Brady turns 4!!!

I was just looking through pictures and video clips of Brady when he was just a year old - time really does fly!! Brady has gotten to be so big - especially in personality!! Over the past year, he has matured so much and says the funniest things like "That's a good point you made, Daddy" or "I have a different idea that might work a little better, Mommy". I've been so accustomed to making decisions during the day that it's been a big adjustment as Brady brings real logical arguments to me about things and attempts to persuade me differently in areas. Pretty funny!! As I've said in all the yearly updates - the case still remains that Brady LOVES to play!! He and Nathan can play for hours creating imaginitive cities, train towns, car villages, etc... What they come up with sometimes is truly amazing!! He loves to put on puppet shows for us, tell us new jokes, build and create with leggos or other building materials, and LOVES to make treasures!! For the past 4-5 months, if there was a box laying around anywhere, Brady would fill it with random things and say "This is my treasure, wanna see?" He would empty out containers daily and every night we would have to go through his 2-3 treasure boxes and put things back where they go! This is where I originally got the idea for a treasure hunt party for him - he chose "under the sea" and so we combined efforts to create a very fun birthday party!!

HE had so much fun!!! They decorated their treasure boxes, went out on a 6 part treasure hunt collecting treasures from each place, went on a coin dig, had a coin toss, played in an awesome ship that Grammy built and even got to pet (pretend but they felt real!!) octopus, sting ray, sea turtle and starfishes. We then had mini-pizzas for lunch and cake and Hmmm, their treasure boxes went missing - so off to another treasure hunt they went!! They were located in only a place Brady would guess from the riddle so everyone followed him to find their treasures. THen it was pinata time!!! The kids all had a turn hitting it with blindfolds on, then off and then finally Uncle Mike had to give it a good swing for the treats to fall out!!! (one tough pinata!!) Brady was bouncing around SOOO HAPPY all day long and played with everything he got ALL DAY!!! We couldn't even get him to sit still to rest for a while!! He was just too excited!!!

Our little Brady is such a joy and so fun!! He's writing really well now with uppercase and working on writing his lower case letters, can read simple books to me, LOVES math and solving games, and still enjoys twisting, turning and flipping on everything (gymnastics is his favorite!). We've been trying to put our finger on Brady's imagination for the past 2 years and the one word that sums it up is ABSTRACT!!! Everything to him is something else!! He doesn't want to be a purple octopus but a green one with red and yellow eyes, when choosing things from a list he's going to most likely choose the picture that is the most unlike the item yet still be the item, and everything, everything has not just a simple description, but a page worth of adjectives in front and behind it!! :) His art work definatly portrays this too and it's been alot of fun capturing this part of his personality and working with him!!

I'm so thankful too that eventhough he's 4 - he is still my little cuddle bug and loves to give hugs, kisses and cuddle up in my lap to read or rest!! I pray he never outgrows this!! :) I'm sure there are tons more things I can write about all the accomplishments he's made this year, but the most exciting thing for us is to watch his character be molded into such a thoughtful and caring little boy! He never really had the terrible two's or three's but still, he has changed so much between 3 & 4 into being the joyful, creative and sweet-hearted little Brady that he is today and that we love so dearly!! WOW, it's still so weird for me to say he's 4...