Brantley: 2 years, 5 months

Brantley,

We had a few warm days in November and took advantage of the weather for a trip to Grommet Island. You learned how to walk across the lily pads and finally went down the slide all by yourself. It took a few tries but each time afterward you would stop and clap for yourself. The cutest.

Your Nana found a discount for some studio portraits this month and thought it would be adorable to get some photos of you and your baby brother. You apparently didn’t think so and fought us the entire time. We got a total of 3 photos out of the whole photo shoot. Near the end of the session we got one good smiling photo but only because you were pulling your pants down and we were telling you to stop but thankfully, the photographer saw her opportunity and snapped away.

On Thanksgiving, we spent the day with both sides of the family but now that we have two little ones we didn’t do such a good job of taking photos so these are from the end of the day when we finally realized we hadn’t taken very many pictures during the day. At dinner, you sat at the big table with us in your little highchair, prayed with us, and ate most of the food that the rest of us ate. You were REALLY excited about the sweet potatoes.

Memories from this month:

• When you want us to turn up the volume of the music in the car, you say “Be loud! I want it be loud”
• You will not take a nap if you know I am home. When Daddy brings you home from preschool, I have to hide in the kitchen so he can take you back to your room without you seeing me.
• One day as you were leaving for school you were in a rather grumpy mood and didn’t want to give me a kiss before you and Daddy walked out the door. On your way to school you were so distraught, saying, “I wanna go back home. I give mommy kiss”. ” I give 2 kisses””I want kisses, I go back home.”
• Every morning when Daddy wakes you up, he tells you a special message and you run out into the living room you always have a special message for me. Sometimes it’s something like “Good morning, Mommy! You’re my hero!” but one morning after a few days of having a runny nose, you came running into the living room and yelled “I love you, Mommy!” and then added “No boogies!”
• One night you were sitting in your highchair playing with your food rather than eating it so Daddy told you to take a bite and eat or else we would throw it away and you wouldn’t get anymore milk or fruit afterwards either. Well, just a second later you started playing with it again and Daddy threw the rest in the trash. The next night I overheard you talking to Daddy again, “Daddy look! No play with them. Eat them. And fruit! And milk!”
• We went to the beach to see Santa this year and we prepped you to tell Santa you wanted drums for Christmas. We kept pretending to be Santa, asking you “What do you want for Christmas?” and you seemed to get the hang of it. A few days later Daddy picked you up on his lap and when through the whole thing again. He asked you “Brantley, what do you say?” and you replied, “Trick or Treat!!!”
• You absolutely adore your little brother. And we love watching your relationship develop. Throughout the day you walk over to him and want to hold his hand, lay beside him, and you try to make him smile, and we hear, “Hi Barrett! Hi!” a LOT all day long.

We love you, buddy.

Love, Your Mama