16-Month-Old Brycen

Brycen is turning into a little boy right before our eyes. Every time we turn around he's doing something that makes him not so much a baby anymore. It makes me sad, but it's all very exciting at the same time. He had a big night with Amber, Kristine, and I at Carino's:

• I decided to order Brycen a kids drink with a straw tonight. This was the first time I had ever ordered him his own drink. The other night Tyson had a Dr. Pepper in a cup with a straw and we wanted to see how well Brycen would do with a straw. He had learned awhile ago but soon stopped. We hadn't really tried it again till the other night. Pretty soon we saw the straw turn brown and Brycen was chugging the caffeinated, carbonated beverage. Tonight I ordered him a chocolate milk. And sure enough he loved it and was drinking from it really well. He didn't want to hold it though so I had to. When I got sick of it I hid the cup and tried to distract him with other things.
• I tore pieces of the bread off onto a little plate for Brycen while we were waiting for dinner. (I ordered a meal that we would both share.) When he stopped eating and got fussy I dipped a piece of the bread into a little ramekin of ranch dressing. That worked out really well! Pretty soon he was throwing the pieces of bread into the ranch when I wasn't dipping them anymore. I would take each ranch-covered piece out and put them in his mouth. At one point I didn't realize he had thrown a piece in and Brycen put his whole hand in trying to get it out.
  
• When he was able to find his chocolate milk on the table (the bright green straw was hard to hide) he would point to it and talk his little jibberish like he wanted it.
• He was very well behaved and ate a lot of dinner. He ate most of the pasta landing as well as bread and 2/3 of his drink.
• Lately when he doesn't want me to put him down he'll try to wrap his legs around me, making it really hard to put him down. Tonight was no different. He felt much older when he did this and I never realized how much strength he has!
  

Other notes about Brycen (For logging purposes - I won't feel bad if you don't want to read them!):

• He points at everything and starts talking like crazy. When we see people he knows he'll point at them too.
• He stands up in the middle of the room on his own without the help of a wall or chair.
  
• Lately he's been really snuggly. I love it when he's like that. Today we were sitting on the floor in the living room playing with toys while watching a show. He soon crawled up my legs and wrapped his little arms around me, resting his head on me. He would start saying little baby things in his sweet little voice and very softly. It melts my heart when he does that.
• He likes to hug us around the legs. He's been very affectionate lately and while we're holding him he'll give us hugs. He's very sweet.
• He's recently developed a liking for Life cereal and Lucky Charms marshmallows. (Who wouldn't?)
• He has 10 teeth: four on the top in the middle, two on the bottom, and a molar on each side.
• He is a very happy boy and always seems excited about life. He wakes up smiling and has a smile on his face all day long.
  
• We've recently started working with him on the different parts of his face. He's almost got "nose". Most of the time when we say, "Brycen, where's your nose?" he points to his chin, cheek, or mouth. Tonight he pointed at his nose for Amber and Kristine. It was really cute!
• Last night Brycen was playing with a little stuffed puppy named Luke at my parents' house. He eventually set Luke down and left the room. When he came back my mom asked, "Brycen, where's Luke?" and he walked over to Luke and picked him up to give to her. He's getting to be so smart!
  
• He still covers his ears during Peek-a-Boo. He's a little confused on that one still. Sometimes when we ask him where his nose is or where something else is he'll cover his ears. One of these days we'll get it right!
• Today I had an incident with the Stacy Pasley blanket, which has recently taken a turn for the worse because of how much use Brycen has gotten out of it. We've had it in his crib and he lays on it. It has been folded in the corner of our bedroom because we don't have the heart to throw it out and we're trying to figure out if we can save the material. Recently Tyson came in the bedroom to see Brycen snuggled up against it. Today I came in Brycen's room to get him out of bed and he had wet it pretty badly. I had to wash the sheet, his blanket, and the blanket he's been laying on (Grandma Hill blanket). I threw it all in the wash and wanted to get it all washed and dried before I had to put him down for a nap when the piano kids would come. The sheet was finished on time but not the Grandma Hill blanket. So I went for the Stacy Pasley blanket. I put the clean sheet on his bed and then went into my room to get the Stacy Pasley blanket. Brycen followed me in and watched me as I picked up the blanket and carefully folded it so the ripped parts were on the inside. It was a struggle trying to fold it because Brycen kept wanting to snuggle with it. He followed me into his room where I placed it in his bed. He walked up to the crib and grabbed two of the rails, peeking in to look at the blanket. Then he looked at me, started whining a little, then lifted his arms so I could put him in his crib with the blanket. I hadn't gotten him any milk yet for his nap so we left the room. He literally kicked and screamed the whole way into the kitchen. I got his milk ready then brought him in his room. I've never seen him so excited to get into his crib. Needless to say, the Grandma Hill blanket is clean now, yet the Stacy Pasley blanket is still on the bed.
• Brycen loves to clap. When someone starts clapping and saying, "Yay!" he joins right in, super excited about it. So cute!
• Brycen gets compliments all the time when we're in stores, at church, and other public places. Yesterday my friend told him he is "the most beautiful boy ever." In Walmart a couple of days ago a lady came up to him and told him he was very handsome and going to "break some hearts" when he's older. He gets compliments on his eyes a lot.
• We know not to get Brycen out of bed in the mornings when he's crying. If we get him out then, he'll have a bad day. If we wait till he's talking to himself then we know it's safe to get him out. His day starts off right when we wait for him to start talking to himself.
• Brycen is a very sweet little boy and knows when something is wrong. If a kid takes a toy or something from him he'll look at us and not know what to do, except that he knows that someone was just mean to him. He loves to talk to himself while he's playing with his toys.