Hannnnn?

C's new thing is asking me to hold his hand when we are driving or on the couch. I'm smitten. He reaches out and says "hannnn?" And then I melt.


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Sharpies and Hairspray

Our budding little artist found a hidden Sharpie in the garage today while we were working in the yard and went to town on both of our cars and the driveway. Luckily it was only a small amount of art. Even luckier, Ross found out that hairspray removes permanent markers from cars! Crisis averted.

PeePee Potty!

This is for my personal record...Carson went peepee and poopoo potty for the first time last night! Score! We were all so excited and proud! (something that can only be understood by a parent) I will start potty training after the holidays so that we can have a month or so of consistency in our schedule. It's kind of like looking forward to a raise! I will not miss paying for diapers.

Oh Christmas Tree

Decorating this year's Christmas tree was quite entertaining. So far, I have found several tractors, a police car and a bowl stuffed in the tree. C was very intent while decorating; he even has his own Charlie Brown style tree.

 

Thanksgiving 2012

We went to Galveston for Thanksgiving this year. I always treasure these times and they overwhelm me with memories of growing up. This trip was even more special because Carson was able to play downstairs, fish, play with nets and all of the other stinky boy things that make Tiki such a fun place to be! The thing that occupied C the most was a bucket of water with one bait fish and a dipping net. Needless to say, the fish wouldn't have agreed.

Carson and Papoo feeding the mallards. Did you know that ducks and seagulls like dog food?

Carson and Yaya getting some snuggle time. 

 

Sweet Taylor holing the binoculars up for Carson. 

Yaya making her famous banana pudding, which doesn't include bananas! She always uses this big bowl, triples the recipe and arranges the vanilla wafers in just the right pattern.

 We call this the "chirp-chirp!" It only happens when Papoo is carving the turkey. We walk over, say "chirp-chirp" and he feeds us the perfect bite of freshly smoked turkey. It's a sweet, sweet Thanksgiving tradition.

 Family pics on the balcony.

Carson "playing" Super Nintendo Super Mario Brothers with Daddy for the first time.

Cool dudes in cool shades. 

 

Family pic on the couch that always makes pictures turn out horribly.

 Fishing with Daddy!

November

We went to the Dallas Arboretum with my high school best friend, Madeline, to see the Chuhily glass exhibit. As you can see, it was nice and warm and Carson got to give us lots of cheesy smiles.

This just made my heart happy. I found him in his igloo tent, wearing a train conductor's hat, playing his piano...I just LOVE his budding imagination!

24/25 month favorites

-He says "eeps" instead of "oops" and it makes me giggle.
-He grabs our hands and says "a walk" and takes us on walks around the house. Most of the time his end goal is to look out of the peep hole on the front door. I think he really just likes to be in charge of us for a change.
-Daddy taught him that stinky diapers are called stink balls....I hear "nink ball" about 50 times a day!
-"I did it!" is what he says when he's proud of himself.
-He loves to help in the kitchen. Cooking with him is one of my greatest joys.
-But...my biggest joy, BY FAR, is that he has ended his several month boycott of rocking with me! He now requests to "wock" almost every night! Yay!
-I've started to sneak more veggies into some of his foods. So far this week he has had fruit/veggie juice, zucchini and squash muffins and carrot puree mac'n'cheese, which I named Sneaky Mac. Since he's being picky right now, I'm getting the veggies into him any way that I can.

2 Year Pics

Our sweet friend at Lacy Vargas Photography took some amazing family pics of us for Carson's 2nd birthday. We chose a train as the background because it is one of C's favorite things right now. What'cha think? She sure did do a good job of hiding the cranky toddler's attitude that evening!!

My privilege

Sometimes Carson wants sweet cuddles. He grabs my arm, wraps it around himself and snuggles up. What a privilege! Sometimes I still can't believe that I get to do this every day. I am so thankful for my precious son and God's provision.

2

How are we the parents of a 2 year old? It seams like just yesterday I was showing Ross the positive pregnancy test, a few days after that we were bringing home a sweet little baby boy and only a few days later we celebrated his first birthday. I know it sounds cliche, but where has the time gone?

As he grows, I have said that every stage has been my favorite. This one is no different. I love seeing his personality, his smarts, his humor, his independence, his friendliness, his desire to help, his love of people, his kindness, his boy-ness, his rough and tumble play, his sweet cuddles, his excitement for life, his like of repetition/consistency/order, and his deep-deep belly laughs.

Ooooooh, sweet boy. I love you more than you will ever know. I get sad to put you down at night and look forward to your waking (as long as it's after 9).

I love you. 

Our 2 year old has a plethora of words and phrases in his vocabulary. I'm writing them out for my reference and I'm sure I'll think of more later.
Names-Momma, Dada, Sarah (way-yah), Stephen (Bubba), Taylor (Tay-Tay), MiMi, Pop, NuNu, Dude (Ross' dad), Nathan (Nay-Nay), Austin (Au-in), Kennedy (NeeNee)
Phrases- bye-bye which means goodbye, let's leave and the name of his Cozy Coupe car, help, up (also meaning open), down, amen, yes (gah and yes), no, bite, more, please, thank you, you're welcome, excuse me, yes mam, yes sir, I'm sorry, mess, it's a mess, please
Things that go- airplane is still mine-a, trains are still choo-choo, bus, wee-o (fire truck), tractor, bike, car, truck, rocket
Colors- black, blue, yellow, orange, purple, red
Animals/sounds- meow, moo, chirp-chirp, neigh, elephant sound, baaaaa, barks, rawr, growls, duck, horse, bird, snake, bear, dog, cat, goat, fish, turtle
Food-  applejuice, milk, cheese, cracker, cheese, kiwi, ice, water, banana, blueberry,
Things- star, moon, mail,  tree, bath, mole, mom-mole (the mole on my chest), poopoo, bike, dada bike, eye, boo-boo, ear, nose, mouth, hair, night night, love you, dodo (motorcycle), baseball, ball,wow, wee, bubble, shoe, hat, baby, rock, book, draw, fork, bowl, shoe, brush

He desperately wants to do things on his own.

He has a wicked little rooster tail hair thing going on. 

He is still obsessed with planes, trains and automobiles.

He says, "thank you Momma" to most everyone, but he points to everything and says "Dada's."

His favorite phrase right now is "what's this?" I promise you he says it about 100 times a day and I love answering him because it is such an opportunity for learning and conversation.

He runs to greet Daddy every day and almost always asks to go see the "moos." We have some cows living in a field beside our neighborhood.

He waves to almost all cars, parked or moving.

Daddy taught him to say hello, which sounds like "hewwo."

He has a sense of humor!

I still insist that he wear footie pajamas because they make him look like a baby.

The swing is his favorite toy at the park. Weeeeee! Weeeeeee!!

He gives good "squeezes."

He loves to go check the mail, which he says with the sweetest little Carson twist.

His best friends are Nathan (Nay-Nay) and Austin (Au-in) and he asks to see them often. "Where Nay-Nay?"

He shares his snacks and drinks with Riley (Wi-yah) and Berkley (Be-Be).

Showers and baths are one of the highlights of his day. About 99% of the time, he showers with one of us and cracks up the whole time.

He runs up to our booties, puts his hands on them and jiggles, saying "booty-booty-booty-booty." We may need to think about adjusting this behavior.

He is not potty trained. He shows some interest and readiness, but we aren't quite there.

He still sucks his thumb because Mommy is a wuss and thinks it's too cute.

He doesn't look back when I drop him off at the church nursery.

Throwing his food is still a battle, but it is definitely getting better by teaching him that he can hand us what he is finished with.

We left him with my parents for 5 days while we went to California and apparently he didn't notice that we were gone.

He gets super excited about simple things and I find great joy in this. He says, "Ohhhhh woooooowwwwww!"

It's a mess!

Tonight, on the eve of Carson's 2nd birthday, he gave us quite the laugh! I will preface it by saying that I really have been needing to shave. The conversation went like this...

C- What's this? (pointing to my armpit)
Me- It's my armpit.
C- It's a mess! (pointing to stubble)
Us- Excessive laughter

Oh goodness. You're right, sweet boy. Let's go take a shower so Momma can shave her mess...right after I stop laughing.

Another funny from last week...
Carson has started telling me that the litter box is "Dada poopoo!" Where does he come up with this stuff? I'm about 99.9% positive that my husband does not poop in the cat box! Carson, on the other hand, is convinced that it's Dada's.


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To grandmother's house we go

We went home over Labor Day and Carson had lots of fun playing in the county!

He went on lots of golf cart rides,


he played some naked t-ball with Pop,


took some fun sink baths with MiMi (his attempt to say Grammy),


and played with every flashlight he could find.


The silly boy was asleep before we even got two blocks away! I'd say that Pop and MiMi wore him out!

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