Grady at 2 1/2

At two and a half, Grady is a fun and sweet little boy. 

 

He loves to play.  Grady loves to play tractors, planes, cars, trains, Play-Doh and anything Layla is playing.  The two have hit a nice groove playing together lately.  After school they typically play house, school, vacation or library together.  They still have their battles at times, but for the most part (knock on wood) they are becoming good play buddies.

 

I really do miss the baby and toddler stage with Grady, but I am thankful that his frenetic stage has slowed a bit.  Don't get me wrong, Grady is a very busy little boy.  But now we can go to the library without all the books coming off the shelves, he is beginning to understand the real dangers of parking lots and streets and Ryan even lets him walk in stores with no cart.  My parents even gave him his own mini shopping cart at the grocery store.  I am not so brave yet!

 

With Layla starting kindergarten, Grady and I have lots of one-on-one time together now.  We have really enjoyed it.  It took some adjusting for both of us in the beginning because the house was so quiet with only one child at home and our schedule wasn't booked with preschool, but we have fallen into a nice routine together.  I feel really lucky to have this time with Grady.  We do miss Layla during the days though and we are so excited to have her home for a nice LONG Thanksgiving Break.     

Grady continues to have weekly speech therapy and steadily is growing in this area.  Grady still has not had a huge language burst, but he is consistently adding words and phrases to his vocabulary.  Words do not come out easily for Grady, but he is so proud of himself when a new word comes.  We are really proud of him too.  Grady loves his therapist and speech time.  Honestly, therapy looks like playtime.  While the three of us play together, his therapist listens for new sounds and words and then encourages sounds and words that she hears.  We are currently working on Grady's name.  I cannot wait to hear him say his own name! 

Grady is a music lover.  He loves to listen to music, play instruments, dance and put all of daddy's guitar picks inside his guitar.  We took a music class this fall and attended the library music class for the month of November.  Ask him to do his booty shake next time you are with us :)  It is very funny.

 

Grady's current favorite show is Bubble Guppies.  He loves his t.v. but he is very picky with what shows he watches.  We watched a movie last night as a family and Grady was not so interested so he did pacifier tricks during a lot of the movie.  (Yes, Grady still has a pacifier while he sleeps and during movie nights!  Layla had her pacifier for a really long time too.  I have memories of my pacifier...so they come by it honestly!)

 

Grady loves his potty jokes, but has no interest in potty training.  Layla taught us that there is no rushing the potty training.  I will give it a try a bit before three, but we will not push it unless we are getting close to preschool starting.   Grady is still in cloth diapers most of the time.  He just gets one disposable at night time.  We put a cloth diaper on him to sleep a couple nights ago and it just does not agree with his skin to be in the same cloth diaper for an extended period of time.   

 

So Grady's first six months of two have gone well.  He has a meltdown here and there, clenches his fists from time to time and wants his own way a lot (mostly regarding fruit snacks and sippy cups and high chairs) but for the most part Grady is a good and happy little boy.  We hope as the year moves on that Grady continues to grow in height and also in conversation, but we also sincerely hope that his crazy little personality keeps on shining as we march toward the threes. 

Photo by my friend Stephanie (and many others were taken by her in this post)
If you are interested in photos, I have two good friends who take beautiful photos. 
Contact me if you are interested and I will get you their information!!