We Love Fall

Today, part of our playgroup ventured to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, AL.  David absolutely loved it--the wagon rides, the trains, the pumpkins, etc.  We had a great time with his little friends and I loved getting to watch David enjoy the cold weather and run around picking through all the baby pumpkins.  Of course, I wanted a white pumpkin BUT little man was not going to have it---he wanted orange and orange is what he got.  He toted it around by the stem and talked about it the entire way home.

Things To Laugh About

2 is seriously such a fun age.  It can be exhausting for sure, don't get me wrong.  However, 2 is funny.  It amazes me how this little man's brain processes things.  

As you all probably know, David has a SERIOUS obsession with musical instruments.  I mean, I have never seen anything like it.  He not only loves the guitar and saxophone, but the tuba, harmonica, french horn, and now the VIOLIN.  He basically turned his guitar upside down as pictured above and requested a "bowf" at dinner last night.  Leo, Annie, Quincy, and June (Little Einstens on Disney) have really taught him a thing or two about music.  I know we definitely have never covered the violin before.

It also makes me laugh how he uses the word "Excuse Me" in various contexts without prompting.  We are in a serious clingy phase (I think he can sense change is coming) and he is ALL ABOUT Mommy.  This has led to lots of difficult car rides and phone conversations, lunch dates and errands.  He absolutely freaks out if he does not have my full attention.  Soo, we have been working on how to politely interrupt Mommy's conversations--rather than screaming 'Mommy' over and over again for extreme amounts of time.  This is how he has learned about the phrase 'excuse me.'  However, he likes to use it least with me and most with his toys.  As he navigates his way through a toy covered play room, I hear him saying excuse me over and over again.  He also has discovered that burps should be followed by excuse me as well--not sure where he has picked up on this.  So funny.

It is so interesting to me how obsessive and tunnel visioned 2 year old children are.  He has recently fallen in love with Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars and 'Memo' from Finding Nemo.  He loves to call his red cozy coupe a RACECAR and has named it 'Itning McKeen'.  He plays in his racecar all.day.long!!  He also is absolutely enamored with any car that looks like mine or Grants.  This is cute and all, until we are driving down the road and he sees "Daddy's Car!!" driving alongside us.  Usually, this car ends up turning off the road and of course we do not follow.  This does not sit well with David as he proceeds to holler "OTHER WAY" for almost 2 minutes after the car spotting.  I have learned a lot about explaining.  If you are approaching the 2 year old phase of thinking---I highly encourage you to OVERLY explain everything to your child.  Detailed explanations have prevented a lot of melt downs around here.

Nursery pictures coming soon!! 

TWO

A boundary has been laid down.  I have decided to take our blog private.  It has been something that I have been thinking on for a number of months now and really feel it is the right time to make the transition.  I hope you guys don't mind taking the extra step to log in.  

With this change--I just wanted to preface what I want this blog to be about.  I don't really want to consider myself a blogger.  I don't have plans of working on recipe ideas, witty or non-family related posts.  I really want to purely document the small details of our children's development and experiences.  (This may mean that posts are a little bit mundane for people who don't love David as their own and the details may be something you are uninterested in.  Just a heads up!!)  So, I have decided only a select audience should be privy to such precious information :). 

 

So---let's get on to more important things!!!!  David is turning TWO!!  WOW. We have a two year old child.  That sounds so strange to me even though it is our everyday normal now.  My baby is TWO!!!  Thank you Lord for the past 730 days.  Thank you, Thank you.

This boy is just SO MUCH FUN!!  We are having a blast watching him turn into a little boy.  He has a mad obsession with music and has most recently fallen in love with Auburn football--much to his Dad's excitement.  He asks to watch "hootball" everyday and wants to wear his "hootball" shirts all day long.  Of course, he is still obsessed with the basic boy toys--cars, buses, helicopters, bikes, boats, airplanes, etc.  His most recent obsession are ambulances.

It is really precious to see all his little 2 year old quirks start to surface.  Last night I asked him if there was anything he wanted to thank God for and he said--Dolf.  Which in David language means golf.  Clearly, the excitement over his second birthday golf themed party was still on his mind.  He also tries to count--but everything is 2.  He may go through a set of ten cars and count them by saying--two, two, two.  I also love that he shows you his age by using his thumb and forefinger.  It is too cute.  He is close on his colors, but prefers that everything be yellow (low).  Funnily enough--the child who has been completely uninterested in letters has started reciting parts of the alphabet.  I was shocked to hear him say MNOPQR in the grocery store today and then he repeated A-F like three times in the car.  I guess he is picking up on more than I realize.  Two year old brains amaze me!!  Even though he cannot speak in full sentences yet, I feel like we are having conversations all throughout the day.  Having a family is simply more fun than I could have ever dreamed.  I highly recommend it. :)

Finally.

After wrestling with blogger for about a week now, I finally have some recent pictures posted. Yay!!  

We have been home just resting as a family for the past two weeks, but spent most of July and part of August on the road.  We had a few beach trips with family and then with friends.  We also went to North Carolina with my family for an entire week.  It was soo nice and provided some much needed down time for everyone.  David was able to pursue his fascination with golf carts and basically rode one every single day.  He absolutely loved it.  It is safe to say he did not love that strange little girl who is straddling his ride toy.  It was hilarious.  He honestly stayed frozen in that position all while she was trying to tickle his neck and push him off.  And he was not going to share that turtle toy.  He is obsessed.  As in, he probably spends most of the day on it while maneuvering around the house.  It is his preferred mode of transport to all diaper changes and nap times.

I am sad to say goodbye to the carefree traveling days of summer, but am so very thankful for the consistency of Fall.  We do best on a weekly schedule of parkdates, library time, and such.  I am looking forward to soaking up these last few months where it is just little man and me.  I pray it will be a sweet time of continued bonding before Baby Evie arrives.

Silly

I may feel differently in 6 months, but the so called terrible twos don't seem so terrible around here.  David is just so fun.  He definitely has his moments, but I keep waiting for a serious shift in temperament.  We will see if it comes our way over the next year.

His little personality is just coming out more and more everyday.  I am so blessed to stay home and spend my days soaking up these few precious years that we can never get back.  I love love this age.  He is chatting up a storm and is famous for making up his own words that he refuses to change as time goes on.  I just hope he doesn't go to kindergarten calling a fork a boosh and a helicopter an a-too.  He has a really sweet temperament and loves attention as most only children do.  We definitely need Baby Evie to come and show him it's not all about David. :)  This boy could play with trucks and cars ALL DAY LONG.  He also loves music and golf.  Or as he calls it--dolf.  He and his Daddy hit balls in the front yard every evening before dinner.  It is super cute, but David really just likes to follow Grant around with his ball and club rather than hit the ball himself.  

His favorite color is yellow.  Or as he says it--Low.  Everything is yellow.  And if it's not yellow, it's green.  He gets really excited when he realizes he has been given a paci that is yellow.  And it seriously baffles me why he chooses to color with the yellow crayon.  You definitely cannot see it!!  Unless it is a 2 year old quirk, David has taken after his Daddy in the detail department.  He is EXTREMELY detail oriented and quite honestly it can be exhausting.  He knows whose shoes and bags are whose and he gets really concerned if your shoes are not on your feet.  Speaking of shoes--my mom got him some jibbitz for his Crocs.  Well he is in love.  And believe me, you will hear if they are not upright and straight.  He spends a lot of time twisting his jibbitz to the correct position.  Too funny.  He refuses to eat with dirty hands and asks to be cleaned multiple times throughout the meal.  Basically, he likes things to be as they should be and has become quite a big helper around here as a result. 

The transition to a "big boy bed" has gone really well, much much better than I had expected.  After about two weeks of training, David has really taken to it well and no longer gets out of bed on his own.  Every time I go into to get him up, he gets on his knees and starts clapping for himself saying "I did it."  He definitely gets it now and I am actually thankful we were able to cross this milestone before Evie's arrival.  

**Blogger is being slow.  I have a ton of photos waiting to be uploaded.  It just isn't working right now.

Uh-Oh

Two year olds are quirky little people.  Don't get me wrong--it is incredibly endearing and I daily am laughing at the new expressions this child is coming up with the navigate through life with a fairly limited vocabulary.  Uh-Oh is a staple for sure.  'All better' and 'all clean' are definitely a necessity for survival as is 'boosch' which means fork in David lingo.  He refuses to eat with his hands most days and requires a boosch for each of his meals.  'Monk' means milk, 'My' is what he has named his blankies and 'Padi or Patti' is his little name for his pacifier.  And the list goes on--you get the idea.  It is funny how living with this little guy has allowed me to interpret these various phrases no matter the context or inflection of his voice--it's just his language and I guess we get it.  For example, uh-oh is used in a repetitive fashion and can mean any of the following:

-my hand is dirty

-my clothes are falling off

-my shoe feels funny

-there is a piece of carrot on my pasta.  please dispose of this immediately.

-why can I not pick up 2 dimensional trucks from the pages of my book

-marley is whining

-the motorcycle man won't stay on the horse's back

-i found a vegetable you were trying to sneak into my food

-my water gun is empty

-the paper on my crayon is peeling off

It amazes me how seamlessly our days seem to flow because of the gift of one simple word/phrase.  It also makes me sad to think that children probably are frustrated through most of their days before they are able to speak---this boy has a lot of preferences to say the least.  It has shown up especially this summer as we have been on the road a good bit for various family getaways.  He refuses to allow me to put my hand on the back of my headrest while we are driving.  Apparently, it is his seat...not sure.  This response is also elicited if Grant and I show any affection just about anyplace or anytime, most especially in the car.  Gone are neck rubs, hand holding, etc--he will not stand for it.  Oddly, my Mom says I was just the same way as a child and would have a meltdown if I found my parents hugging or holding hands--most especially on car trips.  Genetics are scary.

Speaking of roadtrips--we have been on quite a few this month.  We spent 2 weekends at the beach with different sides of the family and were at the lake for the 4th of July.  To say the least--David has gotten a lot of wear out of his Target swim suits, crocs, and sun hat.  I have been a delinquent blogger, yet again, and hope to make up for it with an array of photos from the past month or so.  You probably get the general idea of what we have been up to given David's wardrobe.

Smile for the Camera

David loves to smile for the camera.  It is super cute to see him completely freeze flashing his precious smile while waiting for his picture to be taken.  

He has changed so much over the last month.  We have definitely hit the terrible 2s, but I must say he is an incredible listener and is very responsive to correction.  He even went to the grocery and toy store with me today and was able to walk around without holding my hand for quite awhile.  I was impressed by how well he heeded verbal direction.  We shall see how long this lasts. :)  

In other David news, he has finally learned to say "no-no".  He has been able to express 'no' by shaking his head for quite some time now, but I was very thankful he was not responding with a toddler like NO all throughout the day.   However, 

I thought his use of the word 'no' was very appropriate for a toddler going through some growing pains with this Mama.  To the question, 'What does Mama say?' David said, 'No-No'.  I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  

He is obsessed with blessing his food.  He usually is the first to initiate praying before dinner by holding out his arms and saying 'Amen' over and over again.  It is hilarious because I will ask him to close his eyes and bow his head.  Apparently, he does not understand that his eyelids work without much effort.  He usually takes his finger and manually closes his right eye for prayer.  Pretty cute.  If you eat with the little man, do not be surprised to find that he prefers to bless the food continually throughout the meal.  He probably requests a prayer 3 or 4 times in one sitting--not sure what that is about--just thankful he is learning.

The child actually ate some peas today.  It absolutely amazed me.  I am going to try and present them again and see how it goes!  It will be nice to add some other foods to his diet considering he basically lives off of tons of fruit and pasta.  I guess it could be worse.

Things for me are going fairly well.  I have turned the corner and feel like a normal functioning human being again.  It is nice to feel like I can contribute around here as opposed to wallowing in the land of nausea and puny coma-like existence.  However, I still am feeling fairly emotional.  It probably was a bad idea that I did not consider my hormonal situation and decided to make a toast at a rehearsal dinner.  I also regret not bringing a handful of tissue down the aisle with me as I stood and choked back real tears during my cousin's wedding ceremony.  I guess I just don't consider myself someone who tears up easily and I definitely was caught off guard to find my nose running for the entire 20 minute ceremony.  Lovely.  Catherine, let me warn you in advance---I may be pretty teary on your big day!!  I apologize in advance. :)

Please excuse the excessively wordy post.  I am trying to get back into blogging.  Trying!!