My Sweet Little Braeden!!

I just have to write this down for memories, but our Braeden is one amazing little boy. He surprises us how smart he is everyday. Everytime I talk to his Kindergarten teacher, she tells me how smart and what a fast learner he is.

At the beginning of school, Braeden learned the alphabet in sign language, not from his teacher, but from a chart his teacher has hanging on the wall. Now he is always asking me different signs for words. Braeden is very observant with everything. He notices details of things I don't even notice. We have to watch what we say around him because whether we think he isn't listening or not, he is. Pretty soon we won't be able to spell words around him.

She told me the other day that she had each student go to her desk to practice reading. She said Braeden was so bored with it. He told her that it was easy and read all the words. We have a book at our house that when he read it the first time, he had a little trouble with some of the words, but the next time he read it, he knew all the words. He has a photographic memory and remembered how each word was pronounced. I was so proud of him. I know other kids are smart like him, but when it's your own kid, you are so proud and obviously I don't know where he got his brains from. Not from me, Mark says he was smart as a little boy...BUT...no, I'm just kidding, he probably got it from Mark.







Anyway, asisde from being such a smart little guy, he is a sweet brother. He is so kind to Elli and takes such good care of her. I'm glad Elli will have a big brother to protect her in school. I loved having an older brother. Braeden still gives me kisses...although when I drop him off at school, he tries to kiss the closest part of my body to him. He'll kiss my arm, or if I am standing up, he'll kiss my belly. But I tell him he's not aloud to do that and he'll always kiss my lips after that. Braeden and Elli love "Curious George." And "the man in yellow hat" always tells George to be a good little monkey. So every morning I tell Braeden to "Be a good little monkey" and it always makes him laugh.







Braeden has a cute sense of humor. He says things that makes all of us laugh. My favorite is when Elli and him are alone and I hear them laughing together. It just melts my heart. I love how Braeden is a great artist. He is always drawing things and they always turn out looking like what he says it is. He's crafty and wants to make projects with random things around the house. He's very creative and is just like his Grandpa Harper. From very little, he loved being with Grandpa and tried to fix things and figure out how they work. Loves working with tools and will try to fix things around the house.







I also love hearing him sing. Braeden has been singing since he could talk. But when he just turned 3, we had just moved into our house and Mark had completely set up his recording studio. Mark had recorded a few songs of his own and we realized one day that Braeden had memorized his daddy's songs. So we decided to play songs in his room while he fell asleep and he learned those songs and we wanted to see if he would record them. So we are lucky enough to have some really cute songs of Braeden singing when he was 3. We gave CDs to my parents and Mark's parents for Christmas and then we made one when he was 4 for the next Christmas. We have a recording of Elli when she wasn't even 2 yet singing "You are My Sunshine" with Braeden. It is something I love having and worth every penny of getting the recording studio.






I love cuddling with Braeden. He still lets me kiss and hug him. He is a rock when he is sleeping. Ever since he was little, little, Mark and I will go in his room and cuddle with him while he's sleeping. It's my favorite part of the day. He is so adorable while he sleeps. When it's almost time for bed, he loves getting books read to him. Now that he is in school and gets to go to the library, he loves me to read those books to him.

I am so in love with Braeden and I tell him that everyday. He's my little buddy and even though it is nice having him in ALL DAY KINDERGARTEN, I miss him like crazy. Elli misses him too and she gets excited everytime we pick him up. We love you Braeden and am so thankful for all of your cuteness and sweetness!