Dear Braydon

You are my first born, my little man, my pride and my joy. Every day I marvel at the sweet, cool little person you are becoming. There were days, very early on in your life, when I feared you would be a high maintenance, spoiled little guy. Those first months we had together, you did not want to be put down....like, ever....it was hard, so very hard. I was tired and I thought I would never feel rested again. You did not sleep well unless you were held, and if you were not being held you would usually cry. I also remember many nights when nothing seemed to settle you at all, and I could do nothing but cuddle you while you cried. Thankfully the mantra 'this too shall pass' has held true with you.



You are almost 2.5, and you are an independant, thoughtful, cute little man, who sleeps through the night, who no longer requires some one to stay with him til he falls asleep, eats pretty well, and is generally well behaved. You certainly have your tantrumy moments, but you're two, that comes with the territory. At this exact moment you are actually having a tantrum. Apparently the world is nearing an end because I told you we are not watching WALL-E right now. Ah, as quickly as the tantrum started, it is now over, all is right with the world again and you are playing with your cars.



Right now one of my very favourite things about you is your desire to make people happy. You definitely have a class clown kind of attitude about you. This morning your Grandma Cox stopped by briefly. While she was here you found a cardboard box, placed it on your head, announced it was a 'perfect hat' and then started running in circles around the house while screaming. Grandma asked if you do this a lot. While, nope, you don't, you were just entertaining our company. If any one around you seems sad, you either take their face in your hands and say 'ok mommy?' (0r fill in correct name here). Or else, you demand of them 'come here mommy.' (or fill in correct name here), and give a big hug. Sometimes I make sad faces just to get the hugs:)



You also care very much for animals. You are constantly trying to hug any pets we encounter. And well, let's just say your first try at fishing did not go well. You screeched and demanded your daddy pick you up. You wanted no part of removing fishies from the water. Apparently you like fish quite a lot, because the little rabbit that lives in our backyard has also been named 'fishie'.



You also have many irrational fears, so many that I cannot keep up with what will freak you out any given day. Sometimes bugs cause you great stress. Once you were calling 'stuck mommy' over the monitor and when I came to see what was up you were cornered in your room by an ant. Other times you take great delight in smashing bugs with any tools at your disposal. There are also a few toys that freak you right out. One of your toy trucks makes noise and drives itself when you shake it, you played with it for one day, and now any appearances of said toy make you run from the room shouting 'no, scary, no like it!'.



One thing I could definitely do without though, is being kick-attacked during diaper changes. Surely you have noticed by now I have changed your diaper several times a day, every day of your life. Until you decide you're ready for the potty that won't be changing, so how about you make that part of our life a little easier....



You make every day brighter, and happier. I love you little man!



Love, mommy.