Braden: 3 years + 5 months

  

At 3 years and 5 months old, Braden is not only growing taller and taller (he now shuts off/on all the lights), but he is sharper than a whip. A recent example is, the other day I said "find the monkey in this picture" and he said "no Mom, that is actually a Baboon" so he loves correcting me. We also had a discussion the other day on if another animal in his favorite book was a Beaver or a Platypus. I won that conversation by explaining the difference between the two animals, but as of lately I have to admit that most of the time he catches something that I miss and he is correct. He does not miss a beat! Braden is very detailed and so literal, just like his Dad. :)  He is also more motivated than ever to try things on his own. He gets dressed by himself (most days) and also wants to help cook or do anything that I am doing by saying "I can do it Mom."

Braden loves to play "I spy". We read the same book twice a day where we look for certain objects and have to give eachother hints on what to look for. He just can't get enough of that game. His new love is games on the Ipod or Iphone, which of course is good and bad. Some help him learn, and some are just time suckers so we are careful on how much time he spends on those. He went to his first birthday party at Chuck E Cheese and had a blast. He told me he was going to play "fifty-five four" games there. In the past couple months, Braden has seemed to skyrocket in the maturity category. I often feel like I am with a five or six year old when I think about the conversations we have or the things we do. Scary! He still has a steel trap of a memory. He loves preschool, playing outside, running, playing ball, jumping at Skyzone and exploring new things. We spend more time doing activity books and coloring now which is a lot of fun.

Recently Braden had a little accident. He slipped on our hardwood floors while chasing Liam and smashed his mouth on the floor. One of his front teeth was pushed way back and we had to get it put back. After some TLC, some pain relief and some rest-- he was better in a couple of days. He is still cautious eating with that tooth. He is a good little patient, and listens to everything that I ask him to do and asks a lot of questions about why he can't chew down on it until it heals.

Braden continues to amaze us each and every day with his wit, knowledge, humor and coordination of doing most any activity.