BRADY

Brady Joseph.

Here’s my random post about our Brady.  A post dedicated to everything that I can think of about our crazy child.  I have so many stories that this could go on forever.  I’ll share the most memorable ones.  I love 4 year olds!  I love all the silliness, conversations, and imagination.  Tyler used to be the same way.  And now Brady just turned 5!  I kept asking him if he could just stay 4 and he would giggle and say, “No!  I am going to turn 5!  And then 6, and then 7…”

Well, Brady is still our crazy and fearless child.  He is so energetic and bouncy and happy that his energy rubs off on everyone around him.

Brady is following in his brother’s footsteps and is doing very well academically.  He is doing awesome in school and loves every second of it.  He is a quick learner and will be very ready for Kindergarten next fall in 2015.  He surprises us with what he knows, what he learns, and how quickly he learns it. 

Brady’s smile and dimples melt my heart every time I see them. 

Brady is a natural when it comes to sports.  He picks up on them very easily and is a rock star on the soccer field!  He loves all sports, but right now, he loves soccer and basketball the most.  And with the amount of energy and bounce this kid has you may not think he would being able to sit to watch much TV, but he loves to sit down and watch shows.  He also loves to play video games.  Brady eats like a monster at breakfast!  He absolutely loves breakfast food!  Brady will still get toys out and play with them all on his own.  He actually plays much better on his own than when trying to play with his brother. 

Brady has a great imagination, which leads me to my first story.  The other night I peeked into his room after we put him to bed.  He was sitting up and kept putting his face into one of his hands.  He was smiling and even giggling quietly.  After a while I went in smiling and asked him what he was doing.  He said he was pretending like he was in Despicable Me 2 and was the girl that was getting her face pushed into a pie.  It was so cute!

Brady loves playing outside, but doesn’t enjoy the heat much.  He loves to go out when it is cooler and he loves the snow!

Brady still takes a nap, which he needs, but because of the nap it does take him longer to fall asleep at night time.  Brady’s imagination runs a little longer and he continues to “play” in bed, therefore taking him longer to relax and fall asleep.  This summer I went in to Brady’s bedroom one night to check on him and when I walked in, he was on his knees on his bed and was leaning up to and looking out his window.  He was also singing ‘Let it Go’ from the movie Frozen.  He did not know I was in his room, so I listened for a bit.  After I stopped him, he told me that not very many cars passed by on our street.  A few nights later I went out to dinner with one of my friends.  The boys were to be in bed by the time I got home.  When I pulled in the driveway, I looked up to Brady’s window and could see him staring out the window.  I just smiled and waved and then went to go give my funny little boy a hug and kiss good night. When I walked in, he told me that he was counting to 100 and when he was finished he would go to bed.  He was on 64.  :)

Brady also gets very attached to toys, stuffed animals, bracelets, arm bands, etc.  He absolutely loves stuffed animals and has a huge abundance of them in his bedroom.  He does a pretty good job at giving them each attention and changes out which stuffed animal he sleeps with pretty regularly.

He stashes so many toys in his room.  Under his bed, in his closet, in every little place, Brady can place a toy.  And then he never remembers where he puts it!

Brady has some really good friends that he plays with very well.  I will continue to love watching them grow up together!

Outside, Brady loves to play ball, swing, swim, and ride his bike.

Brady loves his brother and wants to be able to do everything that his big brother can do.  He keeps up with Tyler very well and if he was as big as Tyler, I know that he would be ready to go down roller coasters, swim in the deep end, go down big water slides, etc.  He is just fearless and wants to do whatever Tyler does.  He does get upset with Tyler quite often.  They know how to fight and they do a lot of it!  As much as he loves his brother, he also loves to have some one-on-one time with his mom when he can.  As rare as it is, when he and I do get these one-on-one moments, he’s always so excited and usually says, “Yeah!  Just me and mom time!”  It’s precious!

Brady gets his feelings hurt pretty easily.  As a five year old, he’s pretty quick to cry, but it just takes a quick hug and kiss to make him all better.

Brady is a mommies boy.  He follows me around the house and usually needs to be where I am.  He loves to cuddle and give hugs and kisses.  And as much as he loves to cuddle on me, he loves to cuddle on his dad just he same.  He gives me hugs and kisses all the time—I love it!  He will also blow kisses, and when I blow a kiss in return, he will catch it and put it on his face.  Lately he has been calling me “my love.”  He’ll say, “Thanks for breakfast, My Love.”  It’s too cute.  He always tells me how beautiful I am or how I am the best mommy.  He is such a sweetheart!  He always uses his manners and if he does something wrong or makes a mistake, he feels terrible and will apologize instantly.  I just love how big of a sweetheart he is!

One day this summer I picked the boys up from Lindy’s house.  Brady had told me that Ian got in trouble for pulling Addie’s hair.  Shortly after that story I told the boys, “I am so happy to be your mom.”  Brady replied with, “I am so happy to be your kid.  I’m so glad that I’m not a girl!”  When I asked him why he wouldn’t want to be a girl, he told me because he wouldn’t want to get his hair pulled!

Another great story!  The boys went to daycare 2 days a week this past summer.  One day we were getting ready to leave and Brady was not quite ready, but Tyler and I were ready to walk out.  Brady said, “Don’t leave without me!”  I told him that we wouldn’t leave, but he needed to hustle up.  He told me that he would just stay home alone.  I asked him what he would do if he stayed home all alone.  He said, “I will watch TV all morning.”  I then asked him what he would do about food.  He said, “I’ll just eat from the bottom drawer.”  We have the bottom drawer of the refrigerator filled with healthy snacks just for the boys.  He also said, “And if a kidnapper came in, then I would kick the kidnapper in the face and then in the wiener!”

And the stories are going to continue…like I said, “I love 4 year olds!”

One night when we were getting the boys ready for bed I was walking in the hallway from Brady’s bedroom into Tyler’s bedroom.  I banged my toe very hardly into the corner of the wall.  It hurt incredibly bad!  I’m sure I made a pretty loud yelp of a noise and then fell to the floor in pain.  Of course the boys were terribly concerned for my well being and almost in tears.  Their dad assured them that I was okay, but I just needed some time.  So, I continued to huddle in the middle of the hallway.  Brady then said, “Mom, you should watch me walk into Tyler’s room.  I just walk right in the middle of the hallway.”  Well, thanks, Brady.  That sounds like a great idea and I should try that out.  But he was so serious and it was so sweet, cute, and thoughtful of my little boy!

Now, unlike Tyler, Brady could care less what kind of an outfit he has on.  When he and Lee together pick out his outfit for the day, it’s never good.  He could also put cowboy boots with any outfit and love it!

I have just a few more recent stories…

Brady began his 4 year old preschool this fall.  After the first day, I asked him how the day went.  He was of course very excited and then told me that he met two new friends, “Josh and Swirly.”  I said, “Swirly, huh?”  He said, “yep, I followed her around all day.”  I said, “I’m not sure that there is a girl in your class named Swirly, bud.”  Then I said, “Maybe her name is….Charlie?”  He said, “Ummmm…okay,” with a shoulder shrug and then that was that.  I ended up emailing his teachers at the end of the week about field trips and then told them the story.  They were stumped with the ‘Swirly’ name and then told me the names of the new kids in his class this year.  Laek was one of the names, so I asked Brady if the girl he followed around on the first day was Laek.  “Is Laek, Swirly?”  He said, “Ya, I named Laek, Swirly!”  Oh, I do not know what goes on in his head sometimes!  :)

One night a week or so ago, Lee was going to leave for the weekend to go on his squirrel hunt trip.  Thursday night the boys needed to say their good-byes, because then they wouldn’t see him again until Sunday.  Brady had already said good-bye, but then after Lee had walked back downstairs Brady realized that he wanted to also tell Lee to have a good trip.  Sweetest boy!  So, I told him he could and he walked downstairs.  Well some nights Lee puts a baby gate at the stairs after he comes down so that the dogs won’t go back upstairs and bother us while I’m giving my final hugs and kisses.  So, Brady gets to the bottom of the steps and I hear him say under his breath, “Oh, it’s a gate night!”  And he seemed so frustrated with the fact that the gate was up.  It was hilarious!

A couple weekends ago, my mom and I took the boys to the zoo.  Both Tyler and Brady had their very own map to look at of the zoo.  Shortly after we got there we needed to use the restroom, so Brady looked at his map and very seriously said, “According to the map, the restroom is right by the entrance.”  He’s so stinkin’ cute!  After the zoo we went out to lunch.  There was some celery on Brady’s plate.  He took a bite and said, “Ugh, this is disgusting!”  I don’t blame him!

I think that’s all the very memorable stories I have from Brady for now.  He says something hilarious every day.  I wish I could remember them all!  I just love being with my kids and witnessing every minute of them growing up.  I wouldn’t change a thing!

I am so very proud of everything this little boy has done in the past 5 years.  He continues to amaze us daily and always makes us proud!