Where to begin?

I can't believe that it's been since March that I've blogged on Brennan's blog.   He has grown up so much since then and has changed in so many ways I'm not even sure where to begin.  He is still as demanding, feisty, and daring as ever though, that much has not changed.

April and May were kind of a blur because we were selling our old house.  In May we went to visit Nanna and I blogged about most of that on the Yodame blog.  Brennan particularly loved riding his Harley Trike while we were at Nanna's.  It's probably just easier to say read the Yodame blog to see what we did in May and June and I'll pick up here again with July.

Grandpa Glade came to visit for a week.  The kids had fun hanging out with him and he took them on walks and to ride their bikes multiple times a day which made them very happy!  They were really sad when he left. 

July is Brennan's big month because it's his birthday, on July 25th he turned 2!!  We have been through so much with him that I patted myself on the back for keeping him alive this long.  It was a fun day and we had a combined cousins party, for Sophie and Malina too, at our new house .   The kids all ran round and played hide-and-go-seek and had a big dance party.   Lots of Aunts and Uncles came and Grandparents too.

Brennan went around and gave hugs to everyone for his presents

He looked cute in his little turtle Hawaiian shirt.

There was a candle for each kid on the cake.  Brennan is actually afraid of fire (which make sense after you fall into a fire pit I suppose) so sister blew it out for him.

Then everyone ate cake, this was the kids table...

And the adults table...

For Brennan's birthday, Sara wanted to do her favorite thing that she does on her birthday, going to Jumping Jacks.  She thinks that's how birthdays should be spent.  I figured why not, so we drove up to Lindon in the morning and I was pleasantly surprised that for the first half hour we were the only people there, we had the place to ourselves, then after that, there were only a hand full of kids.  Brennan did have fun and he went nuts, his favorite thing was the biggest slide in the place, the tall 2 story slide, the did it over and over and over.  He ended up with burns on his elbows from it he did it so many times.  He's a thrill seeker.  Here he is going down the big slide with Sister. 


In other news, Brennan has been riding his balance bike for about two weeks and is already a little pro at it.  When he got it for Christmas last year his feet didn't even touch the ground but his legs have grown a bit now.  So we just decided to try it again now that everything is out of storage.

Brennan talks non-stop about bikes and has since he learned to talk.  He spots bikes in the neighborhood anywhere and everywhere, and anything anyone says anything to him he usually just replies "bike".  That about sums it up.  He's obsessed with bikes, even before he'd ever ridden one.  It's a good thing I got him a helmet already because when we tried his balance bike again this time, he was ready and he took off.  It took him 2 days to learn to balance and to stop falling over and then he was unstoppable.  By the end of the week he was balancing on it and could cruise 30 feet down a hill without putting his feet down. 

Here's a video I got of him, it's not the best but it shows what he can do.
He might even be mountain biking by the time he's 5, who knows.  I'm excited to see what the future holds. 

Overall, Brennan has done a ton of growing up this summer.  He's still our cute little guy.

Cuteness overload

We had some cuteness overload here today.  The kids are going nuts playing outside.  Brennan dumped buckets of dirt over his head today to celebrate the warm weather.  I had to clean dirt out of his ears before bed but he sure had fun.  He also ate tulip bulbs and gathered stones and pavers from all over the yard and put them in his wagon, naughty.

He loves to swing on the swing with sister and feel the G forces.  Sister holds his hand nicely so he does not go flying off, which he would probably really like anyway.

He took off his shoes to feel the plants on his toes, he loves stomping on plants.

He pulled up a bulb and started eating it.

He cries and screams and kicks when he has to come back inside.  He would spend all day outside.

In other Moosey news, he is talking up a storm and it's been really fun.  He will repeat whatever you ask him to say.  He understands the command, "Moosey, say ____" insert word and he says it.  Today he was saying Tutu, I love you, Sister, etc  Sara is teaching him the most important words like pee pee, poo poo, and farts.  It's a relief that she's taking care of that for us and we don't have to do it :)

Anyway, it's nice that we're able to communicate with him more, he understands things we say such as, "Take Sister to School", or "Go Outside", and "Night Night time".  He still apparently does not understand the word "No" however.

He has a great big sister and he does not know how lucky he is.  She really dotes on him.  She likes feeding him, tickling him, reading to him, showering him with kisses, dressing him, etc.  She does yell at him but mostly only when he goes in her room and steals her precious ponies.

He even gets to play with Sister and her friends on the driveway occasionally.

He's cute when he sleeps at night too.  I took this tonight after a long day of playing outside, he's pooped.

We love our Moosey!

First Tricycle Ride

Moosey went for his first tricycle ride today.  Sara's old trike got stolen a while back and we were all really sad about it.  So we replaced it with the same one because we liked it so much.  Dan put it together this morning and Brennan was raring to go.  I had recently gotten him a helmet too and just in time.    He has been dying to ride something, he is so jealous of Sara's scooter and the balance bike is still just out of reach for him, shorter legs.  Hopefully the trike will fill in the gaps until he's bigger.

Fun with finger paints

I recently got Sara some finger paints and worked up the nerve to let Brennan try.  He was watching her paint and crying and begging.  I decided it would be fine for them to both paint before bath time.  I was surprised that Brennan actually did not try to just eat the paints and he did not cover his head in paint.  He mostly just played on the paper and his hand, even though he was ready to be done after only five minutes.   It still made for some cute photos.

He was using his hand as a mixing palette

Things Moosey does

Moose has recently learned to walk down stairs which came just in time for Springtime and playing in the yard.  It's been nice to be able to leave the back door open and he can come and go.  He loves to play in the yard and go up and down the stairs.

He really loves playing in the dirt especially outside and very often when he comes in his hair is full of dirt, as well as his diaper, clothing, and sometimes his mouth.  He has gotten a little better about not eating it though.  Here is a video I got of the kids but Brennan loves to dig in the dirt and he has just learned to say the word "yeah", it's super cute. 

Here are some pics I got of them doing their thing in the yard.

Brennan has been taking lots of baths now that he spends the day digging in the dirt.  He loves his baths...

Sometimes his pants are saggy :)

He likes playing with Sister's MLP's too but it makes her really really angry, so he tries to sneak it in while she's at school and taking baths.   If he gets caught though, he runs as fast as he can with Sara screaming behind him.  He is really good at pushing her buttons.

Helper

Brennan is really concerned with helping me out.  Much more than Sara ever was, although Sara is a fantastic helper now.  Brennan studies everything I'm doing and he really likes helping with the dishwasher especially.  First I take out the glasses dishes and knives while he cries impatiently.  Then he gets to take all the plastic dishes out and he says "go", short for "here you go" and then he hands them to me.  Sometimes if he knows were they go, he will even put them away.  I finally got a video of him helping.  He also likes to put trash in the trash can.  He can usually even separate out the recyclables.

Also, he's been talking up a storm.  Every day he tries to say new things.  He says iphone, Uh Oh, ow, go, ball, us, ice, and bye bye, and balloon among other things.  He also makes all kinds of animal noises too.  Here is a little video I got oh him speaking that is really cute. I can't believe he sat still that long for me to get the video.  What was even funnier was for him to watch himself on the video.  He was really interested and wanted to watch the video I took of him over and over and made the noises all over again.

He is growing up really fast, I can't believe it's only about 4 months until his birthday, that just can't be right.  Time just flew by. Before we know it, he'll be going to kindergarten like his sister this year.

Flashy dresser and fast learning talker

Brennan is talking more now all of the sudden.  He will try to say any word that you say to him.  This week he was trying to say rice and ice because he really loves those foods.  Sometimes he is saying words for something and it takes me a while to figure out what he is saying.  Tonight he was helping me put away the dishes and every time he handed me something about of the dish washer he said "go".  I think he means "here you go" because he hears me say that to Sara and vice versa, but he just shortened it.  I need to get a vid of him unloading the dish washer and saying go, it's really funny.

Here is a video I got of him tonight saying a few things.  I wish I could have remember more words to ask him to say.

In addition to speaking more and laughing a lot and being a prankster, Brennan also has his own sense of style.

He loves to wear Sara's multi-colored hat, her cat hat, and her pink sparkly shoes. 

Sometimes his hair acts a little crazy too, like this morning when he woke up with a mohawk.

He is also all of the sudden eating a lot more.  I don't know why, maybe a growth spurt but he wants to be in his food chair all day long.  He can climb up in it by himself now so he does that quite often and then cries for food even if it's only been 10 minutes since he ate last. Maybe it is because he is so active.  He never stops or slows down.  This morning he walked all over the neighborhood with us without asking to be picked up. I guess he's working up an appetite.

He is a prankster too.  He likes to hide in closets and ambush us, or sneak into a room and jump out shouting.  He also likes to pretend like he's going to bite you and then say "Ow".  Lately too he has had a really maniacal laugh, he really thinks it's funny when he gets a rise out of his sister.