The Boy Who Stole Our Hearts: Part Two

I don’t write a lot about my son, but I wanted to take the chance to record some of my favorite memories of him over the last 15 months. Here is part two:

The boy loves to stand. He was super-strong from the beginning, holding his head up basically from birth and standing (with assistance, of course) a mere weeks after he was born. We joked that he would skip crawling and go straight to walking….which he did. He learned to crawl just before nine months and was walking at 9 ½ months. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen him crawl since he learned to walk. Actually, there was no “learning” to walk…once he took those first steps (which are on YouTube!) he was done crawling and never looked back.

Brady babbles and talks all the time. From his first noises “how-wow!” that sounded more like a little Indian chant to his current constant stream of gibberish, he likes to be heard. Early on, he developed this really high pitched scream that causes you to wonder if your eardrum has been shattered. He got my lungs and he likes to use them. Recently we were at the playplace at the mall, and Brady started screaming with excitement. Other kids complained that it hurt their ears (which it does!!) so we shushed Brady. Pretty soon Joel noticed that after each scream, Brady would shush and bring his finger up to his mouth :) Ironically though, his first actual word was more of a whisper….”Ptty”. For the longest time, “pretty” was his only word and it was a half-whisper. Some newer words are dog, ball, cookie (so cute!!), num-num, yeah, Carter (his cousin), “quack”, and of course mama and dada.

Brady loves spicy and exotic food. We have pictures when I fed him my favorite food, Tabooleh, at eight months old. It’s a Lebanese salad made from tomatoes, parsley, cucumber, peppermint leaves, cracked wheat, lemon juice, and oil. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but he sure loved it! A few months ago I had some Thai leftovers that he kept saying “num num!” to as I ate them. So I got him a glass of milk, gave him a taste, and watched the result. He seemed to like it, then the heat kicked in – he grabbed tongue, then his milk, took a big swig, and I thought “there, that will teach you to eat my food”. His reply? “NUM NUM!” After each bite, he would grab his tongue, take a drink, and reach for my fork saying “NUM NUM, NUM NUM!” This food was incredibly spicy, I kid you not.

One of Brady’s favorite games is the “daddy git-you game”. I hold Brady, Joel runs and ducks behind various pieces of furniture, and Brady squeals. He loves the anticipation of daddy getting him. He also loves the “pooey feet” game, the fuzzy toes song, “chasing” us around the house, little piggies, “crawling fetch” with mommy, finding the Hawkeye and Nike swoosh, throwing a ball, and beeping our noses.

One of the funniest memories with Brady was at my inlaws’ house. Joel’s dad was snoozing in a recliner when he let out a snore. Brady stopped what he was doing, turned around, and “snored” back at him. We all cracked up every time Orlyn let out a snore, because Brady would stop what he was doing, look at Orlyn, snore right back, and go on his merry way. That same snore sound is also used for a lion’s roar, grandma’s frustrated noise, and the washing machine sound….