Brenson at 2 years old

This post is all about Brenson at two years old. I think that two years old often gets a really bad rap, but I love this age. It definitely has its trying times as Brenson is learning to be independent, but overall it's an age full of wonder, discovery, laughter, play, and growth. 

At two years old, Brenson is wearing size 3T for the most part. Most of his long-sleeved shirts are size 2T and pretty much too small, so we've been wearing his short-sleeved shirts with jackets until the weather warms up a bit more. He wears size 8 shoe, and size 5 diaper at night (underwear during the day). At his two year check-up with Dr. F, Brenson weighed 29 pounds, 3 ounces (62nd percentile), was 38.5 inches tall (off the charts), and had a head circumference of 49 centimeters (56th percentile). All of this is consistent with his growth curve. Of course, he's still very tall for his age and is actually FOUR inches taller than Brianna at two years old! He did have shots at this appointment, but took them like a champ and didn't have any side effects.

Right around Bren's 2nd birthday, we decided to go ahead and turn him forward facing in the car. I was hoping to keep him rear facing for a bit longer, but because of his height, his carseat had to be extended so far and was no longer fitting in our car rear-facing (we drive a Honda Accord). Bren was thrilled to be turned around, and I'm okay with this decision, too. I'm just glad that we made it all the way until he turned two before turning him.

First time being forward facing - on the way to church

So excited as you can see!

He thought it was great to be able to hold hands with "sisser"

Brenson is our serious kid. He's a thinker. He's a little bit slow-to-warm, can be obsessive about things being "just so", and he's very routine oriented. He will always say "yes" when answering a question . . . never "ya" or "yep". He will practice words and phrases until he gets them just right. He is very polite and will say things like, "That mine, Momma? Thank you!" Or, like on his birthday, he said, "Momma? Balloons? Thank you, Momma!" He will also say, "Good job, Momma! Good job, Sisser!" and "Careful, Daddy. Be careful." when Daddy is driving or doing a project. Just yesterday, I said, "Brenson, you need to tell Momma thank you." So, he said, "Thank you, Momma. Now you say welcome." Haha! He's also very good about saying "Yes sir" and "No ma'am" but doesn't really say "No sir" or "Yes ma'am". We're working on it :-).

Every morning, Bren will ask for Daddy or say, "Daddy work?" He LOVES his Daddy! If Daddy is home then Bren wants Daddy to get him in and out of the car, Daddy to put him to bed, Daddy to take him potty, etc. Momma misses out on her snuggles when Daddy is home!

We often say that Bren is "all boy". He loves working with his hands, holding the flashlight for Daddy, helping with projects, using tools, etc. His favorite toy is his workbench and tools, hands down! He will often carry a {toy} screwdriver around the house and "fix" things.

"Helping" Grampy light the pilot light on their fireplace

Fixing Brianna's car (using a wooden play knife as a screwdriver)

Wearing his safety goggles . . . he loves these things!

Brenson goes to bed at about 8:15pm, gets up at about 7:30am, and takes a 2 to 3 hour nap every day. He's a great sleeper, and we're so thankful for that! He can count to twelve by himself, spell most of his name (he says B-R-E-S-O-N), identify some colors and shapes, say most of his ABCs, and hold a pencil/crayon correctly. 

He will often "write his name", although he can't really write any letters yet. I think he loves to practice writing because we do this often with Brianna.

Books are a favorite around here, and his favorite books are definitely the "Llama, Llama" books. We read almost every day before nap.

A typical pre-nap stack of reading material:

Reading independently

Arts and crafts are also something that we all enjoy in this house. Brenson loves to paint, glitter, glue, color, etc. Our art easel gets tons of use!

Bren also enjoys Play-Doh

and games! We play a lot of matching around here,

as well as Uno Moo (a FANTASTIC game for a 1.5 to 2 year old).

Brenson does generally have a helper when playing Uno Moo,

but he's becoming more independent with it all the time.

He was trying to cover his own eyes to draw in this photo . . . haha!

Brenson also LOVES Legos! We have a few Duplo Legos, but he has no interest in those. He only wants to play with the legit little Legos like Brianna does. We don't have any trouble at all with him putting things in his mouth, so we let him (under supervision, of course).

Other indoor activities Brenson enjoys include helping cook (and seriously, who doesn't love a man that can cook!),

playing with our musical instruments and singing,

dressing up (he has a whole dress-up drawer of his own, though we often find him dressing up in Brianna's skirts and dresses, too),

and even playing with dolls. This day, he took the diaper off of Brianna's baby and was trying to put his underwear on it :-). He loves doing whatever his sister is doing, so he often plays with her princesses, ponies, and babies.

Brenson is very verbal for his age, which is a pretty recent development. His language just exploded a few months ago. The other day in the car, he seriously said a 9 word sentence! He loves to say, "I dood it" and "What is that, Mommy/Daddy?" Those are probably his most used phrases. He calls Brianna "sisser" or "B-Anna". He says the most precious little prayers. His go-to prayer is "Dear God, thank you food, books. Amen" although sometimes he'll throw an extra thing or two in there. He also makes thoughtful prayer requests during our evening devo time (such as, "sisser ear feel better" when she was going through a bout of ear infections). He's just a super-sweet little guy who gives great hugs and kisses.

Looking too grown up before church one evening!

We haven't yet hit the picky eating toddler phase, and I'm hopeful that we won't! Brenson is a hearty eater, and can out-eat me oftentimes! He LOVES fruit, some veggies, meat, and mexican food. He doesn't care for bread (so not a big sandwich eater, for sure). He's generally starving when he wakes up in the morning and wants to eat right away. I've made green smoothies some this year, and he loves them! He sits in a booster at the table with us, but still drinks from a sippy cup most of the time.

We are so blessed that Bren is healthy and active. However, we did have some bouts with ear infections right after the New Year. We have been taking both kids to the chiropractor (I'll do a post on this), and it seems to be effective in helping with the ear infections. When Brenson doesn't feel well, he loves to snuggle. This day, he fell asleep in my arms, and I loved it.

This was another day of not feeling good. Look at those eyes!

He was holding his hands so proper and it made me laugh.

Brenson is not a TV/movie watcher really at all. I don't mind this for the most part, although it would be nice if he would sit for a movie once in a while. Oh well. He does great playing inside, but he really, really loves being outside. 

He enjoys the swing and loves the slide.

He climbs the ladder all by himself and has since he was 16 months old.

When he swings, his favorite thing to do is swing with Brianna on the teeter-totter swing.

He would spend all day, every day outside if he could!

He also loves his scooter.

He even pushes it himself!

Bren goes to the 2 year old Bible class at church and loves it! Just recently, we have been starting to have a few problems with his behavior during class and church, but for the most part he does really well. Part of being 2 years old is testing boundaries, so we're trying to take it in stride and guide him in the right way. We've already started working with him on memorizing scripture, and he can say (with help) Genesis 1:1 and Ephesians 6:1. He hears me working with Brianna on scripture so much that he's started to pick it up, too. Perks of being the 2nd child!

He loves to mimick our song leader at church . . . I caught these photos one day during the service:

Sometimes after church, he'll even get on the podium and pretend to preach, ha!

We attend Story Time at the library each week, as well as our Mommy & Me preschool class, Miss Shelly's. The Story Time director is a former preschool teacher and comments all the time on how well Bren sits and listens, and how he's mature for his age in that way. Bren started participating in Miss Shelly's at about 18 months old even though he was a full year younger than the age limit. He's a pro now and almost fully participates in the class. She is great to accommodate him for the things that are way above his level, and I appreciate that SO much.

Making snow with Miss Shelly

Brenson adores Brianna and mimicks her constantly. They do fight some, mostly due to Brenson antagonizing Brianna. He's learned quite well how to push her buttons in recent months. People ask me often if they are twins, and one evening after putting them both in size 4T pjs, I put this photo on Instagram:

There is only a 1 1/4 inch height difference between these two. Bren is long in the torso especially, so if they are sitting then their heads are the same height. Although they do fight (like all siblings do), they miss each other like crazy when one is gone for some reason. 

Brenson is very sensitive to noise and does not like anything "loud". We went to eat at Logan's Roadhouse about a month ago, and he sat with his hands over his ears through most of dinner. He hates the vacuum cleaner because it's loud, and the other day when we went through the car wash he screamed the entire time. I did talk to Dr. F about this, and he's not concerned about it for now.

We just love our little guy more than words can express. He is just such a JOY! Yay for the terrific twos!