I’ve been meaning to do a post about Brady for a while. He is in such a fun stage lately…saying things that crack me up constantly. Well, it just so happens that Brady had 2 big milestones last week. Most impressive was that he finally gave up his pacifiers. This was in part due to the second big milestone, sleeping in a big boy bed! As I’ve already mentioned, the big boys got bunk beds and there happened to be a brand new twin mattress set in the corner of their room waiting for Brady’s big boy bed when he was ready (clarification: the mattress were there because Aiden needed it for one night in between the arrival of the mattresses and the actual bunk bed…hard to explain, but they were supposed to be moved into Brady’s room when he was ready…we were just too lazy to put them anywhere appropriate in the interim).

Anyway, every night at bedtime, Brady would say that he wanted to sleep in his “bunt bed” (bunk bed) in Logan and Aiden’s room”. I would tell him that he could only stay there if he slept without his paci. Well, after about 5 nights of trying to sleep there, then going to his crib, then back and forth and so on and so on, I finally decided that I was just going to lay there with him on the mattresses until he fell asleep. It took from 8 until 9:30, but he slept the night through without a pacifier. So…having promised him a big “party” when he was ready to get rid of the paci, I decided one night was enough and we were pulling the trigger! I pumped him up about a party. We happened to be hosting neighborhood playgroup so I told him everyone was coming over to celebrate. I gave him the option of mailing his pacis to baby Nathan (Denay’s new baby boy) or he could tie them to a bunch of balloons and let them fly away. He chose the second. I also let him pick out a new little something at the party store. He picked another stuffed dog, whom he named Sha Sha puppy.

Daddy happened to be in the area on Tuesday so he came home to watch the pacis fly away. Brady broke down several times before the big event…he fluctuated between saying, “I’m a big boy and I don’t need my pacifiers” and “no…I don’t want you to tie those to a bunch of balloons! take them off!” That night, Brian and I set up his real big boy bed IN the same room with Logan and Aiden (a situation requested by all three boys). His 2nd official night without the pacifiers was rough. He woke up in the middle of the night wanting them. When I reminded him that they flew away, you would think I actually told him I killed a puppy. Sobbing, wailing and crying, I rocked him in his room for about 45 minutes. It’s been better and better every night since, but no pacis really means no napping because it’s hard for him to settle down to sleep plus if he naps, he really can’t go to bed easily at night (ie: he was up until 10pm last Friday night!)

Here is the inside of the note we attached to the balloons. The outside said “Paci Fairy”. I felt really bad sort of tossing trash like balloons and used pacifiers into the world, but my good friend Karen thought a note might help clarify and anyone who found the bunch of balloons might toss everything into the trash for me.

I originally bought a small bunch of balloons that wasn’t going to work so daddy brought more home..plus a big lollipop – look how happy he is! That is Sha Sha in his hand. Sha Sha goes everywhere with us now.

Ready for lift-off!

Everyone counted 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and we all watched the balloons fly up into the sky. In case you’re wondering, Logan was being in Spiderman all day long. All the costumes at Walmart were 1/2 off so I bought it for the dress up bin ($6!). After we launched the balloons and after we couldn't see them in the sky anymore, we all went in and had cupcakes.

This post is getting long, but I have actually been jotting down funny Brady stuff lately so I am just going to add it here. Funny stuff Brady does and says:

tater tot = teeter-totter (like at the park)

can’t you = can you

boddin = bottom (as in “can’t you wipe my boddin” when he’s done on the potty)

“my brother called Aiden” when talking to other people about his brother or “my friend called AJ” when talking to me about his friends

Brady constantly says, in a sort of distressed voice, “mom?” then when I say “what Brady” he giggles and says, “I love you”. He tells me this at least 15 times a day, no joke.

Has learned, from Grandpa, how to raise his eyebrows up and down. It’s hysterical! He’ll do it on command when we say “Brady, do eyebrows!”

Argues with me constantly. One day I told him my favorite color is orange and he got all angry and said, “no it not! it pink!!” This is one example of MANY MANY that happen all day long

gallops instead of running, loves goat cheese, smiles with his eyes, can only think of 1 thing he wants for his birthday “another Thomas”…we have like 5 of them!

And finally, a short video of my special time with Brady…when brothers are at school and we’re not napping!