brooks hayden: two years old.

the sweet little boy who made me a mama is now two years old.  

brooks hayden at two years old...

weight: 31.9 pounds

height: 36 inches

brooks loves:

-cars, trucks, trains, etc.

-horses & other animals

-reading books

-his honey who he calls "mom"

-making remi laugh

-being outside

-going on adventures to any water location

-eating treats

-clifford, elmo, youtube kids

-cuddling

-getting into everything

-doing things himself

brooks hates:

-brushing his teeth

-putting pants on

-coming inside

-whenever he sees us approaching the street that we live on.

-leaving honey's house

-not getting his way

-nursery

-the dr.s office

we wanted to make brooks' birthday a fun day since his party was going to be later in the week.  the night before, we decorated his room with balloons and streamers.  in the past, brooks has generally been an early riser but just recently started sleeping in.  on the morning of his birthday he slept, and slept, and slept. so much so that we went in to wake him up because matt was needing to leave for work.  the first time we tried waking him up, he didn't even flinch.

eventually, he woke up and once he saw all of us and his door, he was so excited.  we got a giant donut for breakfast and decorated it with little animals because i forgot that candles were a thing i probably needed.  lucky for me, brooks was thrilled and didn't even know he was missing out.  we sang happy birthday to him and he was so excited.  he just beamed and looked so proud, until we finished and then he clapped.  he was loving life.

later on in the morning, we went to music and movement at the library and stopped for slushies on the way home.

in the afternoon, we headed to the pool to cool off from the heat.  brooks was loving going down the slide with his cousin oaklee.  he is quite obsessed with her and calls her "oat."

after swimming we headed home for a nice, long nap.

we took some pictures outside while waiting for dad to get home, and then headed to costco for a birthday dinner.  brooks loves costco hotdogs and the fact that he gets his very own beverage just like ours.  

we ended the night at the big park and duck pond in provo hanging out as a family and running wild.  brooks loves anything and everything to do with water and being outside so it was the perfect birthday activity.

i know this is super long, but there are many things i want to remember and write down for journal purposes.

brooks has been a really late talker.  he doesn't say much but he understands almost everything.  he can follow directions, knows many of his letters, colors, numbers, shapes, etc.  he can point out all sorts of objects and identify different things, he just doesn't speak much.  at his two year checkup, i brought this up to his pediatrician.  the doctor said he wasn't too worried and that sometimes boys talk later than normal and it wasn't too concerning, but if i wanted to have kids on the move come out and assess him to see if he qualifies for speech services that was an option.

i decided to do this just to see if there was anything we could do to help him.  he can communicate pretty well in his own way, but i just want to be able to help him verbally communicate.  anyway, someone came out to assess him and i was nervous how he would do because he is not a performer, especially for strangers.  he surprised me though and loved her and all of her toys and gadgets she brought along for the assessment.  first, they checked his receptive communication skills (how and what he understands).  he scored above average on this and even surprised me at how well he was able to listen, follow directions, and point things out.

for communication, he needed to fall in the 7th percentile to qualify for services.  he ended up in the 12th percentile, just out of range.  after speaking with the speech therapist, she told me that with how well he understands that she thought he would be taking in no time if we kept working with him and encouraging him to talk.  if we don't feel like he's improving within the next three months, we could have him assessed again.

it was super interesting going through all of this.  i learned that a child has to hear a word at least 1,000 times before it becomes apart of their vocabulary.  i also learned that a childs vocabulary generally consists of 50 words before a they start stringing words together into phrases and sentences, (with the exception of common phrases like "let's go, all done, no way, etc") 

with that being said, in the last two weeks since brooks was assessed he has started talking quite a bit more.  he will now repeat words and phrases and even started saying things without being prompted.

this little guy loves anything adventurous and would stay outside all day long if we let him. we love him so much and can't believe that he is TWO.  he has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives and he keeps us laughing everyday.

we love you brooks hayden.