We started our Father's day with our favorite Farmers' Market breakfast and a trip to the park. We came home for naps (we all napped in solidarity today!) and then took the balance bikes out for a trip to our local park. Chris and the boys sported their Father's Day memorabilia- T-shirts that say "Beast Mode". I bought these shirts especially for my rambunctious boys who are often spurred on by their Dad. On more than of occasion I have had to say to Chris "please stop jumping off the furniture, you are teaching the boys bad behaviors". No sooner than these words are out of my mouth, they boys are climbing onto the furniture and jumping off. Brody likes to yell "superman" when he jumps off things. Brady likes to yell "I superhero!"
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Once we got to the park, total Beast Mode commenced. The park is always extra fun when Dad is there. We played until the sun set and had a great time celebrating what a great Dad Chris really is.
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Brady:
Brady is my total and complete chatter box! This boy does not stop talking. He talks and talk and talks and I love every word that comes out of his mouth. He forms complex sentences and his ability to articulate his thoughts seems to improve every single week. He LOVES to laugh and to be tickled and his laugh is incredibly contagious. He loves puzzles and is happiest when he has my undivided attention and the two of us are woking on a puzzle. He also like to draw and build with blocks.
Brady is a bit shy and more likely to assess a new situation for a few minutes before jumping in and participating. However, once he gains confidence, he is incredibly passionate and vocal. A great example of this is from our Mommy and Me Spanish class. There is a lot of participation in this class where the kids are given chances to come to the front of the room and repeat Spanish phrases. Brady has declined most of these opportunities and instead sits next to me and takes it all in. After the third class, I overheard him counting in Spanish at home. I was so impressed that he had retained this much information after so little exposure. During the next several days we counted in Spanish at home and when it came time to count out loud in class, he walked right up to the front of the room and waited for his turn to count out loud (he actually walked up while another kid was counting because he was so anxious to show off his skills. He could not even wait to be called on!). The incredible pride I felt for him at that moment can not be throughly described.
Brady likes to show you that he knows what is going on by helping out with bits of knowledge from time to time. For example, after about two weeks of Brody referring to his own knee as his ankle, Brady finally decided he had enough of this misnomer and piped up with a forceful statement "No D, ankle down here" and pointed to Brody's ankle. After that, Brody never misspoke again! He also does funny, sly things like moving toys to where they are supposed to go. We have these step stools that spell out the boys' names in different color letters. One stool has all the letters filled in and lives in the hall bathroom but the other stool (that lives in the lesser used bathroom) does not have any of the letters filled in. One day when Brady was going through a toy bin, he found a Y that belonged in the stool. He showed it to me, told me it was a Y and indicated that he knew it should go in the stool. I really did not pay it much mind- but a day latter, I as in the back bathroom and I looked down and noticed that he had put the Y in the appropriate space! I love those little moments where you catch yourself realizing the capabilities of your children. It kind of makes you want to go in their room and wake them up just to give them a hug (kind of).
Being intelligent does not make Brady immune to awesome toddler bloopers. Statements like "I runned away" followed by a flailing toddler running in the opposite direction and are typical of Brady. Once when I asked him if he can count backwards he started counting from 1 to 10 while walking backwards instead of counting down from 10 to 1. He calls Brody "D bones" for no reason that I can understand. He says things like "D bones, over here" and "That's right, D-bones". You can't make this stuff up! He is OBSESSED with the Three Little Pigs story and loves to be The Big Bad Wolf and blow everything down. When I try to blow him down he says "No Mommy, I brick". Brady is always thinking!
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Brody:
How can I adequately explain Brody at this age? He is constant energy with no fear of anything! Brody has exceptional strength and coordination. He can jump over objects with ease, lift heavy loads, sprint with great speed, jump off ledges of any height, kick and catch almost any ball that you toss to him, and ride both a balance bike and a tricycle with almost no effort. He is incredibly physical, always moving, loves to "exercise" by copying exercises he has seen. A few months ago, we bought the boys T-ball sets and within minutes Brody was whacking the ball off the T with incredible precision. Using the Tee lasted about three days and then started tossing the ball up in the air, to himself, and hitting it with the bat. Soon after that, Chris and I were pitching the ball to Brody and he was hitting it with [relative] ease. He throws with great power and mimics all the baseball moves that he has seen (the wind up, the pitch, the catch). He even pretends to run the bases in the back yard, and when he is done, he hands you something imaginary. Chris and I are not sure he is handing us, but he must think that you get delivered something when you have rounded home.
Brody also says some really funny things. For example, whenever he falls (which is often because he is always climbing on something he should not be) he yells "Superman". I have no idea where he got this, but it reminds me of the scene in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant is trying to climb the fence with Julia Roberts and he slips and yells "Oopsy Daisy". She mocks him and laughs out loud (in the way that only Julia Roberts can) and that is how I feel when Brody yells "Superman". When he is facedown on the pavement, I try not to laugh, but I always think how ironic this is because Superman would never be in this position; being Superman, he would never be face down like Brody is at that moment! It kills me every time. Another very funny Brody saying happened after I let him run around the house naked. I kind of forgot that he had no pants on (something no mother of twins should ever do really) and I exited the living room to go into the bathroom and take care of my own business. In the mean time, Brody had to use the potty and he used his own little potty all by himself! When he was finished, he brought his toilet with pee into the bathroom and handed it to me. I was so excited that he had done his business without any prompting from me that I said "Brody, you're a GENIUS!". He loved getting so much praise and beamed from ear to ear. When I finished going potty, I stood and Brody looked in the toilet, looked at me, and said "Mommy, you GENIUS too!". I too beamed from ear to ear.
Brody is also very sensitive and concerned for others. He does not like when he sees other kids get hurt in the park and always asks if they are ok. He is very concerned when others are sad and shows great compassion for his brother and family. He is also a total ham. In Spanish class, he loves to be in front of the room speaking Spanish. He loves it so much that he even asks for a turn when other kids are already talking! Once he is done speaking, he turns around, flashes me a huge smile, and gives me a big two handed thumbs up. Then he runs- full speed- back to me and jumps into my arms. Add to this that he of often wearing his rain boots (because he insists on it and I believe in choosing battles worth fighting), it is fair to say that most moms melt on the spot when they see him!
Brody has some catch phrases that I am sure I will never be able to remember just how he says them, but I will try. He likes to say "What's da loud noise" when he hears something loud and "See DAT" when he see something exciting. He says "where go" when he loses something (typically a ball) and he is the first to throw his hand up and "I don't know" when you ask him something seemingly obvious.
The dynamic duo:
These guys are amazing buddies. They play together and love each other. They cause trouble just as you would expect them to do. One day at nap time, I heard a lot of ruckus coming from their bedroom. When I opened their bedroom door, I found Brady and Brody- naked from the waist down- each sitting on their portable potties that they had dragged on top of Brady's bed. Brody was coaxing Brady to go pee, and upon seeing me in the doorway, Brody immediately held up his urine filled pot for me to behold. The scene was so funny that I immediately called Chris into the room (after I grabbed the potty of course). This was one time I was happy that I was not home alone because I got to share the hilarity that goes on each day!
It is so fun to realize how different these boys are. As a mother of multiples, you worry about treating and parenting your kids in a way that caters to their individual personalities, especially since they hit every milestone at the same time. At this age, it is so clear how different their personalities are that I hardly worry about that. Their uniqueness forces us to parent them individually. They are so perfectly different and yet still so unbelievably close. These boys are the best and fill my heart with joy everyday!
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