Could It Be?????

For the past 19 1/2 months (give or take a few days) I have rocked Brody to sleep. Or at least held him while he went to sleep in some form or fashion. He used to fall asleep in my lap taking his milk while we watched TV at night, or I would lay him in the bed beside me and hold him in the crook of my arm while he fell asleep, then I would take him to his room and lay him in his crib. But for the past 5 or 6 months, we have gone into his room, sat in the rocker, read a book, then turned down the lights and rocked until he fell asleep. Sometimes it would only take less than 10 minutes, but he always fell asleep in the rocker, then I would transfer him to his crib. I know, I know, some people say this isn't the "best" way to do things, but it worked for us, and I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed our "night-night" time for the last year and a half.

So, on to this week. We have followed the same routine. Bath, book, lights out, rock, rock, rock......when suddenly Brody sits up in my lap, points to his crib, and says "Bed". Now, he has pulled this before, resulting in me following his commands and placing him in his crib awake at which point he falls to peices and screams until I get him out. So, at first I just kept rocking him thinking that he would go on to sleep. Well, he kept pointing and saying "bed". So, I got up and laid him in his crib, gave him his cup (bad habit, I know), kissed him goodnight, and left the room. HE NEVER MADE A PEEP. Just rolled over, drank a little milk and passed out. This was Sunday night - he slept until I woke him up at 7:00 to get him ready for daycare. Then again tonight - I, of course, just thought it was a fluke, and after getting him ready for bed tonight, we sat in the rocker, and he immediately pointed at his crib and said "bed, bed". So, I just laid (is "laid" the correct tense?) him down again, kissed him goodnight and walked out. I heard him fuss for maybe 30-45 seconds, then he was quiet and went right on to sleep. Could it be that he is really wanting to just go to sleep on his own?? I mean, I hope so, b/c I figured the transition would be MUCH more difficult. I know that one day if and when Brody has a little brother or sister, it will be nice to not have to spend up to 30 minutes (some nights he likes the rocking part more than the actual falling asleep part) getting him to sleep at night. So, maybe this is the beginning of the end of me rocking him to sleep. Is it crazy that I am a little sad???

I just thought he looked too cute Sunday morning all ready for church. He wasn't really in the picture taking mood, but I managed to snap one anyway. Doesn't he look like a big boy?

Our weekend

Brody and I spent the weekend at Cassie's new house in Wynne visiting with her and Shelby, and Alicia and Will rode up with us. It was great getting to see them again, and the kids had so much playing together. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Brody brought Shelby her birthday present, and he wanted her to open it first thing Satuday morning when they woke up.


Then they took turns pushing each other in the baby stroller. (Will was still asleep)

On the way to Jonesboro for a day at the mall!
Playing in the "playplace" at Chick-Fil-A. He surprised me by climbing all the way to top by himself!



Cassie had to help him down the slide the first time, but after that he was a pro!

Shelby's daddy is the football coach at Wynne, so we took the kids to a game Friday night. Brody loved it.

Dancing during the halftime show.
TOUCHDOWN!!!!
He got a little sleepy toward the end, and needed his sippy and some hair to rub.....he though Cassie worked well for the job.

Just the 2 of us

Brent left for Palm Beach this morning for work, so it's just the two of us for a few days. Well, actually it won't be b/c we are probably going to be at Noni and Brooke's at night. Anyway, here are a few pictures from our morning.

On the way to church, eating a waffle and being silly:



On the way home from church....what a little angel....

19 months old

Well, my little baby boy turned 19 months old on Thursday. It just seems impossible that he is closer to 2 now than he is to 1. WHAT?? 2 years old??!! How in the world does time fly by so fast?

He is at such a fun age right now. He is doing so many new things that I can't keep up with it all. He loves to be outside running around. For him, the hotter and sweatier he is, the happier he is....lol.

I have really started to see alot of his Daddy coming out in him recently. For one, he definately has his daddy's temper. If he can't get the lid off of something, he will throw it across the room and have a little meltdown. If he is ready to go outside, and I tell him we have to wait until after he eats lunch, he falls into a puddle of tears by door. We are working on this, but geez, how do you teach a one year old patience? Another one of Brent's characteristics that has really come out in Brody is their "concentration face". Notice Brody's tongue in the next few pictures. Yes, Brent will do this too when he is really concentrating on something.

Eating - He still eats pretty well, although he is beginning to get a little more picky than he used to be. He has recently discovered a newfound love for bread. Any kind of bread - garlic bread, toast, biscuits, muffins, rolls, hamburger or hotdog buns - he loves them all. If I let him, he would just eat the bun and not the meat inside. He also has discovered how much fun it is to dip. If we are out at a restaurant, he wants to dip his chip in salsa, his cucumber in dressing, or his fry in ketchup. But he has gotten bad about wanting to just eat the salsa, dressing, or ketchup, and not the food, so we are having to cut back on the dipping alot.

Stats - At his 18 month checkup, he weighed in at a whopping 26 lbs and was 30 1/2 inches tall. I can't remember the percentages exactly, but he was right in the middle for weight, and a little on the low end for height. But we already knew that, right? He is still a little short and squatty. They say that you can double their height at age 2 to see about how tall they will be as adults.....well lets just hope he grows alot in the next 5 months. Because right now he would only be just over 5 feet tall. Poor thing. I was hoping he would have a little of his Papa Don and his Uncle Ryan in him, buuuut it's not looking that way.

Overall, he is in great health! A few colds and bugs here and there, but I guess that is to be expected with a toddler just starting daycare. I just can't get over how much fun he is right now, and I can imagine that it will only get better. He is definately the light of my life, and I love spending every minute that I have with him. I have found that the hardest part of being a mom is having to leave him on the days that I have to work. Therefore I am a little (okay, a lot) stingy with him on the days I am off, but I guess that is a perk of being his mommy. I can be as stingy as I want. At least while he is little and not begging to stay with Papaw so he can ride fourwheelers, or stay with Noni so he can spend the night with Brookie (as he calls her), or go fishing with Poppy. So, for now, I am taking advantage of him being all mine (and Brent's).

BROOKE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Today was Brooke's 5th birthday party at the church playground. Mom also rented one of those Jumpy Castle things, which was a total hit. Brody even loved it! And the big kids did awesome looking out for him when he was in there.

I think he stayed on his belly more than his feet.

So, Aunt Tara to the rescue!!!

If we took him out, this is where he stood until we put him back in.
Until cake and present time, of course!! This was the Barbie Princess that Brody gave Brooke. He also gave her a Hanna Montana guitar purse on her real birthday Wednesday.

Licking her cake topper....

Just a few pictures I took tonight of him "fishing" in the living room.

A day at the park and the Union County Fair

Brody and I picked Brooke up early from school last Friday, and we stopped at the little park there in Strong to let them play. They had so much fun! And Brody is getting so much easier to take places like that. He can actually play on most everything, and he LOVES that he can do some of things that Brooke can do - like ride on these little bouncy things:


One thing that did make it a little difficult was that he wants to climb on everything. And he can be four or five rungs up in about 5 seconds. I guess I should just let him try it, but being the worrier that I am, I just imagine him placing a foot wrong and plummeting to the earth below, hitting every metal bar on the way down. I get these horrible thoughts in my head, and I just can't let them go. So....needless to say, this is about as high as I would let him go.

His favorite was, of course, the swings! And I have to admit, they are mommy's favorite too. I know that he is safe and secure, and he can't fall off or run off or anything else.

Now Brooke is quite the little monkey. She was up to the top of this thing in about 7 seconds flat. I expected her to take off swinging from the trees any second. Brody tried his hardest to join her up there - thank goodness the rungs were spaced so far apart. Again, this is as far as he got.
Silly boy.

Brooke going about 100 mph around this little bicycle pedal thing. I tried to put Brody on one and hold on to him while she pedaled them around....and I could hardly keep up.
Weeeeeee!!!!! (We made Brooke photographer for a few minutes)

On to the fair, which was last night. It was Brooke's 5th birthday, so we celebrated by taking her and Caleb (and Brody, of course) to ride rides and check out all the animals! (Her real party will be Saturday.) I didn't know if Brody would be able to ride anything or not, being that he is somewhat of short stature, and he did miss the height minimum by an inch and a half, but we were able to sneak him on a few rides.

Watching the little girls show their lambs in the livestock barn.

Riding the carousel! And Brody LOVED it this time! Even with me just standing beside him rather than on the animal with him.

Happy Birthday Brooke!
Playing with Brooke's little plastic sword that she won playing "Pick Up Ducks".