Wishing you all a very merry everything — and all the best in 2018!
Category / Family
You are officially in the home stretch to three (insert disbelief face here!).
This last quarter-year has been a dynamic one. You have been making huge leaps developmentally, and while we are amazed with how much you are learning each day, the growth comes with frustration — for you, and then by proxy, for us. Your brain is working overtime — so many questions, more complex thoughts, first real fears, and you are talking ALL. THE. TIME. You are hyper-aware of when you are and aren’t capable of doing something yourself — and are super frustrated when it’s the latter.
Your growth this quarter has translated to interrupted sleep — we are working through a sudden and intense fear of sleeping in your room by yourself. What started as freaked-out meltdowns at both naptime and bedtime have thankfully, progressed to a point where you can now calmly get yourself to sleep for a nap, and at nighttime, with us out of sight — something we took for granted before! You do wake up at 2am to the dot most nights and after trying several methods to get you back to sleep in your own bed (some gentler, some firmer), we’ve called a truce and opted for SLEEP over everything else. For now, you end up sleeping with us (thankfully, you go right back to sleep and are a pretty decent sleepover companion). Neither your dad or I are thrilled with this arrangement, but for the short term, we’re riding it out and focusing on the fact we’ve navigated two of the three get-to-bed scenarios. Paci and “brown blankie” continue to be necessary bedtime companions.
You tell us all the time that you are big, and brave. You like to point out the things you can do because you’re a “big kid”, and it’s so awesome to watch you work through things that I KNOW you are intimidated by, but you try anyway. Somewhere in the break between winter and summer swim lessons, you developed a fear of being submerged underwater for more than a split second. I sat at a swim lesson with you recently and watched you come up from a turn at diving for rings with your teacher, and you looked back at me through the glass, stiff-jawed and holding back tears, determined to be tough. (I was so proud of that brave moment!) I’m happy to report a few weeks back into it, and with the addition of goggles, you can’t wait to get to the pool for your lesson.
You continue to be a huge lover and snuggler. Depending on time of day and mood, you prefer to be as close as possible, and ask us to “snuggle me!” with a blanket. You do these funny little sigh sound effects and smile at us and close your eyes in happiness. Those moments make up for the frustrated ones!
You want to be the number one helper ALL THE TIME. We can’t go to the car without you announcing, “Only Crew can be the door holder! I will open the door!” and you want a hand in everything that is going on. You are no happier than when you have a special task or job to do that is all yours. You LOVE to help cook and clean, and we’ve established that Mom gets a turn and then Crew (and then Mom again) so that I can ACTUALLY accomplish some decent vacuuming or complete a meal. I love that you’re developing some skills and vocabulary around the kitchen — even if you can’t actually muscle it, you know how to use a can opener and you have a set of kid knives that you use to help me chop veggies. We’re learning the basics of measuring ingredients (“Fill it up to 1!” were your exact words when I said we needed 1 cup of water the other day), and you can actually crack an egg with precision (and then pick out any pieces of shell you drop in, while announcing, “we don’t want any shell in there!”). I don’t pretend to be a fantastic cook, but I do love that it’s something we can enjoy together.
You suddenly seem so big boy to me in how you play — rougher and louder. I love that you love to be active, and while you do get screen time (you’re obsessed with Blaze and the Monster Machines!) you will drop it in a hot second at the promise of going to play outside or doing an activity with us. You’re into Legos if we’ll build something WITH you, continue to obsess over garbage trucks, and love anything the park has to offer — the climbing rock walls and ladders are particularly popular with you right now, especially when you can do them unassisted.
You love school, your class of friends, and your teachers, and can actually recount brief bits of your day to us now. You sing songs you clearly learned at school (and are confused if we don’t know one of them and can’t sing along) and sometimes you surprise us with something we didn’t even know you had learned, until it comes up randomly at home — just the other day at the park we were talking about “today” and “tomorrow” and you started referencing days of the week. So we asked you what came after that day, and low and behold, you knew your days of the week — in order — neither of us knew you had any idea!
You’re beginning to express bashfulness and embarassment — if we giggle at something you say or do, you either laugh along like you get the joke, or shake your head and roll your eyes to not look at us. You’re trying to string together much more complex sentences as you get more detailed thoughts across — but sometimes you mix up your phrasing, leaving us to ask, “what are you saying? tell me again?” and you realize you’ve not making sense and do the same shaking of the head, and mutter total babble under your breath as if to say, “oh forget it” ha!
You’re repeating a lot more now (for better or worse!) and picking up on our key phrases. When you had an accident at the park a couple weeks ago, I took you to the car to change, during which you sighed and looked at me, then said…”I’m a hot mess!” 🙂 Another fave is when you grabbed my face the other day, pulled me in close and said, “Mommy, you’re the cutest!” Man, are toddlers good for your ego! 🙂
Swim lessons are going great and we have no plans to stop them anytime soon. As opposed to the baby-level classes which seem to get pretty repetitive, it’s fun to see you at a point where you’re making real progress and learning skills. You love to plug our noses and instruct us to close our mouths (something your coach asks you to do at the start of each class, to practice breath control!)
I love that you are picking up on things we love to do. You will sit and watch golf on TV with Dad (truly watch! and yell “get it in the hole!” lol) and when a toy camera showed up in a happy meal recently, you went full-throttle into taking pictures of everything. It cracks me up that you will pretend to show me a playback and say, “Look! There’s Crew and Mommy in dat picture!”
You continue to live joyously and love fiercely and I’m more aware than ever that that is exactly what the world needs right now.
Photo cred: April & August Photography
It’s been an entire decade since we exchanged vows, walked up the aisle, and started married life together in a little apartment in Des Moines, a city we had moved to just the month before. Married life has been nothing short of grand, and this city we love is a big piece of that joy.
As we celebrate both a decade of marriage and a decade of life in Des Moines, we continue to live in the moment and our life goals are ever evolving. I’m proud of what we have embarked on, both as individuals and as a couple, these first ten years. I so look forward to what the next ten bring. Cheers to more adventures!
In the spirit of anniversaries, I compiled a little playlist. It’s nothing overly lovey-dovey, just a collection of songs that bring on some anniversary vibes and have degrees of meaning to the two of us over the past decade.
Happy anniversary to the handier, more patient, more tech-savvy, in general COOLER half of this duo of which I’m lucky to be a part. <3
I always appreciate some costume idea inspiration sooner than later — so today I’m sharing Crew’s costume he’ll be donning in a few short weeks (and who are we kidding, several times before then!).
It was no surprise that of course Crew wanted to be a garbage man for Halloween (the first year he’s had any kind of say!). I had grabbed the vest at IKEA for dress-up (he’s a size 3T and it’s the smallest size they make — Youth XS). As much as I love to make his costumes as opposed to buying them, we just had to have a piece of legit merchandise directly from Mecca — this youth size trucker hat was perfect, and he was SO excited when I showed it to him.
A search for “garbage man costume” turned up the following sources that inspired me to order a custom patch to personalize his vest (ours came from this Etsy shop), and gave me the blueprint for how to create his very own garbage can. (Is there any better way to haul that candy?!) Both Thrifty Artsy Girl and The Tolberts had posted similar vests with patches and pint-size push cans — perfect!
We bought the same black Sterilite flip-lid style can , hit it with some green spray paint, and added a WM decal bought on eBay. Even though it said it was meant for plastic, the spray paint is pretty delicate and scratches/flakes easily, so right before Beggars Night arrives, I’ll probably hit it again for touch-ups.
There are lots of spin-offs on this can that use everything from casters to grill wheels — we opted for the latter, after seeing Sherri’s post here (she does a much more thorough job of explaining this part of assembly!)
To make ours easier for Crew to pull, Page added a wooden handle that he also sprayed with the same paint. He drilled it directly into the back of the can.
Crew has himself a mini-version of the big guy, and he could NOT be more excited!
And if you’re in search of more ideas…see how we embraced the pacifier last year when Crew went as a scuba diver (and Dad was the shark who chased him!) and his very first Halloween when he went as Albert Einstein (scroll to the bottom of that post). 🙂 Happy costume planning!
Now that Crew is two, I’ve scaled back to quarterly, rather than monthly, updates on everything from growth to preferences to all the (mostly) fun little quirks of his personality. Much has happened in the last three months!
So much growing up has happened from two and a quarter to two and a half! You potty-trained like a rockstar, the baby gates were finally uninstalled (not that we really USE them anymore, but they had been a great way to corral you and keep you out of the contractors’ way in the basement!) — and most recently, you’ve moved out of the crib, and your nursery, to a big kid room with a “big boy bed” that you are ridiculously proud of. The first couple weeks, you wouldn’t wander out, and you still stay put at bedtime and through the night, but when you wake up, you’ve started to get out and either play on your own, or come find us. All new levels of independence for you!
You became fascinated by the fact that boys stand up and girls sit down to potty, and you’re all about babies in tummies (pregnancy) and the idea that your baby pictures are actually YOU and that you were once in my tummy. It kills me that you look at baby pics of yourself and say “awww he’s so cute!” ha!
We are outside all the time — bike riding, gator driving, chalk drawing, water table playing, bug hunting — you name it. It’s been a great change of pace to take the energy and messes outside on a regular basis. It’s been fun to strike out on some “adventures!” around town exploring new parks and sights downtown, since you’re so much more capable this summer than last when it comes to climbing, balancing, etc.
It seems almost irrelevant now to update on your language — you’re just full-blown talking, in complete sentences, and constantly working new words into your vocabulary. Just the other day you slipped “usually” into a sentence, in a semi-correct sense 🙂 In general it’s just lots and lots (and lots) of questions. “Mommy, what are you doing?” “Member? Member we go to the zoo?” “What’s that thing up there?” “Why?” “I hear something…what is that?”
You are listening to every word and have a memory I’m downright jealous of. You’re also pretty good at holding your own in a debate. The one time you tried to get out of bed at bedtime (about a week after you moved to the big kid bed and I’d taken the crib apart that day), I talked to you over the monitor and said, “Crew, lay down and close your eyes, if you get up again you have to sleep in the crib.” To which you stared right into the monitor camera, frowned in consideration and said, “No Mom, you took the crib down.” Crew — 1. Mom — 0.
Other sounds bytes we hear…
“It’s not nighttime yet. Nighttime is later.” (stalling for bedtime)
“I wake up and we go to the park.” (your concept of things happening in the future, although you’ve just recently started saying “in a few minutes” and “tomorrow”)
“You’re okay, Mom/Dad” (when you feel guilty for running into one of us with something — on the hour of every day!)
“I need a kiss and a hug!” (before leaving you with the sitter, or at school, or before I leave home for work)
“Mom I’m coming to play with you! We can share! We can take turns!” (you’re alllll about someone to play with, and the encouragement to take turns and share is pretty highly motivated by the fact that YOU want a turn at something) 😉
You aren’t a bit shy, and are quick to wave to a stranger or introduce yourself to someone new. I’m constantly thinking about how to lead you to be friendly and trusting, but smart with a healthy dose of wary. (I’m constantly asking friends with kids how they teach stranger danger to a kiddo who asks random people in Costco to hold him?!)
I love that you’re still a bit of a mama’s boy, and are so affectionate toward the people in your world. You throw sporadic hugs around your babysitter, dance up and down waiting for Mimi to pull into the driveway, and if I lay down with you for a minute to help you settle down for a nap/bedtime, you quietly rub my arm or my back (often asking me to rub yours in return ha!), and your kisses lately are pretty agressive 😉 You grab both sides of our faces to pull us in!
I swear you remember every page of every book — you can recite key words/phrases on each page correctly. We’ve started to play the few games we’ve found for the age 2-3 crowd (Memory, Orchard, Cootie, etc). You’re so good about keeping track of whose turn it is and love to exclaim, “we’re all playing!”
You nail right versus left MOST of the time, can accurately count to ten, although getting to twenty often repeats a number at least once. You have a whole repertoire of songs and sing all. the. time. often substituting words from whatever activity you’re doing at the moment…”Old McDonald had a waffle…” etc. 🙂
You finally let us get a pair of flip flops on you (the cutest) but otherwise to Mom’s delight you are still super laid back about whatever I want you to wear (I’m thanking my lucky stars for each day this continues…). In general, you love jammies and would prefer to stay in them all day. Often when it’s time to get dressed, no matter what it is, you whine that you want to keep your “jammy pants” on.
When you’re lost in thought or observing other kids, you either have your tongue out or your hands clasped behind your back. You love to cook, assist with any project, and while in general I think you’re pretty easy going and you have yet to throw a tantrum just to throw one, you DO go zero to sixty on the frustrated scale if we do something for you you know (or think) you can do yourself. I actively build in extra time now for everything because to KEEP my happy kid happy, we need the extra minute here and there for you to put on your own shoes, climb into your own carseat, etc. “I DID IT!” is a daily phrase in our house, as is “No Mom back up”, “Dad I got it!”, and several other variations on these Mr. Independence sayings. And God help the person who flushes the toilet for you. #rageblackout
In early June, you moved up from the toddlers room at school to the “transition” room (as in transition to pre-school!!). We instantly noticed some new words/phrases as you hung with some new older kids. It’s officially “Mom and Dad” now — no mommy and daddy — and “oh my GOODNESS!” is your new dramatic exclamation. There were tears over missing your old teacher, but otherwise you are thriving in the older room with curriculum that’s more challenging for you. You’ll start to learn a little Spanish, have to follow directions like walking in a line, and do more activities around learning your letters. It makes my heart swell with pride to hear the reports that when a friend is hurt or crying, you share a toy or try to give them a hug. Compassion will get you everywhere, sweet boy.
You’re a SMIDGE less picky of an eater than when I last blogged an update, but still definitely particular. You continue to hate any kind of noodle, but you finally realized you like peanut butter again, and you’re much more daring about trying a quick taste of just about anything new — although much of the time you still instantly tell us “I don’t like it.” I reflect a lot on how we started you on solids by pureeing everything — I think I’d take a different approach if I had it to do over. Aside from one or two fruits, you’re just now working up the courage to BITE into the ones aren’t in the form of applesauce/smoothie/etc.
There are probably a million more little things I could think of on any given day to note here. And on the hour, you say something funny that I want to jot down in my memory forever. I can’t believe we’re already here, at two and a half. You’ve been here forever and yet time continues to fly.
As we get further from two and closer to three, stick with us as we try and navigate your need to do everything on your own. Keep needing us for other stuff. Continue to love fiercely with that oh-so-big heart of yours. Don’t stop your constant jumping and grinning. Carry on with your questions and never stop learning about your world. And more than anything, know how much we always love you, crazy kid of ours.
Love,
Mom (but always Mommy)
It’s April and you’ve been two for a quarter of a year already! Most traces of “baby” are long gone and you are a super talkative and energetic little boy.
You started the year off with more swimming lessons with Dad and began gymnastics with me…both much-needed activities to burn some energy on days you aren’t at school and while the weather was still cold and crummy out. You’ve gotten so comfortable floating on your back in the water, and can finally jump with both feet leaving the ground in sync, as opposed to the gallop you started with.
A couple fun outings included some ventures to Tot Town, an under-five indoor play session through a local community center, and a trip to the Botanical Garden downtown. Your favorite part was the automatic doors as opposed to the actual gardens but it was a great spot to let you run around and explore in what felt like an outdoor space, but without the need for all the winter gear.
In February we headed south for some much-needed family R+R time. You loved some daily splashes in the pool, the sand, and just the ability to be outside! It was so nice for all of us to get out of the frigid Iowa temps and soak up a little Vitamin D. You had your best flights yet – your first with your own seat and we experienced firsthand the little wonder of the CARES harness. (I have to go on a side note for anyone traveling with a kiddo up to 40 pounds…using this allowed us the lightest travel we’ve had since Crew arrived – so liberating! And each flight, the attendants mentioned that it’s THE safest way for a small child to fly!)
Your attention span has grown by leaps and bounds — you stay engaged in conversations about a single topic and string along multiple thoughts about the same thing, and can follow along much more with movies and storylines (as long as you have the freedom to roam around the room and play AS you watch). Your language has absolutely exploded since turning two. Words like “probably” and “maybe” have crept into sentences and you actually use them correctly. Some of my favorite things you say right now are “hmm, I dunno…“, “oh shoot!“, and “I hold Mommy” (even though it’s the other way around, I will never correct this one!) <3
You refer to yourself in the first person most of the time anymore, although you still refer to us in the third. “I go upstairs, get big dump truck, come back downstairs. Mommy comin?” Yes, somewhere along the way, “dada” and “mama” got replaced with “Daddy” and “Mommy“. I say it every day — slow down, time!
You have your frustrated moments, like any two-year-old, and wanting to do things yourself but still needing assistance is a hot button. It has certainly taught ME patience, and to plan on an extra few minutes to leave the house as you get your jacket on! (Sometimes I swoop in from behind you and help with a sleeve, then jump back and excitedly applaud that you did it yourself, so you won’t notice I helped – ha!!) The more you realize there are OPTIONS available in day-to-day life, you more you are annoyed when the options are not available choices for you. No, we can’t have fruit snacks for breakfast. No, we can’t stop and play at that park right now — we’re headed to school. For the most part, you recover quickly and can be led to think about something else. You’re working really hard on asking, not crying or whining, for something, and stopping to “listen” (you always point to your ears) to what we are asking you to do.
You are counting, counting, counting. You can count to ten without error, then it gets a little spottier “nine…ten…eleven…twelve…fifteen…NINE!” You sing your ABC song at about 90% accuracy, and you are obsessed with a couple of puzzle apps we put on the iPad. I swear I can SEE your brain working and you are so proud when you finish one — even if no one is nearby I hear you say, “Good JOB Crew!“. As much as you love the devices, you will drop them in a heartbeat if we ask you to come play something “real” with us. Mom and Dad still win — I wonder for how much longer?! 😉
You continue to be an awesome sleeper – bed around 8, up around 7 and still logging 2.5 to 3 hour naps after lunch. You’ve figured out fruit snacks are the bomb, you only want pouches if they have a banana prominently displayed on the packaging, and you love pretzels, chips, corn, mandarin oranges, anything cinnamon/spice flavored (grahams, muffins, etc.) and m&ms (“nom-a-nom-a-noms“). Of course, the donut obsession continues — the only thing you love more than those is a garbage truck!
You constantly have an “owie” (make believe most of the time or the TINIEST scratch becomes a major deal) and you need all.the.band-aids. to show anyone who will pay attention to you, while pouting and saying “oh no, I have owie…poor Crew“. You’re showing more interest in the potty and have had several “successes” so far. I’ll be honest, we’ve waited a bit to potty train just out of laziness/busyness on our part, and also because I was waiting to hear when you would move up to the next room at school (which also impacts your routine and your “normal”). Now that we know that won’t be happening until early summer, I think it will be full steam ahead with this bathroom business.
You LOVE babies and several of your buddies have new siblings. You actually announced at school that “Crew having a baby” after one of your classmates welcomed a new brother — I definitely caught some raised eyebrows my direction! Sorry but it’s just the three of us, buddy!
You understand the concept of presents much more now (every boring Amazon box or paper towel delivery via UPS is met with you exclaiming “Oh! Mayyyyybe presents?!“). You’re pretty happy to just open up anything, present or not, but it still cracks me up you don’t give up hope that everything will be for you. You get the idea of the Easter Bunny coming far more than you understood Santa just a few months ago. Every couple days you ask about your basket and if the eggs are still empty.
You did turn into an alter ego of yourself for about ten days mid-March. You were whiny and clingy and didn’t want to eat anything (even your favorites) and would cry about everything, even stuff that didn’t make any sense. We ended up in the ER (your first visit) one night when you had a sudden, severe attack of Croup, and went home after a nebulizer treatment and some steroids that helped you recover quickly. But even after that was addressed, the whininess continued, and we were back in the doctor’s office to be sure you didn’t have an ear infection or something else we hadn’t thought of. In the back of our minds the whole time, we thought this COULD be teeth, but kept checking and didn’t see anything. But sure enough, a couple days ago, 3 of 4 molars have popped through. Teeth never bothered you much to this point but wowza, this last round tested all of us!
You’re still a bit of a mama’s boy and I love that for about 90 uninterrupted seconds every morning, I get all the hugs and smiles and snuggles — before you promptly ask to turn on garbage trucks (YouTube) and eat some breakfast. You think Dad can fix ANYTHING and if something’s broken, I’ve noticed you never bring it to me for help ha! With Dad working in the basement more lately, you are constantly asking me what he’s doing, telling me what he’s making, or asking to go “check on Daddy“. You love your little family and that makes my heart swell.
I can’t believe the next time I get one of these posts pulled together you will be halfway to three already. I couldn’t pick a favorite phase in your short little life so far, but this talking, loving, learning phase, with all its frustrations but ALL its discoveries and enthusiasm, is ranking pretty high on the charts. Love, love, love you, Crew Man!
We had so much fun celebrating our two-year-old Crew Man this weekend!
I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, but between some painting with pinecones, scooping and dumping ingredients to make our own trail mix, chucking marshmallows into a bear’s mouth, and munching on hot dogs (and barbecue for the adults!), Camp Crew was a raging success thanks to his buddies who made the morning so much fun! I refrain from posting others’ kids (even my friends’ kids) here on the blog, but imagine lots of squeals and sugar-highs! 🙂
(Click on any photo to view it full-size!)
Every camper went home with a canteen and a bag of gear (a.k.a. flashlight, whistle –pretty sure the parents hate me! — and adhesive glow stars…so even if they didn’t get to at the party, they can sleep under the stars!)
Page built the A-frame tent and I used the Target bear as a muse to paint a piece of plywood for the marshmallow toss.
Biggest birthday wishes to our happy camper! #campcrew
And just like that, you’re two.
Our smart, silly, raised-eyebrows-and-mischeivously-grinning guy who loves to dance, hug, give kisses while grabbing both sides of our faces, LEAPS from his seat when he hears the garbage truck outside, and points to the floor telling us to “sit DOWN right HERE!” when you want us to play with you..has officially been on the planet and at the center of our world for two whole years.
This is the focused face that gets up close to my nose, then breaks into a grin and says “Hi!” first thing in the morning 🙂 You are such a lover and have always been fiercely expressive about showing it. I hope that never changes!
And this is the cheeseball performer grin we get when you know he have an audience in the palm of your hand. I love that you’ve never been shy, thrive on the energy of people, and find joy in expressing yourself — talking, dancing, pretending, creating.
I’m relishing the days when all bad moods can be solved with a sucker, you love to nuzzle noses with us, and your sing song voice is rattling off every thought you have, all day long.
Your sentences are getting longer, and your thoughts string together more and more. The passion for diggers and garbage trucks is unwavering. You’ve become obsessed with the Minions, the only movie you will actually sit and watch for upwards of a half hour at a time before you get the wiggles.
You continue to be an amazing sleeper — 11 to 12 hours at night and a 3.5 hour nap most afternoons, but a typical toddler when it comes to eating. Some days we literally serve you the same thing at every meal, or multiple days in a row. Thankfully, you still love pouches of fruit and veggie purees, and you’re an avid milk drinker. Throw in a multivitamin and we’ll get through this picky stage!
You clocked in at just under 26 pounds and 34 inches tall at your two-year appointment. You handled your last immunization for a while like a champ and I did a little mom-beaming when everyone (doc, nurse, lab nurse and admin) ALL commented separately how brave and friendly and go-with-the-flow you are…coming from an office of professionals who see kids all day long (and probably a lot of meltdowns) this made me so proud of your laid-back temperament!
Your pacifier and security blanket are a package deal — if you want one, you want them both, NOW. It’s your only vice, and you’ve regressed a bit in terms of wanting them during the day, not just to go to bed. We’re trying to encourage that the paci just stays in the crib, but you aren’t a fan of that idea. We are picking our battles and after talking with a couple different peds, there doesn’t seem to be a huge reason to force the stopping of the habit. So we may just let it roll for now.
With two years under our belts now, we’ve learned that parenting is a series of screw-ups and forgiving yourself, coupled with pats on your own back for little successes here and there that the rest of the world would probably not even notice. It’s all a learning curve and changes by the week it seems and I’m thankful to your dad for being such a fantastic partner in all of this. Through it all, we couldn’t have asked for a sweeter soul to guide us through this adventure of being “mom” and “dad”. We love you Crew Man, and are so, SO excited to embark on your third year. It’s going to be a fun one!
22 months…
This month has been a busy one! Between my work schedule increasing a bit, participating in a weight loss challenge, your dad hooking us up with a new ride, and general fall/Halloween busy-ness, it feels like I blinked and it’s time to write another monthly post!
You love shoes and when Mimi treated to you to a (few!) new pairs, we may as well have given you toys — you were obsessed with trying them all on and kept saying “new shoes! wow!” You’re a carbon copy of BOTH your parents ha!
Now if you see me taking your picture, you’ll stop what you’re doing and say “cheeese” — not really smile ha, but you’ll say it — this must be something learned at school, I’ve never taught you that! To get a real smile in a picture on command, we’re much better off asking you to laugh, or as in this shot below, asking you to come get me — little stinker.
You love to dance, laugh, play hide and seek, sing (your own made up lyrics), “ride” on everything and anything that will support your weight, be outside, give hugs and kisses, and “snuh” (snuggle) in as many blankets as you can get your hands on. Total Linus. You’re obsessed with donuts, love bath time, still like to ride in the stroller (hallelujah!) and are enjoying a whole new view after we faced your carseat forward this month. You got the biggest, silliest grin on your face when you discovered the new ride has a DVD player…but I think it will be Mom and Dad who love it most though on some upcoming road trips for the holidays.
One of October’s adventures included a trip to the pumpkin patch. You weren’t too sure about the corn pool until I got in with you. The shot of you and Dad feeding the goats melts my heart. It’s too bad you guys don’t dig each other 😉
You’re kind of obsessed with pumpkins and point them out on everyone’s doorsteps, in the stores, and in the handful of books we’ve been reading lately. You have a couple minis that you tote everywhere around the house.
And speaking of Halloween…;)
I was convinced you’d be all in, or all out, but fortunately, you barely blinked as I put on your goggles and oxygen tank! 😉 You thought it was pretty awesome that Dad went as a shark. You lasted about three houses trick or treating, it was cold and dinnertime for you, so I’m glad we got out earlier in the day for a dress rehearsal to grab some shots.
It’s been a particularly fun month with you, our little scuba diver. I’m loving these days with you and while they are flying by, I’m keenly aware of how actively I’m trying to soak up the minutes and memories. It’s been a great way to lead into the holiday seasons and all the traditions we can better involve you in this year. Bring on November!
23 months…
It’s your last month as a one-year-old and you haven’t slowed down a bit! Here’s what you’ve been up to the better part of November.
You are definitely working on some molars, which has resulted in some extra-picky eating (nothing you have to chew too much) and lots of whiney, clingy meltdowns as you get more tired throughout the day. The ibuprofen is flowing here, for sure. Your earlier teeth never seemed to bother you much, or we’d notice for maybe a day, but this has been a solid week or so of you being uncomfortable. Poor guy!
You won’t have an official weigh-in until your two-year appointment, but you recently climbed on our bathroom scale to the tune of about 26 pounds. You’re in size 7 shoes, 18-24 month bottoms and mostly 2T tops (short legs, long torso!). You are becoming more and more aware of, and vocal about, your – ahem – bodily functions. We are in no rush to potty train but after your birthday, we may give it a test-run. You willingly sit on the potty at school and are definitely interested. You also love to announce your burps and toots — even though they’re loud enough we usually hear them anyway. 😉
You spent a day with Papa and Mimi at their house so we could go to what became THE Iowa game of the season. It was the first time someone else had put you to bed somewhere other than home, and I honestly wasn’t sure how it would go (more out of stress for them, not you!) but now that we know you can totally handle it, we’re dreaming of destinations for a trip away just us…no offense. 😉 It’s so interesting to see how something that made you nervous even a couple months ago (going to sleep somewhere out of the norm, even with us there) can be a totally different experience with just a few more weeks of growth.
You’re obsessed with the moon. You have one in your room on the wall that you love to click on and off, but it’s no substitute for the real deal, which thanks to Daylight Savings, we can now spot at the end of the day when I pick you up from school, and every night before bed. We read Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me at LEAST once a day. You’ve stopped calling it a “moon ball” and out of nowhere started saying “full moon”. Not sure if this came from the book or talking about it at school?
You love, love, love to be a helper. Taking things to the trash, helping me cook, carrying laundry to the hamper — you are down for any task. At what age do kids suddenly view things as chores? Because I’m really liking this enthusiastic help, most of the time. 🙂 You’re also an epic backseat driver…“Mama — big truck comin’…oh! red light! ope! green light — go!” You particularly loved getting to help when Dad brought home a first Lego project for the two of you to build…and I’m so impressed with how carefully you’ve played with the finished product…for half-hour blocks at a time! #dadwin
It hasn’t FELT like the holidays are approaching (it’s been so warm!) but that hasn’t stopped us from talking about snow and Christmas trees and Santa. We got out the Christmas books from last year and it’s been fun to have some fresh content to read! Your vocab is expanding all the time, and it’s been fun to add some seasonal words and meaning. It’s amazing to me how little minds can hear a word or phrase just once or twice and it sticks. Just the other day, your frustrated mom said “Come ON!” in the car to the traffic, and when we got home, you proceeded to recite my phrase over and over…for Dad. Cue the start of me watching what I say around you. 🙂
You are getting your manners straight, using “please”, “thank you”, and “excuse me” in the right situations, when prompted, and sometimes without. You also say “uh oh, sorry” more to yourself than anyone when you drop something. Your sentences are getting longer all the time — I can think of several things you have said that are at least 4-5 words strung together (and that make sense!). The other night when we were talking about a babysitter coming over, you said in sequence, “Rachael comin? Mama go bye bye? No mom bye bye.” Your train of thought is getting easier to follow all the time.
And so we begin the Christmas season with you. I have lists of things big and small I want to do with you at this magical innocent age that seems to be just a blip on the radar before it’s gone. I’m glad we decorated early because it leaves the whole month to just relax and soak up the experiences with you. Soooo looking forward to this!
XOXO,
Mom