Bradon turns 3!

Bradon's 3rd birthday was in June and we had a little impromptu birthday party for him with grandmas and grandpas and Patra and Rich.  This little boy loves balloons so he was delighted that morning when I came through the door with a bouquet of balloons for him to bop around the house with.

I made a chocolate cake for him and stuck a Mickey Mouse candle on top.  Very creative, I know.

He was excited that all the fuss was over him.

Bri's parents gave him his own Nerf dart gun and some darts just like his older brothers have.  He was delighted.  Now he doesn't have to feel left out in dart battles.

My parents went in with Brian and I to get him an Extreme Roller Coaster.  With two older brothers we have lots of toys for little boys around the house and I was a little stumped about what to get him.  This is an outdoor toy and our house has the space for it.  Perfect!

Tanner was excited about the gift too, but it did require some patience as it needed to be assembled.

My dad, Bri's dad and Brian all worked together to get it assembled.

Getting closer. . .

Bradon was ready to roll!

Almost finished, hang in there buddy!

And it's ready!  Bradon pushes the car up the ramp to the top.

And he's ready for his ride!  I just love that grin.

It's been a complete success.

Bradon doesn't have a ton of words, but one of the things that he can say is Mickey Mouse.  He loved his Mickey balloon.

Bradon is really a delightful little boy.  He has big, beautiful brown eyes that can just instantly melt your heart.  He is quite the charmer.  He's very good-natured and usually in a good mood.  He's very patient as he gets dragged to things that he doesn't get to participate in all the time.  Bradon adores his older brothers and tries to do everything that they do.  He also can make Anders giggle like no one else can.  He's an expert at navigating on a computer, plays a lot of Wii games really well and enjoys finding cartoons to watch on Netflix (Kipper is his favorite). 

Although he's getting better every day, Bradon doesn't have a big vocabulary. It's obvious that some words are just difficult/impossible for him to say.  We recently took him to the school district to have his speech tested and he tested on the level of a two year old.  He's very bright, so I know there's just something in his brain that's just not allowing him to make the proper connections for speech.  Because of this challenge he qualifies for a special needs preschool that the district offers at a school not too far from our home.  He will attend twice a week from 11:30-1:30 and the school has a couple of speech therapists that will be able to help him.  I was told that kids tend to learn better in group settings as that lights up more areas of their brain as they learn.  The district will send a schoo lbus right to our house to pick him up and bring him home again.  I'm hopeful that Bradon will be amenable to taking the bus once I take him to school a couple of times since I will have Tanner coming home from kindergarten at about the same time.  I hope that this school will really benefit Bradon and that soon we'll be able to communicate more fully with him.  He's such a sharp little fellow and it will be interesting to find out what's going on in that mind of his.  School starts at the end of August for Bradon, so wish him luck!