Happy 18 months Brayden!

Okay so Brayden turned 18 months last week (the 20th) but I was waiting for his pedes appointment today, so I could post his stats! I seriously can't believe that he is 18 months! I feel like we JUST celebrated his birthday and that was six months ago!

Brayden is doing well aside from his fever shenanigans and seriously amazed me on a daily basis on how much he understands even if he can't fully communicate verbally. He is so smart and I'm really proud of him. At this point he can say over 30 words, a bunch of two word phrases and an follow simple 2 step commands.  Regressing to my previous post on his fever issues, it seems like during and after each episode it makes him take a step back after he took two steps forward in between. In other words he knows, can use and say a lot but he stops wanting to use his words and starts grunting and making other noises instead. It breaks my heart but I know (and the pedes confirmed) that the fevers aren't physiologically harming him it's just him reverting to baby talk after feeling like hell for 7 days every 4 weeks. I do count my blessing that he is doing so well otherwise,so if he doesn't say all of the words he knows all the time I am fine with that. The doctor told me that they usually like to see them using 10 words at this point and the fact that he can say 3x that as well as do two word phrases ext means he's functioning at a 2 yr level. Again i am so proud but I'm a little surprised b/c I know of some children who blow him away, so those kids must be SUPER advanced.  The appointment also covered his Autism Screen, more or less it's a questionnaire I had to fill out about his behavior, habits, attention ext. He passed with a 100% score, which I was never worried about but it's good to hear.

The 10 seconds he SAT while waiting for the pedes

Now for the fun stuff. Bray is measuring 34 3/4 inches tall (97%), off the charts as usual and he now weighs 23lb 15oz (24%). He has gained 1lb 4oz since his 15 month appointment so for him that's good for three months. There were a few months when he was barely gaining ounces per month, despite being a great eater. At least he jumped from the 19% to 24%. I'm glad he's thriving, he had a big growth spurt last month so I was curious how tall he had gotten!

You can't make an 18 month old wait for the dr too long or he goes nuts! lol He was banging the wall b/c he heard people on the other side.. lol only my kid! 

As far as every day life things are good! He still is waking 1x a night crying but we are hoping and praying we can get him sleeping straight through by the time Bella arrives.  Wishful thinking. I'm sure if you've seen my FB pictures you can tell he LOVES food. The "fancier" the better. lol I'm so lucky he is a great eater. Don't get me wrong he still is picky about certain things. Like he doesn't like a lot of breakfast foods and sometimes trying to find new lunches seems impossible. But he does love home cooked or restaurant quality food. Of course! He's still obsessed with fruit and veggies and loves "dipping" sauces. Dipping sauce can be anything from ketchup, yogurt and his recent favorite sweet and sour sauces. lol

The things he can't live with out are his binky, cuddly (aka his blanket) and bunny. I know, I know i hate that he loves his binky so much but when he has his fever episodes I'll give him anything to soothe him or feel better. The kid needs something to get him through them. Honestly that's the least of my worries in the long run, I'm sure it'll be a nightmare to break him of it but it is what it is. So of course after an episode he wants is a LOT. We try and let him have it for sleeping/naps only but it's been a HUGE struggle. Again, I'm picking my battles. Cuddly and bunny are also his security things. He LOVES to cuddle with his blanket, it's seriously the cutest thing. He rubs the silky edges on his face, arms ext. Which is not at all odd if you know Brayden. He loves to be hugged, have his head rubbed, massages ext. Bunny is his favorite stuffed animal for cuddling and sleeping with. I love watching him on the monitor at night curled around his bunny. It seriously melts my heart!

Cuddly is in the box of course, but you can see it lol 

His temperament is still the same. He has always been really independent. He loves when you play with him but is more than content playing himself. He's definitely going through a hard core "testing" phase. He thinks he can have what he wants when he wants it and throws some epic tantrums that are just crazy and violent. As much as it KILLS me I have had to learn to walk away and "ignore" him when he gets in to these tangents. Any form of attention, good or bad during the tantrums would actually exacerbate them so this is how they have to be handled. They have been slowly getting better so I know i'm doing the right thing. He is really too smart for his own good, he will do things that he knows he is not suppose to do and laugh or smile as he does them.  Little stinker. Despite his rough moments, he Brayden is the most amazing kid.  His smile laugh and excitement are so contagious and he has such a big heart. He will run up to you with the biggest smiles and open arms and give you the best hugs. He still gives big open mouth kisses and waves and blows kisses when he's leaving or going to bed.  Life doesn't get any better than your own child CHOOSING to give you hugs and kisses.

Brayden is a lot of fun! He never sits still. He loves to go to the park, play with kids, and run and climb on anything that looks dangerous and adventurous. His current loves include firetrucks, cars (anything with wheels), helicopters, cooking with mommy , Elmo, Calliou, any outdoor activity, chasing and watching birds and animals, playing "soccer" and throwing balls, coloring/painting, anything water oriented and figuring out how things work.

This boy LOVES his firetruck!

   

Telling me what a firetruck says! lol

We have been talking to Brayden a lot about becoming a big brother. Obviously he is still too young to really understand but I'm hoping the conversations about his baby sister in the belly and feeling her move and kick will at least help a tiny bit. He is really going to have a hard time when Bella does arrive. He's very much a mommy's boy since we spend all the time together and especially with him having the recurrent fever episodes he REALLY relies on me to make everything better. I love that he wants mommy but at the same time I know he's going to be mad when he's not the only one anymore. We try and get him to want/need other people for things but it's hard for an 18 month old to "get it".  Need less to say I'm really nervous about that transition, i see a lot of tears on his and my behalf after his sister arrives. But he is such a good big helper so I know he's going to make an amazing big brother. I guess it's better the change happens now while he's younger.

Sorry my stomach is nasty and pale but I thing it's the sweetest thing that he (on his own) runs, grabs lotion and pulls up my shirt b/c he wasn't to help rub lotion on the baby. Guess I'm going to have another helper to massage bella when we arrives!