Grace Keeps Us Going: 23 Months!

It has been a very good month for us, and I am so thankful! Little Man is just a doll and has been relatively healthy to boot!

One of my favorite things about being a parent is just the natural "awe" that comes from loving your kid so much. You think that something they do is "the cutest thing you will ever see in your life," and then they go and do something even cuter/funnier/etc. It just never ends with being amazed at your child, and it's such a great thing.

Aside from some "counseling" on gnawing on his classmates at school, he has done great this month. I will elaborate :)

Behavior: We are for sure entering the "terrible two's," but nothing we can't handle. We have been working to identify what type of punishment/discipline works for him, and I think we have it figured out. Spankings, etc. do not work with this little guy. We try not to resort to that sort of thing often, and have tried other things instead. We discovered that "time-outs" and sitting him away from what he wants to be doing seem to work best. After a few trial and errors at daycare, we finally resolved his biting issue after I told the teachers it was okay for him to be separated from his class if he wasn't behaving. No parent likes to discipline their kids, but I really believe that the right kind of discipline is so important for kids - especially these days when kids are nuts :) We want him to grow up to respect authority AND others, and I think it takes starting early with manners and rules.

He clearly did not want to wear his sunglasses...haha!

Growth/size: Still our little peanut. He has grown out of some of his shoes, but no clothes yet. Still rockin' the 12 month clothes! This may actually be good if he can wear some of his winter clothes from last year :) He is getting taller, I think.

Eating: He goes through stages, but overall still eats pretty well. His favorites are still the same: eggs, cheese and yogurt. He is starting to like some other foods as well, but I try to limit those as best I can - mainly chips and sweets :) Hey, I can't let him grow up with eating habits like mine!

Other news: He is getting a mouth full of teeth now, and talks non-stop! I literally feel like the mom (Lois) from Family Guy sometimes. He has started the whole "Mom...mom...mom... MOM!" thing, and when I respond he goes, "Hey." Cracks me up. Sometimes he asks the SAME question over and over and over again. Usually, his questions are "Where did Daddy go" and "Where did doggy (Vegas) go?" Sometimes I can't tell the difference between "Daddy" and "doggy," so some days Vegas may be going to work :) The other night we heard the train go by when I was hooking him into his carseat at daycare, but we couldn't see it. He literally asked "Where choo choo go?!" the entire.ride.home :) Still, never gets old and I love coming up with new ways to explain things to him.

Fun stuff! We took Nolan to my friend's little girl's birthday party at the end of August, and had so much fun. Nolan thoroughly LOVED the bouncy house they rented, and I knew that would be the theme of his birthday party this year! Of course, he had no fear (which was slightly terrifying), but had a great time and didn't get hurt! Daddy naturally climbed in and had all of the kids all over him.

He and Anthony went to the park the other weekend, and Nolan decided to slide backwards after him. He also took him to get some famous homemade ice cream, but didn't tell me! I was so jealous, but that had a great time. There was a concert going on in the distance, so Nolan had lots of fun dancing while he ate his ice cream. They always have so much fun, and I love the pictures Anthony is able to capture of the little nugget on his phone.

This is "brudda face"...the face he makes to mimick Jacob, and usually what he does when he is pretending to be mad :) I can't even keep a straight face when I see it!