Well, we made it! One year as a family of four! At the beginning I wasn't sure how we were going to make it, but reminded myself that we were far from being alone in having 2 young ones to raise, but still overwhelmed. Now that a year has passed, while we rae by no means pros, we are certainly in a more "comfortable" spot. Thanks to a ton of amazing family members and friends, we've found a little bit of balance, and continue to thank and praise God for such a wonderful, happy, healthy crew!
So Noah is officially a toddler, as mentioned earlier - walking all over the place, starting the day before his birthday! He's worked hard at it this last month, always finding a hand to help him get around on his feet, walking between Mommy and Daddy practicing his steps, and pulling up to stand on just about anything. He is also able to go from sitting to standing without pulling up on anything any more.
An unfortunate, but inevitable, issue with this initially was Noah FINALLY learned he could pull to stand in his crib! While this isn't the end of the world, it certainly leads to issues with sleep, at least for a bit (thanks to Drew, we know this should be a short phase). However, we've noticed that part of the issue is Noah doesn't know how to lie back down after standing up! He easily sits back down, but doesn't get how to get back onto his tummy or back! We've tried going back in to lie him back down, but he then just stands right back up and starts all over again, defeating the purpose of us "helping". So he's just had to figure it out...leading to some pretty ridiculous, and seemingly quite uncomfortable sleeping positions! (Video monitors are the best! Essentially, he gets tired enough is sitting that he starts to fall asleep and just like we would do a "head-bob" while falling asleep sitting up in the car, etc., he does a full body-bob until he finally bobs too far and falls over! I may sound awful saying this, but it's quite amusing!) There have been several nights he falls asleep with his legs out in a V-shape and folded in half at the hips with his head near his feet! Can you imagine sleeping like that?! Thankfully, he doesn't stay that way all night, usually curled up in some ridiculous position in the corner of his crib...but pretty funny! Looking forward to his figuring out that transition soon!
The separation anxiety is affecting us a little more these days...he's almost never cried to be dropped off at school, but lately he's been a little bit more fussy. We've also had to start using the nursery at church now that he simply can't sit still, and he does NOT like that! Of course, he calms down quickly at both places, but that drop-off is not fun - one of my least favorite things as a Mommy really...I wish schedules worked better so Daddy could take more of those!
He is eating just about everything these days, though for some reason, I've dragged my feet on table food with him more than with Drew - I don't know what I was thinking! His tolerance for being spoon fed is rapidly diminishing and he wants what the rest of us are eating so badly, but he will just stuff his face if given too much at once! So, hopefully I can sneak in the rest of the baby food that I bought before he absolutely refuses anything from us! But he is getting much better at feeding himself - something that will be sweet relief at meal times!
Noah is getting more and more expressive and receptive too. He loves to play and jabber and do things to get our reaction. One he sometimes finds quite amusing is he tries to feed us his food, ie: Cheerios or the like, he gets a big kick out of it. There is also of course the infamous drop it on the floor and see how many times I can get these suckers to pick it back up, as well as the smiling and laughing when we say "No" (as he's throwing his food on the floor or climbing onto something he shouldn't inevitably) - our pediatrician says it's the fact that he can get a reaction from us, not that hes' being defiant - at least not at this point! He is babbling and talking a lot more now, even Drew notices a difference. He can say Ba-Ba (bye-bye), Da-da, Ma-Ma, Uh-uh (uh-oh) and is ABLE to sign "More" - but prefers to just holler and wave his hands around - which means either More or Finished - leaving it to us to guess and decipher! He does a good job waving Bye now and is starting to figure out waving Hello. He's also blown kisses just a few times - usually to Daddy at bedtime! And loves to clap along with others and music! It's also amazing what he can understand without being very verbal yet - Daddy has been especially good about reading the "100 First Words" book with him, and Noah will now pull it off the shelf and start tapping and pointing to the objects for us to tell him what they are - and just giggles! Drew loves to chime in with the animal sounds and help out with the words too! We can ask him to come to us, go upstairs or downstairs, time to eat, time for a bath, etc. - all those things we've said over and over and he has learned the meaning of, it awesome! We love it! We are still so amazed at all he knows - baby's brains are just amazing! And we love that he knows how to give kisses when we ask for them, or when we don't!
He LOVES to be outside - he'll still stand at the back door (has a full length window) and just bang on it and cry sometimes when he wants to go out - it's just too HOT! Sorry! He has a blast chasing and running around with Drew - they both get such a kick out of it...they love to play around our little climber/slide too! (Which Noah is able to climb up the slide as long as he is bare- foot!) He's surprisingly good at kicking balls while he's walking around, and loves to pick them up and throw them as well...another all-boy on our hands! He fits right in! He also loves to move toys around - either picking them up and throwing them behind him, or in and out of the tubs/containers/etc. - just keeping busy!
So Drew is really into imaginative play these days - a true sign that he's 3! I remember Nana telling me quite some time ago that 3s love to play dress up and such - and that is so true for Drew these days! He is making up stories with his toys so much of the time. If we aren't playing chase, he's almost always playing with toys that can have conversations with each other - usually his animals, or action figures! (Which we aren't sure how exactly he learned about so much, except at school - first it was Spiderman (his favorite!), then Batman, and then the Joker! When we asked where he learned about the Joker, he frankly said "I ALWAYS know about the Joker!" OK then!) Daddy came up with a wonderful way to expand it even more, with telling stories from our "Magic book" at night - our hands are the book we can open and turn pages as we make up a story - Drew absolutely loves it! The stories usually start with "There once was a boy named Drew..." - can't get much better than that - Drew's face just lights up! Dragons and caves, castles and knights, and animals galore - the sky's the limit (unless Mommy tells the story, those are a bit on the lame side usually)!
The extremes of emotions are also a clear sign that Drew is now 3! He can be the best boy, helping, listening, signing, have a grand ol time, and then something flips and the world is ending, tears are flowing, screaming at the top of our lungs, body goes limp - it's unbelievable! Thankfully (knock on wood) this hasn't occurred any where too embarrassing yet, but I'm sure it will...
And potty-training...UGH! I feel like we are behind the curve on this, partly our fault as well since we haven't been too motivated either...don't get me wrong, the end result will be great, but the learning part doesn't seem fun at all! And juggling it with keeping Noah safe and happy is just another factor making all that much more 'cumbersome'. Drew is finally showing some true motivation lately, wanting to wear underwear, so on days we are home, we are working on that, but cleaning up the mess (though there aren't TOO many) and going to the bathroom almost a countless number of times during the day, all the while trying to keep Noah from licking the toilet and pulling all the toilet paper off the roll is just not our idea of fun! We've used as many bribes and external motivators we can think of (including being able to play on a sports team!), and he seems like he WANTS to, but can't quite put it all together just yet. We will get there I know, but there have been days where keeping him in pull ups until he's 8 sounds so much better! HA!
On a happier note, he talks about sports almost every day too - "When I get oldur, I gonna play soccer like Daddy!...I wanna wear my jersey...I gonna play five sports - soccer, baseball, basketball, baseball, and tricky soccer! - M or D: "What's tricky soccer?" - Drew: "It's tricky!" He loves playing soccer with Daddy, working on kicking and punting the ball, we've even started working on our soccer throws! He can't WAIT to play on a team! He misses the cut off for soccer this fall by 1 day, but that will be just fine, we'll start in March of next year and then never see the end of it probably! We enjoyed being able to expose him to the Olympics this year, and he liked it to - "Can I watch the Lymnics?!" - and the answer was almost always Yes - we all loved it!
He's started to enjoy playing board games, which both Daddy and Mommy are also excited about - a new phase and way to teach, learn and interact, and fun for us too - though initially there will be a large learning curve for sure! But we are excited, and Drew loves it too! So let the games begin! :)
A true blessing of a year - our boys bring so many smiles to our lives daily, even in the middle of being frustrated, the right expression or word can turn it all around! The Lord is so good to us, in so many ways, but our children are by far the biggest gift we've ever received!
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