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Monday, November 5, 2012

Brennan - 3 years old!

**I've been working on this post for FOREVER so it's a bit late.  But better late than never, right?  


Then - 10.16.09

My Brennan is 3.  My teeny, tiny little baby has now been outside of my uterus for 3 years.  He’s a walking, talking, snuggly, feisty, wild, adorable ball of dirt and energy.  And I could not be more in love with him if I tried.  And as I write this he is in the backyard with his pants around his ankles making pee squiggles in the wind.  Boys.

Now - 9.30.12

At the pediatrician last week, Brennan weighed 34 pounds (50th percentile) and was 38.5 inches tall (75th percentile).  He hasn't been over the 40th percentile for his weight or under the 90th percentile for his height since he was born, so it seems like he’s evening out a bit.  While he definitely feels heavier lately, he’s still a tall, skinny kid.  Most 3T pants are too big in the waist, but way too short.  Luckily we live in FL where we don’t have to wear long pants very often.   And thank God for Carter’s brand adjustable waist pants (and the Grammy who buys them for us!).



I’m not even sure where to start with this, as it’s been a long time since I've sat down to write about Brennan.  On one hand it seems like his development has slowed, but on the other hand I sometimes feel like he ages overnight.  He speaks in complete sentences, has great manners (with reminders, but still), and repeats EVERYTHING.  Note to self - cut the term “sweating my balls off” and "Brian, you're a jerk" out of your vocabulary.  His L’s and R’s sound like W’s and he often forgets that the letter N exists.  He says “Mommy, I just love you” and “You’re my best friend” and “Mommy, your eyes are just wonderful” out of the blue.  He’ll tell you he’s 3, but can’t quite get his thumb and pinkie to lay down so he can show you. 


Brennan will tell you that he loves his brothers, but physical fights break out at least hourly.  Nothing major and generally not on purpose.  It’s just going to happen in a house with 3 boys born within 22 months.  But he loves to give his brothers hugs and kisses and say “I love you brother”.  He holds their hands to help them walk, brings them cold teethers before they go to bed, and says “No no brother!” a million times a day.  And of course when they don’t listen to him (which is 95% of the time) he does a great job of telling me that they’re on the train table or eating crayons or stealing his snacks.  I love watching the 3 of them play together.  It gives me warm fuzzies. 


Brennan loves to snuggle, but he is very particular about the specifics.  At naptime and bedtime, after we read books, we got through the process of tucking him in.  He likes very soft fleece blankets and has a few favorite blankets.  He HAS to have the ceiling fan on (like his Daddy) and a fleece blanket touching his face (like his Mommy) in order to sleep.  He requires a "nest" which is just his pillows and his big comforter tucked around him. Fishy blankie on first, then monkey blankie, then the rest fill in. Usually he wants one of the soft ones near his cheeks.  Then he wants to snuggle.  Usually he wants Mommy, but Daddy will sometimes suffice.  And then when I get up to leave he says, "No Mommy, snuggle me 100 minutes!".  It used to be 2 minutes, then 5, then 10, and then it jumped to 100.  He's a smart cookie.  Brennan also seems to find his way into our bed at some point during most nights.  He used to haul all of his blankies and his puppy and his pillow with him, which would wake us up and sometimes (if we were awake enough) cause us to march him back to his own bed.  Lately he has wised up and comes alone or with just a blankie or 2 and sneaks in with us barely noticing (or sometimes not noticing at all).


Speaking of sleep, he's in this very awkward stage right now between needing a nap and not needing a nap.  Some days he's totally fine and can't fall asleep when it's time for "quiet time".  Other days he falls asleep at 1pm and could sleep for 3 hours.  But then of course he won't go to bed until 10pm (or later).  It's a bit tough, but we're working through it and mostly following his cues.  A few weeks ago he was cuddled up on the couch with me while watching the Michigan football game and he fell asleep on me.  This hasn't happened in FOREVER and I loved every.single.second of it.


Brennan loves cars, trucks, planes, and trains.  His birthday party was a Race Car party at his request and he has more Lightening McQueen paraphernalia than should be allowed.  He loves to drive his Power Wheels Camaro that Uncle Cory got him for his 2nd birthday and is SUPER proud of the "MonkeyFace Racing" decal that Uncle Cory brought down for this birthday party to put on the hood of the Camaro.  He knows that Daddy calls him MonkeyFace and loves that the "MonkeyFace racin' " logo is all his.  Any chance Brennan gets, he's racing cars around the house, and he has taught his brothers how to race cars too.  I step on Hot Wheels cars 2302978 times a day, but I've resigned myself to the fact that in a house full of boys, that's just how life is going to be.


He's also a little TV obsessed.  OK, that’s a lie.  He’s a lot TV obsessed.  Sometimes he comes up with scenarios and I have to assume it's something he saw on Disney Junior.  Brennan knows words like "catastrophe!" because he learned them from watching these shows, so I don't feel quite so guilty for sticking him in front of the TV when I was puking my brains out while pregnant or nursing 2 infants or managing whatever kind of chaos happened to be occurring at that moment in time.  A little guilty yes, but I'm getting over it.


Even with the TV watching, the boy loves books too and has memorized plenty to read to us. Last night at dinner Brennan regaled us with tales from "In a People House" and "Ten Apples Up on Top".  He can recite plenty of books almost word for word and will totally call me on it if I try to shorten things up a bit.  He's getting too smart for my trickery.  I love that he has this zest for reading.


Brennan loves the outdoors.  He's a total Florida boy in the sense that he loves the water, can't get enough of the beach, and is obsessed with sunglasses.  But he also talks about snow all the time and is usually confused when we go to Michigan and there's no snow or Grammy's pool isn't open.


While it's a little sad for me to raise our kids so far away from their grandparents, aunts, and uncle, we're blessed to be able to see everyone quite frequently considering the distance.  Brennan gets so excited to Skype with "Grammy Grampy TT" as he calls them, like they're all one person.  But in that household, "Zoe Doggie" is the favorite and the one he gets really really excited to see.  If we tell him we're going to Skype with Grandma, he immediately says "And Grandpa too!".  Can't have one without the other!  We don't get to Skype with Aunt Shell or Aunt Jen & Uncle Brian very often, but he thinks about them.  Just the other day he told me out of the blue that he wanted Aunt Shell and Roo (Michelle & Andrew) to come to his house because he misses them.  He knows that everyone lives in Michigan and can tell you exactly how to get there.  According to him, you get in Mommy's car to drive to the airport, then you take the yellow train (at the Orlando airport), then you get on the airplane and fly high up in the sky.  Then when the airplane lands, you get on the red train at the station (at the Detroit airport), and then you're in Michigan.  I'm tellin' ya, Brennan's a smart cookie.


I just love this kid so much.  Brennan is smart, funny, friendly, wild, crazy, snuggly, and just an all-around good kid.  I consider myself so blessed that God picked me to be his Mommy, that he found his way into my uterus and stayed there safely for 39 and a half weeks, and that we've been able to watch him grow and change over the past 3 years.  What a great ride.  I love you Brennan Bug!



2 comments:

  1. So sweet! (and he looks so much older than 3)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! He has always looked old for his age ... hoping this doesn't lead to trouble some day ;)

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