Braden's Sticker Chart

I adore my son to pieces.
He's lovable and so funny!
He's full of joy and so many wonderful things.
But he's also stubborn and doesn't listen well to me, at all.
He's two, so this is normal, but frustrating at the same time.
This age, so far, has been the toughest for me.
Please, don't tell me, "just wait until he's 3" or whatever age because ALL stages can be hard.
In order to get him to listen to me I tried many different things and nothing worked.
Then, I decided to try a sticker chart.

The one on the left is for diaper changing, which I've pretty much given up on.
He's just going to fuss and try to run away from me when I want to change him!
I'll keep on working on it, but stickers for that seem pointless.
The sticker chart that he loves is the one with the cars, of course!
As of right now, this chart is for being nice to his sister!
We we're having some issues in that area...
And after talking to my Bible study ladies, decided that a sticker chart would be a great idea!
When he's nice to his sister, he gets a sticker.
When he gets 5, he gets to watch tv.
This is good for both of us.
Motivation for me be more consistent with him and not have the tv on all the time!
Motivation for him to be have gentle hands with his sister and earn tv time!

He's been super great with his sister this week!
I think it's time to work on something else, possibly on a bigger scale!
Something like, every time he listens to mom, he gets a sticker!
That might take a while, but it would make me so happy! =)

And just a few pictures of the kiddos together this week because they really do love one another!

The child he is becoming

I love watching Braden grow and change.

He is becoming such a great little boy, whose personality is becoming more evident everyday. 

Watching him learn his likes and dislikes brings me great joy.

Actually, I'll be honest and say I like watching him discover his likes more. ;)

His dislikes seems to bring crying, screaming, kicking, hitting, and a lot of head shaking. 

He loves to paint.

The other day he even grabbed my hand and led me to the paints, pointing at them. 

He painted for a good 15 minutes, which I am happy to have him do. 

He is obsessed with flying the remote control helicopter with his daddy.

Somehow a helicopter makes a growling sound, 

instead of a "whoosh, whoosh" sound like an airplane. =)

He also loves anything chocolate and candy canes. He'd eat them all day if we let him. 

He squeals in delight when he is happy and having fun.

It's the best sound even if it quiet LOUD and ear piercing! ;) 

He loves to laugh and it cracks us up when he fake laughs.

It almost sounds kind of evil, but in a cute way. 

He also loves his sister very much.
He loves to say good morning to her. He'll get down to her level, close to her face, to say hello.
When he hugs her, he says, "Awwwww."
She just smiles at him.
I hope he always loves her this way. I hope they are best friends growing up.

He's also learning a lot more words, which we just love.

It's so great to hear him say new words.

He'll likes to show you things and say the words for him.

He'll bring a ball to you, hold it up, look at it and say, "Ball. Ball." 

I love it. I especially love praying with him and hearing him say "Jesus" and "Ammmm" (amen).

All of these things about his personality are showing me some of who he's going to be.

He will be passionate. He will be loving and kind. He will be determined. 

He will be our little comedian. He will be smart. He will be more than we ever imagined. 

He's always been a fun boy, but I'm loving this two year old phase of discovery.
Am I loving all of two? No, but that's for a different blog post! Ha. =)

He turned two

Saturday Braden turned two years old.
I can't believe it, but I know that's what all mothers say every single time they baby grows. =)
It feels like the minute he turned two he grew up that much more!
He's more excited about things and is learning to say more words.
Such a big boy!

We celebrated his birthday Sunday afternoon with a small party in the conference room at our apartment building! I'm thankful it was a place we could go because our apartment just isn't big enough! Soon enough, that will change...hopefully, if we find a bigger place to live at the beginning of January! Anyway onto the pictures! =)



Braden LOVES balloons, so I knew I had to use the balloon avalanche from pinterest.
Its actually really funny how excited he gets about balloons.
He always makes his "Oh" face whenever he sees them. Its so cute.



A cars party because seriously the kid is OBSESSED.
Last year I went all out for his first birthday...
And I would have loved to this year, but with a 3 month old I just couldn't do it.
So, this year it was super simple and I'm okay with that.
Next year he'll be able to tell me more of what he wants!

Braden didn't really understand about having a party when I told him.

Daddy walked him into the room full of people and he just smiled. 

Then, he turned around and walked the other way. I think he was maybe a bit overwhelmed.

"A car hat? For me? Oh!"

Everybody enjoying food made by my grandma and mom!
Thank you! 

A few pictures of opening gifts.
Clearly we were excited about Chuck the truck!

Cars? Oh my goodness! 

Seriously, every single thing he got was cars of some sort. 

He was happy about that! 

This cracks me up! He kept his tush in his car chair and played with his cars on the floor.
Too funny!



The cake... before....



...little hands got ahold of the cars.
I didn't expect this, but I should have!



Completely eating up everyone singing Happy Birthday to him!

Blowing out the candle, like daddy taught him to do the day before! 

It was a fun party for everyone! Happy to celebrate this wonderful boy! Love him so much!