Brennan-17months

Age: 17 months

Brennan has concurred opening doors this month. Most of the doors in our home were child-proofed when we moved in (you have to lift the handle up, instead of down.) Brennan has figured out which ones are not child-proof, and he spends a lot of time on his tippy-toes, opening them, This includes our front door! 

One of Brennan's favorite things to do this month is dance. He knows which toys play music, and where the button for our surround sound is. He'll start the music and dance in a circle. Earlier this month, Carrie Underwood was preforming on the Today Show and I saw Brennan dancing circles all over the living room.

It's very obvious when Brennan is ready for a nap. He hasn't paid too much attention to our Christmas tree, but when he's tired he'll repeatedly pull ornaments off of it and throw tantrums when you take the ornament away from him. It's not a coincidence that this only happens around 11AM and 3PM. 

Brennan met Santa for the first time this month. He hated him. We figured he would be stone-faced or have a pouty lip, but we never predicted he'd cry like he did. We met him at brunch with Santa at the Florian Park. After Brennan sat on his lap, Santa tried sitting with us at brunch, and Brennan lost it again. He didn't want that guy within eyesight. 

Outtakes:

Brennan-16 months

Age: 16 months

Weight: 24lbs 15oz (75th percentile)

Height: 32" (56th percentile)

Head: 49cm (94th percentile)

Brennan's favorite things to do now, are throwing things down the stairs and playing fetch with Xander. Brennan loves watching an object roll down the stairs. I'm sure he feels that the bigger the thing, the more interesting it is to watch it go. Brennan plays fetch with Xander all day long, and Xander LOVES it! Xander's not good with bringing the ball back to the thrower, but that's more fun for Brennan to go retrieve it from Xander. Brennan would play fetch with Xander for hours, but Xander's limit is usually 15 minutes at a time. They do this at least 5 times a day.

Brennan throws little fits when he doesn't get his way. He'll walk away and then drop to all fours and put his head on the floor. It's pretty much the cutest tantrum ever!

Outtakes:

Brennan-15 months

Age: 15 months

Brennan is officially walking! It took him about one week to perfect his balance, and now he walks 90% of the time. With walking, he now has freedom to carry things easier as he's getting around. For example, we're finding measuring cups in shoes and his toy hammer in a kitchen drawer. It's getting interesting; it's like little unexpected surprises that bring a smile to our faces.
Brennan has continued to be so happy. He wakes up laughing and doesn't stop during the day. He's such a sweet little boy. He will take a quick 2 second break from playing, to lean over and give me a kiss. He also just started hugging this month. It's seriously the best feeling in the world to have his little hands grasp so tightly around my neck.
We've noticed that Brennan understands us more and more every day. He lifts his hands in the air when we ask, "How big are you?" and he'll go get the toys that we tell him to.
Brennan's least favorite things remain the same, diaper changes and getting dressed.

Outtakes:

"so big"

Brennan-14 months

Age: 14 months

Weight: 23lbs 5oz

This month Brennan has perfected waving and pointing. He loves to wave at Xander every time he sees him. He is gasping in shock and pointing ALL OF THE TIME. He's so funny, he'll gasp and then point at a photo, a window, or nothing at all. I think this is my fault, because now I notice that I'm gasping when I talk to him, trying to get him excited. It's pretty darn cute, though.
Brennan has 12 teeth!!! He doesn't put up too much of a fight when I brush them every morning and every night. A little positive reinforcement goes a long way. Usually when I say, "You're doing such a good job!" he'll whine a little less :)
Brennan is running with his walker. He takes off so fast that I get nervous, but he's never wiped out. He's an expert at turning and picking it up to go over things. He really enjoys pushing anything he can. Some of his favorite things to push lately are the dining room chairs and the coffee table.

Outtakes:

Brennan-13 months

Brennan stood up with no hands right after his first birthday. If we try to get him to take some unassisted steps, he laughs and sits down. Oh well, he can take his time :) He also got his first two molars! He has a total of 10 teeth now! 

Brennan has become a little tornado. He makes messes everywhere he goes. Some of his favorite places are the kitchen cabinets and drawers, Xander's toy jar and water dish, and the stairs. When Brennan goes onto the stairs, fifty percent of the time, he'll go up two stairs, and then wait for one of us to see him. Once we make eye contact, he is beside himself with excitement! His whole body shakes, and he screeches. He loves to be chased! 

Grandma Barb got Brennan to really drink from a straw. GG Fran taught Brennan a couple months ago, but he didn't get the hang of it until recently. This is wonderful during meals. Speaking of meals, Brennan is packing away that food somewhere. He loves everything we've given him, except vegetables. He refuses to eat broccoli and carrots, unless they are pureed with some fruit for sweetness.

a typical breakfast

Brennan also went on his first vacation! We went to the Dominican Republic with my family to celebrate my mom and dad's milestone birthdays. This also meant Brennan's first flight. He did pretty good, considering we woke him up at 3:30am and he didn't nap at all. 

Going on a relaxing vacation with a toddler, isn't so relaxing :) We still had a wonderful time!

Brennan's first time in the ocean

Brennan's first time in a pool

 I'm proud to say Brennan didn't get a sunburn, or even a sun tan!

Outtakes: 

Brennan- one year old

We greeted our ONE YEAR OLD the morning of his birthday with balloons, as we sang "Happy Birthday!" He was confused, but loved playing with the balloons. Brennan had his one year photos that afternoon, where he tried his first helping of cake! He loved it!

We held his birthday party at our house the following Saturday. It was such a wonderful day! We had a great group of friends and family that helped us celebrate. Brennan was a bit shy with the crowd, but he did pretty good.

He loved playing with all of his new toys, as we opened them!

 We played badminton, ladder-golf, and bean bag toss.

 We waited a little too long to do the cake, and Brennan was so ready for his nap. He didn't want anything to do with his cake.

We decorated the house in blue and green.

Year in Review

Brennan has gained 13 lbs and grew 9" over the year.
He has 7 teeth. He didn't have any teething troubles. We didn't even know he was teething, until I peeked in his mouth.
He can crawl, pull himself up, and walk along furniture. He is also really great at going up stairs.
Brennan is on a perfect schedule. He wakes up at 7:30am, naps at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, and goes to bed at 8:30pm EVERYDAY. We attribute his happiness to this schedule. He doesn't cry or fight going into his crib. We feel VERY fortunate to have such an easy going infant.
He is still nursing, eating pureed food, and trying some finger foods.
Brennan hasn't experienced any separation anxiety. He loves to people watch and just take everything in.
He hasn't been sick once, yet! He's so healthy and happy!
Brennan has had three haircuts (in our kitchen) since he was born. He sits pretty well and I've been able to do them by myself so far.
Brennan's love for Xander is suddenly becoming apparent. Brennan loves to give Xander his toys. He'll crawl up to the couch that Xander's laying on, and pulls himself up to pet him and laugh at him. Xander is the only dog that Brennan likes, though. He gets very nervous and scared around other dogs.
Brennan "talks" and babbles a ton. We don't think he associates any words with what they are yet. He'll say "momma" and "dada", but not to us. One of his favorite words is "yeah." It's so cute, he'll say "YEAH!" at just the right moment. The other day he was eating toast and peanut butter and he looked a little distressed. I asked, "Are you ok?" and he looked and me and says, "Yeah" as he nodded his head.
Brennan prefers soft noises and subtle movements over loud noises and aggressive movements. He is much more likely to laugh at you whispering to him, rather than you making loud noises. He thinks a little eye squint is hilarious verses an exaggerated silly face. He pays attention to little details.

Brennan does not like when his food is gone. He would eat and eat... and eat if we let him. A typical breakfast for him is 4oz of breast milk, a whole apple, a whole banana, and ground oatmeal. No matter how much he eats, he whines when you rinse out his bowl. Ryan says Brennan eats more than him, and he really does at some meals! He also doesn't like having his face wiped. Sometimes you can trick him into thinking it's a game, and he'll giggle. He usually hates being put into his car seat. Once we start driving, he's fine though. He's just starting to get upset when you tell him no (although we try to avoid saying "no" as much as possible.) He really dislikes diaper changes now, too! He will wiggle and whine the entire time. All that he wants to do is flip onto his stomach and crawl away.

Brennan has brought us so much laughter and joy this year! We can't express how lucky we feel to have such a happy, beautiful son.

Brennan-12 months

Age: 12 months

Weight: 21 lbs (50th percentile!!!) He's come a long way, since not even being on the charts at 3 months old!

Length: 30" (50th percentile)

Head: 47 cm (85th percentile)

Brennan not only started pulling himself up onto his feet this month, he also started walking along furniture. He's so strong and so fast. He can climb all the way up the stairs and is usually up three or four stairs before we can run to be behind him.
Brennan is just starting to get a little attitude. If you close a cabinet that he is playing in, or take away something that he's holding, he'll whine and kick his feet for about 3 seconds, then gets over it.
He is very generous with our dog, Xander. He absolutely loves picking up Xander's toys and pushing holding them into Xander's mouth. Xander has warmed up to Brennan so much more this last month. He'll actually take the toy that Brennan is offering him. That's about as friendly as he's willing to get so far, though.
Brennan loves to hear his own voice. Sometimes he is so intense when he talks, it just cracks us up.

Outtakes: