Drew is still struggling with being 'brave' at night, calling out through the monitor, tossing and turning, finding excuses to not got to sleep, a combination of all sorts of things. He continues to improve slowly but surely it seems, but at the same time, there's always something new. He loves to ask us to come back to his room so he can get a drink or go to the bathroom and we are working hard to get him to understand we don't have to be present for those activities any longer, and he's starting to do them by himself at night every now and then. Of course during the day, this is not a problem at all...just at night - he's either afraid of the dark or he just wants a reason to have us around longer.
Speaking of sleep, Drew seems to be showing signs of starting to grow out of taking a nap. There are days where he still goes straight to sleep and we have to wake him up after 2 hours (to keep that from being a huge issue with the aforementioned tossing and turning at bedtime) and other days where he just plays, sings, chats, etc. Which we are fine with, though it's another learning curve for Drew to understand that asking about if rest time is over every 5-10 min is not qualify as rest time either...
Drew started soccer again this season and seems to enjoy it, though he seems a bit less interested this season. He's out there running around, but doesn't seem to have the 'passion' for it like last season. Perfectly fine, but it's funny how that seems to affect our interest in it as well...we may have to try something different next season...maybe baseball, he's asked about that a few times. He's also mentioned football, which Mommy puts a hard stop to!!!
Drew is getting more and more confident with doing 'tricks' and such, climbing, etc. He plays around on the swings on the playscape quite a bit...he'll flip upside down and hang there, loves pretending to be Spiderman. He also likes to twist the swing up and then spin to let it out...he just giggles with delight!
Drew has days where he's super sweet and helpful, sometimes without even being asked!, and then others where he just seems to be bouncing off the walls or asking for trouble at every turn. It happens whether at home or at school for the day. It's funny, there are days where I pick him up from school and it seems the whole class is just in the mood to make trouble...and it just continues into the evening...we can barely handle it, we can't imagine how the teachers do it with 16 at the same time!
He can be pretty dramatic and emotional at times. There was one day in particular where he got a prize at school for something, but then made a bad choice and it got taken away near the end of the day and he cried about it for about the first 10 minutes upon getting home...it was a little bracelet or something, but we are sure it was just the concept of him losing his prize, but my goodness!
Drew is starting to get the concept of, and is saying, a lot of rhyming words. So we are hearing lots of nonsense rhyming words going non-stop at times in the background. It reminds me when our nephew Luke was about Drew's age and his mom telling me she heard it all day long...so here we are!
A funny, sweet thing Drew said this month (there are really so many, I try to write them down, but forget by the end of the day, ad so much of it is in the delivery, but anyway), it was bedtime and he says, "I love you to the moon pole to the rain pole to Mater Tall Tales" and then just laughed his heart out, it was the best, cutest, funniest laugh I've heard from him in a long time...so cute!
Drew can be a really good brother to Noah, and Noah loves it most of the time too. There are times where Drew will read books to Noah and it might be one of the sweetest things a Mommy can see! But there are other times where the helping can just make matters worse...there was one day Noah was fussing about taking a nap and before I could get back in there Drew beat me to it and was in Noah's bed. They both had that look on their faces as if to say "She caught us!" Drew also likes to make up games for them, or all of us, to play, but of course Noah doesn't always get, but to be fair we don't always get it either...his thoughts don't always completely come across as complete and we have to try and read his mind. As you might could imagine, this can cause some discord between the two and Drew can throw quite a fit if the game doesn't go just they way he planned it all! It is really funny to see them do more role playing with toys lately - hard to believe Noah can grasp the concept this early, but I suppose that's what you get for having and following an older brother around every day! They are also having more and more sword fights with their play swords...pretty funny. This of course requires some supervision and frequent intervention as you can imagine! They are starting to wrestle more and more, and Noah has no concept of limits and Drew of course doesn't think about what could happen and thinks he's invincible, so this always ends with one or both crying, but it seems like this is just the beginning and silly to try and stop...boys will be boys...you don't have to teach them any of those kinds of things...they just know that wrestling, sword fighting and potty humor is funny, etc.
People ask me quite frequently if the boys get along...my usual response is, "Yes...well...they either love each other and are having a blast, or they can't stand what the other one is doing and they are fighting over toys, etc." or "yes...until they don't". And that's about right...there are times of the day where they are having the best time together and I feel like I'd be getting in the way if I tried to join in. And other times where it seems like it requires constant intervention.
Both boys started a new Sunday school class at the beginning of the month. Drew is doing great and being better about being ok if there isn't any one he knows, but encouraging him to make new friends. :) Noah didn't like it the first 2 Sunday drop offs, but since has done great! He really likes his teacher (everyone loves Mrs. Widger!) and he seems to have a blast! We love it!
The boys have had a few more fun times with grandparents this month. The Palmers have had them for a few more evenings/afternoons to let Mommy and Daddy have some dates, and they always have a blast. Grandpa and Nana were able to come for a visit at the beginning of the month, and again, the boys have a great time with them! Uncle Kevin came for a visit too and the boys loved that...lots of wrestling, chase, playing monster and video games...so much boy fun!!!
We were lucky to have several play dates this month with our friends Tara and Ava and other family members. We went to the bounce house and then the zoo twice. Noah became quite attached to Nona, Ava's grandma...it was incredibly sweet, and helpful! :) He even asked about her several times since then...so sweet! We went over to their house one evening after dinner and the boys had so much fun playing with all the different toys, and randomly Drew fell in love with this cell phone toy Ava had...he's asked to go over to their house over and over again, all in order to get his hands on that phone again...what a goof!
We were able to go to the WestPark Carnival...we went 2 years ago with just Drew and this year Mommy took both boys - we had such a fun time. They of course loved the bounce houses. But they both loved playing all the little carnival games. I was really impressed with Noah - he was all in for all the games, it was hilarious to watch! Drew had a good time too, but seemed to take a bit of a back seat to it this time...just funny to see how they react to different situations! :)
The weather has been nice again for the most part, letting us have lots of playtime outside. We had some more fun playing with water toys, they love the hose and water guns. We even have been able to get the kite out for the first time and a few times since as well. It doesn't stay up in the air too long, but that doesn't seem to take the thrill out of it for the boys. We've practice baseball, some soccer, and enjoyed quite a few dinners outside.
The boys had their first official babysitter this month...a non-family member came over and watched the boys and it went great! She's a sub teacher at their preschool, a Senior at TCU and incredibly sweet and respectful. Drew did great, and Noah didn't cry at all! It was awesome!
We had our first Family Movie Night this month...we had a front come through one Friday and it was chilly and rainy, and had been a long week, so we got ready for bed right after dinner and all parked in front of the TV upstairs with blankets and pillows and watched Peter Pan - we had a great time! Noah loved it and kept asking over and over "watch a move?!" the next day until all the blankets were put away, as they were acting as a trigger/reminder...pretty cute. The next day was a super nice, cooler day, and we spent almost the entire day outside...it was such a wonderful weekend!
Silly Noah...we are really enjoying this little guy...when Drew was in this stage of life, Noah had just been born, so while we enjoyed him, we were certainly quite distracted by the needs of an infant and fatigued with lack of sleep, so it's been a delight to relish this stage...he's so funny and showing such personality, we love it!
He's started to enjoy some games a little bit more, especially Hungry Hungry Hippos and the Fishing game (the fish turn and you have to catch them with your pole while their mouths open and close). It's cute to see him try to catch them and make sure he 'wins'.
He's starting to show more signs of learning from repetition in lots of ways, but the other week while going to bed, he recited with me most of the book at bedtime: Llama llama red pajama - so cute, love to hear his sweet little voice! He's been a little more snuggly at bedtime as well, which Mommy loves. He's never been super snuggly, so I savor every moment he gives me!
He's really good, or bad, about as I'm leaving his room for nap or bed time he'll start to mumble sounds really soft to keep me in the room longer without me being able to actually say anything in response...What a tricky little guy!
Noah's getting more and more ambitious with his play, climbing and rough housing in general and has had quite a few more falls and scrapes this month. He loves to run, climb and explore quite a bit, especially outside. The reason I bring this up is he's had several bleeding scrapes and he fights the band-aids! He gets more upset over trying to get the band-aid on over the actual cut itself. What kid doesn't love band-aids?! I'm fine of course with not going through them, but when it's bleeding, I don't want to clean up the mess of course, so that's been kind of funny. Both boys of course can't stand getting them taken off either...
Noah's class at school finally has a permanent teacher - it's been a tumultuous few months with so many different teachers in and out, but this one has been there for quire some time, so just switching from the baby room to the 2s, so she should stay! She was his teacher when he was little and we loved her then, so excited about having her again! :)
Noah is still doing a good job in his toddler bed at night, but has had a few challenging naps every now and then...he'll play all around, but has sneaked out of the bed a few times, requiring some frequent visits. He seems to do it more when Daddy is home for some reason - coincidence? Not sure, but still overall, doing quite well.
We have started having Noah use the potty at times or when he asks (when he sees Drew go or right before bath, etc) He certainly knows what to do and doesn't seem to have any hesitation. He always produces something, but definitely not ready for the responsibility of the entire task...but we've started that long process...sigh! But it's a good thing, and he's happy about it too, getting excited with us about going!
Noah seems to really enjoy books and puzzles more and more. He spends quite a bit of free time play with them at school and will really zone in on them at times at home as well. He's certainly improving his work on puzzles. We have a shape one and he's pretty good at naming the shapes as he matches them up.
Noah has learned to take his shoes and socks off, which is good, except his favorite time to do it is in the car on our way somewhere. However, the there was one time in particular where he took off his shoes and then took his socks off with his teeth and Drew was hysterical, which just egged Noah on, and they were having the best of times! Drew said "Noah is the funniest brother ever!" What goofs!
At bedtime, as Mommy and Noah are leaving the room, Daddy will usually tell Noah "See you later alligator...After while crocodile". So Noah has started to respond with "see you watu croc-dile" - too cute to correct.
So with that...we'll see you later crocodile...
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