A month of memories: Part One

I wanted to do something special to capture what my almost two years olds are like.  To commemorate this age, I thought I would write at least one memory a day so I can hold on to it forever!

Nov 15th: Today Brody woke up and hour before Brady.  He and I spent our (rare) alone time unloading the dishwasher (he is very helpful) and playing with leggos.  When we heard Brady awake, Brody smiled and yelled "D, D, D" and ran down the hall to get his brother.  Brady popped up happily, asked to be lifted out of his crib, and squirmed out of my arms as fast a possible so he could follow his brother down the hall the play leggos.  The joy that they have for each other is amazing.
Latter in the day, Brody  again woke up earlier than Brady from his nap.  I made Brody a sandwich and placed him on my bed to eat while I put some clothes away.  Brody was set up with his sandwich, a drink and a book to read as we chatted and he watched me fold clothes.  After a few minutes this exchange took place.
Brody: "Mommy".
Me: "Yes buddy"
Brody:"Tank You."
Me: "You're so welcome buddy"
Brody:  "Mama?"
Me: "Yes bud".
Brody:   "Happy."

Me too buddy, me too.

Nov 16th: So many funny memories from today!  We were at the park and both boys wanted to ride the "big boy" swings.  I told them they could swing by putting their bellies on the seat and letting their legs dangle (one way that they could both ride at the same time without me having to spot them one at a time).  Instead of doing what I envisioned they would do based on my instructions, both boys lifted their shirts so their bellies were exposed and tried to literally place their naked bellies onto the seat.  Hysterical.  Latter when it was time to brush their teeth (a task that the boys love now that they can stand of a stool and control the water) I asked Brady if he had brushed his front teeth.  He proceed to show me how he brushes his front teeth.  Then I asked if he brushed his back (failing to say teeth).  Quick as can be, he pulled his brush out of his mouth and started to brush is back.  I can't make this stuff up; today was like living in an Amelia Bedelia book.

Nov 17th: Best incidents: Brody kept taking his shirt off in IKEA.  I would look away at some merchandise and when I looked back at Brody, he had his shirt completely off sitting peacefully in an IKEA push cart.  He did it about 10 times.  I could hardly stop him; distracting him was the best I could do.
Brady came running down the hall yelling "green" about 50 times.  He was holding a green lego and clearly something inside of him clicked and he needed to tell me that he knew that one was green.  Good boy!
Worst incident: We had out first trip to the ER tonight.  Brody fell and his is face on a wooden stool.  He seemed to be in tremendous pain so we took him in.  Luckily, it seems to be nothing, just soreness (maybe a torn upper frenulum) but nothing seems to be obviously wrong.  His mouth is swollen today and is having trouble drinking out of cups and eating because his mouth is sore. Poor guy!

Nov 18th:Not only can Brody take off his own shirt, he can also take off his brothers. Today while in the BOB, Brody grabbed Brady's sleeve and yanked until Brady was out of his shirt.  Teamwork.

Nov 19th: Today the boys were chasing the cat around the house yelling "Ride! Ride! Ride!"  I can't imagine what our 10 lb cat thinks of this!

Nov 20th:  When we are out shopping and someone says 'hi', instead of staying 'hi' back, Brody will introduce me or his brother.  He will look at me and put his arm on me and say "Mom" or point to Brady and say "D".  I love that he appears to be very polite when in actual fact I think he is making sure everyone is accounted for.
Today Brady was feeling a little wild.  He spent a solid 10 minutes yelling "RUN, RUN, RUN" while running up and down the hall.  He also enjoyed vocalizing "up" and "down" when we climbed on and off the chair.  I was probably egging him on too much because I liked that he was using his words to describe what he was doing!
While I was making dinner, Brody picked up the stalks of kale I was cutting and started eating them.  Who is this kid?!

Nov 21st: It's hard to choose today's memory so I will write them all.
-First thing this morning, I gave Brady a taste of some sausage.  He put it in his mouth, made a disgusted face, spit it out and immediately yelled "Rocco, Rocco" so dog-boy could come and eat his discarded food.  Not only was this hysterical, but  I love when he says the dogs name because it sounds like "Raw-ro, Raw-ro".
-Brody figured out that he can pull the doorknob safety locks off by sticking his little fingers in the outer most hole and pulling.  A genius and annoying move all rolled into one.
-Tonight at bed time the boys wanted nothing more than to be in the same bed while jumping up and down.  Each time we would take one out the other one would cry.  They were best buddies today.
-Now when we go into the kitchen first thing in the morning, they boys know I am going to make coffee. Now they yell "Coffee, coffee" when they see me making it, except off their tongues it sounds like "Kopi, Kopi".  I love this word each and every way it rolls off the tongue.
-Today we did some "crafts".  I am not very crafty but a long nap (for the boys) and a trip to the gym (for me) made me ambitious.  The boys did pretty well and I think I may have one lefty and one righty.  Time will tell!

Nov 22nd:  Today at the park the boys stole some boys tricycle.  They took turns riding it around and then tried to ride on it together.  It was so adorable that a little crowd of people gathered to watch them play.

Nov 23rd:  Today we spent the day in Santa Cruz at the beach with Cousin Megan and Aunt Ellen.  It was great.  There were seals jumping feet from us and about 1000000 sea birds.  It was absolutely beautiful.  This trip was pretty impromptu so we did not have any sand toys with us.  The boys ended up playing in the sand for an hour with just a paper coffee cup each.  They are so much fun!

Nov 24th:  Today, without hesitation, Brody climbed out of his bed while Chris was changing Brady.  Brody has done this sporadically for the last few weeks but today you could tell he meant business.  Then at nap time, he climbed out 5 or 6 times.  It is clearly time for toddler beds!

Nov 25th:  What a day.  Not everyday is a gem ;)  Brody was INCREDIBLY clingy today.  He would not take a nap and would not go to bed.  Boy I hope this is just a short phase!

Nov 26th:  I love when the boys bust out words that I had no idea that they knew.  Things that surprised me today are 'uno', 'penguin' and 'mole'.   Also, the boys are getting really good at climbing.  I can tell I am a lot less nervous at the playground and I feel like they are much more sturdy and able to get up most small obstacles.

Nov 27th:  Today when Brody woke up I asked him for a kiss and he pulled away from me and said "mine, mine".  Then when Brady got up I asked him for a kiss and he said "No".  I can feel the twos coming.   On the plus side, the interaction between the boys and the dogs has been so much better the last few months.  Case in point: today Brady decided to use Rocco as a chair and he did not even mind.

Nov 28th:  Thanksgiving Day.  So much to be thankful for.  These two little boys are absolutely amazing.  I taught them how to say "Gobble Gobble" and they did so when they saw the turkey.  The boys had a great time at Kathy and Sam's house.  They especially loved jumping on the trampoline.  I wish I could say they loved dinner but they were really too tired to eat much of anything.  After a long day, Brody declared it was time to go home by waving and saying "Bye Bye" before we were actually ready to go.  They are funny little turkeys.

Nov 29th:  "Mine" is becoming a favorite word around here. Both boys like to hold toys close to their chest and say "mine" or "no" if they know they are not supposed to have the object they are holding.  Brady has been so good at using the potty.  He tells us when he has to go and even though I sometimes think he is just wasting time on the potty, he always ends up peeing and proving me wrong.  It has been harder to get Body to use the potty and so I have backed off on pressuring him to sit and just let him sit if he wants to.  The other day he walked right up tot he potty and peed into it, standing up!  Today he did the same thing.  He just did it himself, without any prompting.  I love that he did it standing too.  I guess he told us how things were going to go!

Nov 30th:  Today we cut down our Christmas tree.  I loved watching the boys traipse through the pines saying things like "tree, hill, cut, dirt".  They loved picking out trees together.  Every time one would trip in the dirt/pine needles, the other one would help him up.  Adorable.