No No Brecken!

I don't remember the exact moment when Brecken "went mobile" as it happened fairly quickly once he figured out it was an option for him. Since that moment however, he has gone from scooting, to crawling, to pulling himself up, to standing, to taking little steps. Tomorrow, he'll be driving his first automobile :) Who ever said "they sure do grow up fast" wasn't lying!

Corresponding quite well with him being all over the place is a new inability to sit for pictures. No, I do not like this one little bit. Granted Brecken has probably already posed for more photos in the last 11 months than some people do in a lifetime.... I give him no leniency because of this :) This afternoon I tried to take our monthly "brown chair" photos and here was what he gave me prior to head diving into the ground. The tears and red noggin ended the photo taking on my part :( (Notice the shadow as I'm clicking AND starting to move forward to try and catch him when it was evident that he would NOT stay on the chair!)

Brecken had his first Pizza Hut breadstick Monday night.... He is VERY into Mommy and Daddy's "big pieces" of food lately, so we sometimes let him take a bite of ours while we hold it. As he took a bite this time, he grabbed the whole bread stick with great force and ended up EATING THE ENTIRE THING!!!!

Here's how it went...

There is NO way he'll be able to eat much of this after eating his entire meal already... We'll just take a few quick photos...

He seems to be enjoying this!

Look at the strength in his eyes as he takes big boy bites with his chompers!

This is the point where Eric and I looked at each other and said, "Hmmmm, he really is eating a lot of this?!"

Almost gone.... To which we felt like, out of principle alone, we needed to see if he could actually finish it.

Savoring the last bite...

Put a fork in him, he's DONE!

Brecken's new favorite toy: Our washer :) Do child labor laws prohibit us having him do his own laundry if he thinks it is fun?!?!

Brecken is starting to really understand words. He knows "jump" (the word causes immediate body thrusting up and down).... "Yay!" (big smiles and lots of clapping ensues)... "Yes" (When hearing the word YES, Brecken starts shaking his head up and down and actually SAYS with words "Yuh" (obviously just trying to repeat what we're saying, not that he is TALKING)... When we ask him "What does a fishie say?" he opens his mouth up and shuts it like a fish blowing bubbles... "Chew chew" (he does a dramatic interpretation of a person chewing which is quite funny)... Lastly, and most importantly for us, he is WELL AWARE of the meaning behind the word NO. Below is exactly how it goes down upon hearing this magic little word with such sad, sad feelings behind it....

Happy little Brecken, so pleased with himself for finding a new puzzle.... The day couldn't be better!

Brecken puts a puzzle piece in his mouth, because, well, that is what he does with EVERYTHING....

Mommy immediately says, "No No Brecken" because chewing on puzzles is NOT allowed... Oh, the "No" word is so sad :(

So sad indeed.... But maybe Mommy didn't really MEAN to say NO??

This is the face that comes after the wrinkled-nose-bottom-lip-coming-out-red-face-of-irritability-tears-could-start-at-any-moment-face and before he goes back to trying whatever elicited the NO in the first place, in hopes of getting a different response from the adult in the room :)

I must say, he does pretty good with the word NO so far, and usually doesn't "test us" more than 2 times. In fact, after hearing NO NO twice today regarding a computer chord, he crawled away, then circled back around and got near the computer once again.... Then looked at the chord, looked at me, and promptly started crying in anticipation of what he knew I would say. It made me happy!!