An incredible year and a half



Painting with Mimi





Play-doh with Papa



He loves stacking things

 

Silly Daddy!

Bryson has hit the one and half year mark, and it has gone by so fast.  He’s a little man now with own unique personality, which I love beyond words.  He is also a growing boy!  At his doctor’s check-up, he weighed 32 pounds.  That weight puts him in the 99th percentile.  His height was in the 80^th percentile, and his head was in the 98^th percentile.  Yes, we certainly have a big boy!  I’m amazing that I can still tote him around.  He loves when I perch him on top of my belly (his sister) and snuggle in.  I guess it makes him feel like he has his own seat since my belly is as big as his chair.  Haha

Our little guy has become quite the talker and animal sound maker lately.  He picks up on new words and is starting to master them now.  One of my favorites is still turtle, because he puts emphasis on both t’s and is so serious when he says it.  He has a turtle sandbox, and whenever he sees it, he points at it and says turtle.  I can’t get enough of that.  The other favorite is when we ask him to say sister and baby.  He says sissy instead, which is even cuter.  When he says baby, he emphasizes the y.   He is also very good at understanding what people tell him.  Of course, that doesn’t mean he listens to the direction, but he definitely knows what the request is. 

His personality is starting to show more each day.  He has the funniest facial expressions.  I was so use to the happy faces that I got 99% of the time, but now I get these Mommy-is-crazy looks that I can’t help but laugh at.  He now has angry expressions where he scrunches his eyes and mouth and stares at you.  He’s a pretty serious little man sometimes.  He is also getting into the temper tantrum stage.  They are pretty mild for the most part and only last about a minute, but if I try to walk him somewhere he doesn’t want to go (like from outside to inside), he will pull back on my hand, stop walking, then slowly lay down right where we are and either give me the crazy look or cry.  Then if I dare to pick him up, he gets more angry.  It’s lovely.  I’m looking forward to when he does that in public.  I’m sure that won’t be embarrassing at all. 

We are really pleased with the new school that we put Bryson in.  He went from a daycare environment where the “teacher” was more of a babysitter that simply watched the kids play and didn’t teach them anything to a school environment where Bryson actually learns things.  Imagine that!  They do all kinds of activities each day to promote fun learning and then give us homework (flashcards) to practice with Bryson when he’s not there.  They give us a daily agenda of what they are focusing on so we can be more involved in teaching him as well.  He now knows almost all of the animal sounds and can point to the main body parts (nose, ears, head, toes).  He can also do sign language like a pro.  He knows about 20 signs and uses them regularly.  Sometimes it throws Mike and I off because he’ll do something we haven’t seen before, and we’re like oh no, what does that mean?  We have to do a quick search so we understand him.  He’s teaching us, too.

I’m constantly amazed at the things he learns so quickly.  Mike and I took him to dinner last night and he squealed at one point while we were eating.  I put my finger to my mouth and shhhh’d him, and so he did it right back to me.  It was funny how he knew what to do to mimic me.  And I guess he understood what it meant because it worked!

Another thing I have to brag on is how much he enjoys books and puzzles.  He will grab a book versus his toys, climb up on the chaise lounge, and sit back and “read” his book.  He prefers sitting in your lap and you reading to him, but he’s perfectly content on his own.  He also loves to do puzzles.  As soon as he puts one together, he tips it over and starts again.  One day when I picked him up from school, he was doing a puzzle that consisted of three giant pieces and that was the entire puzzle.  However, at home his puzzles have about 10 smaller pieces and he completes them easily.  Now that he’s mastered those puzzles, he will get two of them and dump out all the pieces to both, lay out the boards and figure out which piece goes to which puzzle and complete them both.  He did this last night and put both together in about five minutes.  Oh, and I looked at the back of the puzzles and they said for ages 2+.  That’s right, Bryson is a genius.  J

I am trying to figure out how to post videos on here, so here's my first attempt.  It worked! 

I guess Bryson thinks Aspen is a horse?

Yes, I'm making stupid noises, but it makes him laugh.  For that, I'll do anything. :)