all the fuss.