Brody Speaks!

I've been hesitant to declare that Brody is talking but after listening for about a month now, I think I can safely say he says a few words.

ball - "ba"
The first time I realized he was knew what he was saying, he was in the bathtub, handing me a ball. He consistently picks up a ball, and says "ba"

bye bye - "ba ba"
He has said bye bye to many as they leave.

These three have been in the last couple of days...
Dada - "dada"
all done - "a da" (said after breakfast Friday and a couple times since)
cracker - "ca ca"(said after I asked him if he wanted a cracker for snack)

Precious Moments

As I think I've said before, Luke and I do Puggles together, a mid-week program for 2 year olds at our church. He has been learning so much, mostly that God made (fill in the blank).

Once a month they do a Family Experience where the kids and their parents sing together and hear a short message. Then all the kids get dropped off and parents go to a class. Tonight we were singing and the worship leader explained why people raise their hands during worship. He told the kids that when they want their parents to hold them, they raise up their hands, and mom or dad picks them up. So we raise our hands to God to tell him we want to be with him, we want him to lift us up. Then he asked everyone to raise their hands up. As we sang,

"You are the everlasting God,
the Everlasting God,
You do not faint, you won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need,
You lift us up on wings like eagles."

Luke was sitting in my lap, my arms raised, and his little arms raised between mine. That is a view greater than any scenery I'll ever see. My little boy learning to worship the God who loves him.

As tears came to my eyes, I just prayed that he would know the truth of this song for the rest of his life. I could have sat in that moment for hours.

Brody's Development

One day your kids can't do something, and suddenly the next they can.

I remember the day I realized Luke understood more thatn I thought. He was sitting on the floor as I got us ready for the day. I was looking for his pacifier so we could head out. I couldn't find it and in frustration said, "where is your pacifier?" He dug it out from under his leg and held it in the air, showing me where his pacifier was.

Brody has done a few things lately that have given me the same reaction.

Yesterday we were waiting at the doctors office. To pass the time we were reading books. Brody looked through a book and then pointed to the bookcase, indicating he wanted another book. He looked through that book and then pointed to the bookcase again.

Tonight he got into the baskets in the bathroom cabinet. As I was cleaning it up, I handed him a couple things out of the basket that he could play with. One was a comb. But its a comb that has prongs on both sides of the stick and we have never used this comb. I expected it to go straight in Brody's mouth, as he does with everything. But instead he picked it up and attempted to comb his hair! I was surprised one, because he'd never tried to comb his hair before, and two because this was an unfamiliar, unusual looking comb that he recognized as a comb and knew what to do with it!

He's been consistently saying "ba" in reference to balls, "ba-ba" in reference to bottle and bye-bye, and "da" in refernce to dogs. I was hestitant to think he might be speaking already when he began doing this, but he's been doing it enough that its safe to say he's begun speaking.

Brody shakes his head no when you tell him not to do something.

He's just begun signing "all done". He's used the sign for "more" off and on but we just got him to use both more consistently.

BIG BOY!

Friday afternoon we went to an appointment where Luke had to be weighed and measured. We went back to her office to chart his growth and she was shocked. Luke weighed 33lbs, and was 37" tall. His growth chart had gone along a curve and then spiked. She couldn't believe that would be right, so we went back to measure him again. Sure enough, he grew 4 inches in 6 months.

After talking with her, a lot of things Luke has been doing made much more sense. Luke had been waking up at night crying and saying his legs or his back would hurt. Now we know its growing pains. Suddenly Luke's pants didn't fit. One day they did and the next we couldn't even button them. Finally, I asked her about Luke's eating habits...he's ALWAYS asking for food. I wondered if they learn this young to eat when they are bored. While I think there is still some of that, she thought Luke must just be that hungry if he'd been growing so much!

Christmas

This year we had a nice quiet Christmas at home. Christmas Eve we went to the 3:30 service at our church. We got the boys all dressed up and decked out in matching faux-hawks! Yes - faux-hawks on Christmas Eve, at church! We came home, made dinner, got the kids in their pajamas, read about Jesus birth toddler style, and Grandma Chris read us "The Night Before Christmas." We have a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve. So we let Luke open the Memory Game we got him. This is my favorite Christmas memory from this year. It was so much fun to sit in the living room with the tree and teh Christmas lights, the memory cards all over the floor, Luke in his Christmas jammies, and so excited to find matching cards. Luke's not quite old enough to play the game correctly, so we had all the cards face up and had him find the matches. He loved it! Once we put him to bed, we got out all the gifts and laid them out under the tree. Luke woke up in the morning, came out to the living room, saw the gifts, put his hands on his cheeks (Home Alone style), grabbed two and started ripping into them at the same time. He kept going and going! He loved opening all the gifts. You could tell which gifts he liked best, because he'd actually stop to ask you to open it, so he could check it out/play with it. We let him, since we had plenty of time (he started ripping into presents at 7am). He'd play a bit and be ready for more. He was most excited about his Thomas toys, least excited about the clothing he got (just tossing it aside to open another gift). He'd help Brody open his gifts and show him how it works. We had waffle breakfast, took naps, made a ham dinner, and went out to look at Christmas lights once it got dark. All in all, it was a good day. Happy Birthday Jesus!