Bracken Funnies

Bracken is 18 months old now. Here are some of the funny things he does:

∙ When we read together I always give Bracken a choice between two books. He used to just point to the book he wanted me to read. But lately he's been playing his own version of eenie meenie miney moe. If I hold up the books If you give a Pig a Pancake, and Are you my Mother? he'll point back and forth from one to the other saying, "Pancake, Mother, Pancake, Mother... Pancake!" He gets all excited when he says his final choice, kicks his legs a little and hits the book harder. He repeats this each time I give him another choice of books.

∙ When Bracken sees a piece of paper with words on it he pretends to read it. Or if we walk past a sign on ground level like a "Permit Parking Only" sign he stands in front of it, bends over, and gabbers for a minute while he "reads" it. Today we were playing on-campus and he disappeared behind a flower garden. After a minute I went over to find him and found him bent over a small sign reading it. Silly kid.

∙ Throughout the day, Bracken randomly decides its time to say a prayer. He'll be in the middle of playing in the dirt and all of a sudden he'll fold his arms, bow his head, and start praying, "Daddy, Mommy, Bampa Rob, Mamma, Susu, Shay, Jairus, Trees, Food, Jesus, Amen." and then throw up his hands and continue playing as if nothing happened. He melts my heart.

∙ Whenever we ask Bracken, "Who loves Daddy?!" (or mommy, or grandpa, or doggies, or food) he raises his hand and says in a high voice, "I do!" When Brian is being silly and asks him who loves spankings, Bracken never raises his hand.

∙ Bracken has been getting even more adventurous lately. Jumping off the curb is his new daring trick. He gets up on the curb, balances on the edge, bounces his legs, and begins to count: "two, two, two, jump!" then he just steps off. While I laugh, he claps and cheers for himself as if he has just performed the most daunting feat.

∙ If anyone mentions the word bath, Bracken starts saying and signing "Bath" like a maniac and practically drags me to the bathroom so he can get in the water. If it's in the middle of the day it takes some major distracting to keep him from climbing in the tub and throwing a fit because I don't turn the water on.

∙ Bracken went to nursery for the first time last week. He lasted for thirty minutes, then I heard his screams in the hallway. The teacher said he'd been fine until they tried to put away the toys. I went back to nursery with him so he'd realize it wasn't so bad. During the lesson he ran away and somehow got into the locked toy cupboard. During snack time he tried to eat his little neighbor's treats. I think he's going to love nursery.

∙ In trying to help Bracken become more familiar with what goes on in nursery, we've been singing some common nursery songs. I've discovered he doesn't like the song "When you're happy and you know it clap your hands." Every time I sing it he says, "No Mom, Grumpy." while signing "grumpy" (the sign for grumpy is so funny, he scrunches up his face while scrunching his hand over his nose and mouth). He wants to sing, "When you're grumpy and you know it stomp your feet" instead.