Yes, back by popular demand... it's another blog update! This one will have to fill you in from October, so it's going to be very long! We'll start with Halloween. Brody went dressed as a tiger and was (of course) too adorable! We went to the storybook forest at Arcadia park.

You were only supposed to take one piece.Hard concept for a 2 year old!

Giving the baby a kiss!

For Thanksgiving we went to Ft. Worth and stayed at my brother's house for a few nights. Brody coudn't sleep there to save his life, so we were kind of walking around in a daze.

This is the bed Brody did not sleep in!

We celebrated Kristy's 40th birthday this year. We partied like it was 1999! :) ...which means we looked like the old dorky people out on the dance floor!

Then, for Christmas we went to see Todd's mom in Florida and stayed on a condo on the beach. That was lots of fun! Brody loved the beach and splashing in the ocean and he loved playing with his cousins. Florida is when Brody decided that he could sleep away from home if he was sleeping with mommy. So, at least we got some sleep that trip! But, when we got back, he didn't want to sleep in his bed anymore and climbed out of his crib. He is now in a toddler bed and we have to lock him in his room every night. Welcome to toddlerhood!

The view from the airplane

Brody thought this was the funniest thing ever!

Actually, he had a lot of big changes when we got home from Florida. He decided he didn't want to wear pants/diaper and within a matter weeks he was potty trained! That was a really rough few weeks though. I thought I was going to go insane having to wrestle him into his clothes/diaper when we would go somewhere and cleaning pee off the carpets. Yuck! After a while, I realized that it wasn't getting dressed he had a problem with, it was wearing the diaper. Once I figured that out, we didn't have our daily wrestling match getting dressed anymore. BUT, he wouldn't wear underwear. So I just let him go commando. Pick your battles, right?! Here's a nice photo I got of that!



Brody is so stong willed that once he sets his mind on something, there's not much you can do. I kept offering the underwear and he kept refusing. then, one day I was at work and came home (it was Valentines actually) and Todd said "Come on Brody, let's get dressed" and Brody walked over, put underwear and pants on like he'd been doing it all along. So the story has a happy ending and now Brody wears underwear like all the other little boys. Yay!

I didn't say WHERE he wore the underwear! :)

And the saddest change after Christmas was that he stopped napping. On one hand it's easier because I don't have to time outings around naps, but I really miss my alone/down time I used to get. But, life goes on!

We celebrated Todd's 39th birthday on New Year's Eve and had a low key evening of dinner and a movie. We were all partied out from Kristy's birthday! :) We had a lot of fun though!

Valentine's was lots of fun too. Todd, Brody and I went to Texas Roadhouse and had some yummy steak and then we went on a double date with Tina and Robbie to Club Rodeo. (Brody stayed home for that one!) We did some two steppin and watched the bull riding. Yee-haw! I don't think I took one picture on Valentines Day!

That brings us up to date, I think. Brody is growing and changing every day it seems! His latest thing is singing a song on command and loves to have an audience to clap for him. He can carry a pretty good tune and can probably sing at least 30 different songs. He knows his numbers up to 20, alphabet, shapes, colors and can recognize symbols like "sesame street" and "fisher price". His favorite tv show is Wonderpets and he's always acting out an episode, singing the song and saving whatever animal is in trouble. He still loves to play with his cars and trains too. And he can almost ride his tricycle now. He can turn the pedals one full turn, but his legs just aren't long enough yet. Todd and I are enjoying raising the smartest, most handsome, perfect son. :) And it's fun getting our date nights too! Thanks mom and Kristy! If I can find one with an opening, Brody is going to start Mother's Day out this summer and continue until pre-school.

Here's a few random pics... Who can forget the time my mom was watching Brody and his pants got wet and he didn't have anymore pants at her house. So she improvised... by putting him in some of her purple leggings. I laughed so hard that I cried!

Here is a video of Brody enjoying gymnastics class.

Where's Brody?

I recently learned that Brody can open the door leading into the garage. This video's kind of dark, but if you look close- you'll see that he went into the garage, opened the door to the explorer, climbed in and closed the door behind him...content as could be to push all the buttons.

Ozzy

We got a new kitty recently and named him Ozzy. Brody loves him, but we are still working on the proper way to hold him. I'll get pictures soon, but in the meantime the video tells it all!

The State Fair

We had fun at the fair this year! We didn't get too many pictures, but the ones of Brody eating his corn are too cute!

Let's play in the car!

Brody's newest thing to do is to play in the front seat of the cars and push all the buttons. Yes, the car is turned off, but some things still work like the hazards and the eject button on the cd player. And the Explorer has a memo button so he loves to push play and hear all of the recordings. He can easily sit in there for 30 minutes or so! Here's some pics..





And here are some pictures I took of Brody while he was napping. So sweet!

Branson

We went back to Branson in August. Brody's favorite part of this trip was definately the kiddie rides. He got so excited to ride one of the rides, that he ran right into the metal pole and chipped his tooth. Luckily, it was just a small chip and you can't notice it too much. It sure did scare me though! We also saw the musical "Noah". It was good, but a little boring for a 2 year old. The weather was really nice and we spent lots of time outside. We're going back in October!




Brody watching the fountain downtown.




This is the ride Brody chipped his tooth on!


Wee!!




Smelling the flowers...

My little dancer

My favorite show of the summer is "So You Think You Can Dance" and I was watching it in front of Brody one day and whenever they would dance, so would he! He's got some moves!! Here are a couple of videos...