Big Brother Grady

Grady turned 3 1/2 yesterday, so I thought it would be a good time to do an update about him. Of course, the biggest thing going on for him right now is adjusting to his role as big brother. In that regard, he is doing amazingly well, as I am sure you can tell from the pictures in the last post! He just loves his little brother like crazy, wants to spend as much time as possible with him, and constantly tells us how cute he is and how much he loves him. One of my favorite comments was a couple of days ago when he told me "Mama, our baby is really special." He is just so proud to be a big brother, and I know he will continue to do great.

Grady also recently finished his first year of preschool. It was such a success, and he is definitely sad for it to be done for the summer. He has already been asking when we can have all of his classmates over to play. Luckily he will have the same teacher next year and have many of the same classmates. At the end of the year teacher conferences his teacher told me that he met all of the goals they have for the school year. And she said he especially excelled in his social skills - like showing empathy for other children, sharing, and being kind. Unfortunately the last day of school for Grady was the day of my induction, so I had to miss out on the fun. But Nana was able to bring him and to stay with him for his special water fun day. She took lots of pictures for me too! He also had an end of the year pizza picnic the next day, which was nice since I was still in the hospital. Nana also brought him to see the new Shrek movie in 3D our first day home from the hospital!

Lately Grady has also been loving the pool. He is doing great with his swimming and is swimming underwater lots now! He loves his goggles and will actually swim for real a bit if I shoot him underwater. I can actually see him lose the momentum from me and start swimming! It's amazing to see such a little guy do that! He has also been getting dive sticks off the bottom stair of the pool. Our pool had to close the past couple days, so we have been playing in our small inflatable pool, and even that provides him with tons of entertainment. He will bend over and stick his head underwater, just for fun. He certainly loves the water!

Here he is on the last day of school...












having a pop with his friend Reese



And here he is at the pizza picnic...

With his "girlfriend" Jenna - he tells me he loves her and they are getting married











He must have been showing everyone a bird's nest - he is fascinated with animals and science, in general right now too



Another thing that Grady has really been enjoying is gymnastics. The semester started off slow because we had to miss several classes for sickness and travel. But now he is doing great and earning stars like crazy! I actually ventured out of the house the other day to go watch at Parent Week.



almost there on that bridge!



stretching





A bit cheesy, but super cute



spider hang





I think beam is his best



handstand



"skin the cat"





L-sit



knee scale



This was right before he got his certificate at the end - everyone was clapping - he loved it, of course



with his teacher



We plan to keep him in gymnastics over the summer since he is really enjoying it!

One last picture - Grady just being himself - messy (hence, the bib), super happy, and so darn loveable.