17 months

Braden is so excited about playing in puddles!
His new splash toy----somehow he thinks the flowers are hats. Silly boy!

Braden's Hand-Foot-Mouth pic. Poor baby!

Playing in his Dino pool which he thought looked like a horsey and would say "Neigh" everytime he saw it. :)

Cute boy in the flowers.

It becomes more and more evident that Braden is no longer my "baby", but very much a busy, curious toddler. Every day is a new challenge, but also a new joy.

Physically, Braden can run quite well, even do a lateral shuffle and even able to jump two footed off the floor. He is quite proficient at crawling up the stairs and now will scoot down the stairs forward on his bottom. He weighs roughly 21 pounds and now has well. . lots of teeth. He has his first molars on the top and bottom and most of the teeth in between.

May was a rough month for us health-wise. All three of us were sick most of the month and to finish it out, Braden came down with Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease over Memoral Weekend. That consisted of a fever up to 103, vomited once (while out to dinner at Chick-fil-A of course. . . ) and then came down with an awful blistery rash on this hands and feet, thankfully not much in the mouth and was miserably itchy. So, any attempts at bottle weaning were lost that week, but all is well now, thankfully.

And, I'm happy to say that as of this week, Braden is officially weaned from the bottle! It took us a while, but I made it a gradual process and he took to it quite well.

Regarding his communication, Braden can say so many words now that I almost lose track with how many. Lets see how many I can list:

Mommy, Daddy, puppy, love you (seriously the cutest thing I've ever heard!!) cracker, cookie, Hi, Bye-Bye, nigh-nigh, water, flower, milk (he says as "mo", juice, apple, grape, binky (he says, "mi-mi"), all done, outside, ta-dah! (so cute!), head, toes, truck, movie and one of his newest words----obey! (Hilarious!) and of course animal noises----mooo, neigh, quack-quack, rough-rough, tweet-tweet, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey), bak-bak (chicken). I think that about covers it. He is still doing well with signing. He does say thank you now, but instead of being a hand to the mouth, he does the hand to the ear. I should correct him, but it's so darn cute.

We are into the world of discipline now with words like "obey Mommy" which is obviously where he has picked that up. :) I just finished the book, Sheparding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. Before reading this book, I thought spankings were probably a good idea, but that time outs seemed better depending on what worked for the child. After reading the book and discussing what scripture commands, I have been convicted that spankings are the biblically correct way to discipline. Numerous times God calls parents to use the "rod" to keep your child from death. Proverbs 23: 13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod he will not die. If you strike him with the rod you will save his soul from Sheol. So, trying to follow God's commands were are embarking on disciplining with the "rod" for disobedience to shepard his heart into obeying God by obeying his parents. I believe now that spankings done correctly are a good and Godly thing. Done wrong, borders on child-abuse.

What a blessing Braden is! Everyday I thank God for him. May he grant us mercy with a 2nd child, but even if not, I couldn't ask for more.