As summer ends....

As the summer winds to an end, I am sad thinking of the things we did not get to do. Last summer and the year before, noah and I walked every day with his stoller, all around the neighborhood. We became an icon of the neighborhood, people have told us. I remember this time last summer becoming nostalgic that it would soon turn cold and told noah he would have to start wearing a jacket and socks and shoes when we went out. then in the spring, the first warm day in april, we were outside and so excited! now it is the end of august, the summer has FLOWN by and we only walked 3 times. I guess as he gets older, activites change. walking was our activity and that was great. but I am realizing things change. it is great to have those first memories, but we cannot always recreate them. and in the vain attempts to do so, we become disappointed.
We also did not play outside in the front and back like we used to. his water and sand table sat for most of the summer. same with the bubbles and side walk chalk, bikes and buckets. the front yard tree swing is covered in fallen leaves.
but this summer we created new memories. Many carousel visits all through CT and RI. Trips the different parks and zoos. Vacations on the beach, theme parks to ride roller coasters, visits to see Thomas and ride a train and go to car-washes to see robot arms helping... his favorites. Trips to the library and mall. He enjoyed art and music class at gymboree and began going to the ymca while I exercised. he likes to play with "different friends at the Ymca". He even asked me to leave so he could stay and play! He loves to search for snakes and bugs with daddy and pick tomatoes from the garden.
so I guess I am learning in my new stages of motherhood that it is ok to have different schedules each summer and things cannot be recreated some times. I look forward to what we will learn and discover next summer.

My day...

My day while noah has a cold.
It was pretty bad so I had to give in and give him some medicine. but afterwards, he was so WIRED on the medicine! he was going nuts all over the house, things he never does. he unrolled all of the TP, I know, a lot of kids do it, but noah never has. he unrolled it all the way out into his bedroom! in the bathroom was more all thrown into the toilet and then an even bigger pile on the floor!
then he pulled out every single tissue in the new box and layed in it and rolled all around, naked (as he is potty training so he has been half naked all summer). I guess it felt soft.
then I hear this slurping sound. Noah is on the ground on all fours drinking out of paris' water bowl!!!
then he got into my cabinets and pulled out all the pots and pans and dropped my pyrex dishes!! thank goodness nothing broke. this was done in a matter of minutes, when I was doing the dishes, then doing laundry. things I could always do with him "alone" upstairs.
then he let out a big yawn and said, "I am so tired right now. I need a nap."
where did this kid come from??

My day, while potty training a 2 1/2 year old.
All before lunch Noah kept saying he wanted a diaper on.. diaper on, diaper on... like a broken record. so I had to stop lunch preparation and tell him he does not need a diaper, just go on the potty. (we have been watching the "once upon a potty video" too. by the way, it is cute, but it says, "IT'S NOT A HAT, NOT FOR THE CAT, NOT A BIRD BATH..." in the song. so now noah puts his potty on his head.. and says "it's a hat".. like come on noah, we did the potty is a hat 6 months ago. then he tells me he is going to go poopy on the floor. (he has had 2 accidents with solid poops on the floor and we try not to make a big deal out of it. well, it has been such not big deal it seems that he likes the idea now. ) and on saturday, joe took a shower and forgot to put a diaper on him. noah ran into the bathroom and told joe he pooped. sure enough there was a big ol' turd on noah's bedroom floor. so today noah kept saying he was going to go poppy on the floor. I said, "no, dogs do that and you are not a dog. dogs don't know how to use the potty and that is why they go on the ground outside. you DO know how to use the potty, you are a big boy, you can use the potty. " so what does he start doing? barking. yes, barking. so as lunch sat out now for 30 min, we go upstairs and try the toilet instead of the potty. he uses the step stool to climb up and sits and sits. I read him books and I swear his butt is going to rip open with how wide he is straddling the toilet. he wants down. so now we sit on the bathroom floor, reading books. as the lunch is still sitting out. he runs to his room to get himself a diaper. I have to discourage him. I think he was actually going to diaper himself! we go downstairs to the potty and he starts screaming he wants a diaper on! so I finally give in and he gets the diaper on, stands up and pushes so hard and informs me "it is a big poopy, a BIG poopy." so we walk upstairs and change him 5 seconds later. lunch is now out for a hour. I lay on the floor, feeling so exhausted and defeated. 10 more min pass and I look over at him and say, "noah, do you even care that I am lying on the floor" "no, I am reading", he says. so we go and eat lunch. after he wakes up and so do I, (I had to sleep for work) and I am telling joe about my day( and he is careful not to critisize me.) noah runs in to inform us that he just did poops. we just look at each other, expecting to find another turd on the carpet, bark bark.. but he did infact push out a little tiny poop. but he was so excited and he got 2 chocolate m&ms... something else I swore I would never do, reward him with food. but it works I guess.

noah was teasing me that he was going to poop on the rug and I just sat and smiled. and he said "Nooooo, not on the floor.. that is for the dog." then I had to say, "no , dogs don't go on the floor. they go outside. if they go on the floor, they get in trouble." it is so funny now taking him into public restrooms. thankfully I was alone with him yesterday grocery shopping. I had to pee so I brought him in with me. he asks, "momma have to poopy? BIG poopy?" "No noah, just pee pee." "yes, mommy pee pee". when he passes gas he says, "huh?! what was that noise? noisy poops?"
he is so funny and honest at this stage.

Potty time and robots

Noah can totally pee on the potty now, no problems. but he has to be naked from the waste down to initiate it himself. pooping is another issue. he constantly asks for a diaper if he has to poop. which means he knows he has to poop and can hold it if he has to. he recognizes the sensation. I don't know why he gets anxious, but I hear it is common. so he got his 3rd thomas train this morning for completing another round of thomas punches (like a train conductor). so now we are moving on to only punches for poops. and he is afraid of underware too. he likes them but screams "NO!" if I want to put them on.

His newest funniest word is "chap skip" for chap stick. I know it is close, but how he says it is what makes it so funny. "chaP skiPPP" BIG P'S!
I forgot to write a few weeks ago, we realized that noah knows how to jump and skip. the jumping part took a while, just couldn't get those little feet off the ground. He loves to jump and is so proud of himself! skipping is fun, too for him. I think it came about from doing the "pee-pee dance"! he just skips all around the house but going diagonal, not straight.

we are going back to six flags in a few weeks but with cousin emma! noah is so excited about the roller coaster!
He still loves to talk about robots. It has been a few months now, maybe more, that he has loved robots. But recently he has been obsessed! today I had to go to the eye dr and he thought the robot was helping the dr look at my eyes. everything is a robot. the water cooler, vacuum, furnace, washer and dryer, blow dryer, curling iron, regular iron... He also still loves garbage trucks. and they of course have robot arms. and the 3rd thing he always talks about is "monsters at the beach". which is a sesame computer game. but it turned into more about monsters. he read a book recently that the characters thought there was a monster but it turned out to be a crow. and it doesn't help that the sesame street characters are called monsters.

noah is also switching to a big bed at their house, too, for naps. hopefully he won't fall out! we might change the crib to a bed instead.

I am so proud of noah reciting scipture. He has learned john 3:16 a while ago.
John 3:16 (New Living Translation) "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. AMEN"
and now we are working on John 14:6 (New Living Translation)
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." I am so proud of him!

Mr. Smarty Pants

(31 months, 1 week)
we took noah to six flags today. he LOVED it! they had a roller coaster he could ride with a parent (one of many rides for tots) and it actually got my stomach up into my throat, but noah loved it and was so mad when it ended! so he went on 5 more times. and yes, there was a carousel of course. This kid has no fear! I know I will be worried when he is older!
I can't get over how smart noah is. not just regular smart like knowing how to spell his name and knew his alphabet before age 2 and how to count to 20 and all of his colors and shapes. but he is astutely smart, very aware of his surroundings. Last Tuesday we brought noah to the bushnell carousel in Hartford. This Friday we brought noah to six flags, and had to take 84 East to get there. As we approached the city, noah got all excited and started saying the carousel was there. I was like, joe, how does he know that? then he pointed to the gold building which was right next to the park. he saw the sky scraper way up in the sky and knew where he was, after only have been to the bushness carousel one time. then as we got right before the asylum street exit, he got all excited and said "right there! carousel! right there!" How did he remember, at age 2 1/2, that the asylum street exit was the correct exit?

and at six flags, way in the parking lot, he pointed to the top of a building in the distance and said it was the carousel. As we got inside the park, sure enough, he was correct. That very building he pointed to way far away, was infact, the carousel.

we went to lexi's 3rd bday, and noah blew chrissy and debbie out of the water with the fact he could spell his name. chrissy made him a goodie basket with his name on it and he quickly and correctly spelled his name. they could not believe it, and not to appease him, but for real, were in shock!

he likes to look at things and figure out how they work. there was a baseball game that picked up the ball and pitched it to the kid. he did not care to play with it, but figure out how it worked. I wonder if he'll be an engineer some day? he was so cute, lexi got a tricycle and noah was "fixing the wheels" for her. when he was complete, making sure they were all safe, he said, "ok, all done. wheels fixed". it was so cute he was playing and helping her. what a little man.

2nd week of summer vacation

noah is 31 months old. 5 more months until he is 3!!!!
we are home on vacation this week. We went to the carousel at Bushnell park in Hartford. Noah loved it!!! Today daddy joined us at art class and music class at gymboree. Tomorrow we are going to 6 flags if the weather is nice enough. Sunday we are going to see thomas at the thomaston train museum! and of course noah got to go to a car wash this week too. my truck has never been so clean!

noah's cdiff cleared up. the flagyl worked, thank God. His bottom healed and the scars are fading.

noah has a new molar growing in now, his 2nd one of the two year molars. He had a low grade temp of 101 the other night and he has a slight runny clear nose/histamine reaction going on. He gets so excited over the new tooth! he likes to play dentist now and look into my mouth.

noah is so funny!! he has been super clingy lately and keeps asking (demanding!) that I lay down with him and sleep at night. I tell him my bed is in the other room and he cries.. so last night I gave him his huge life-size elmo to sleep with. the one you push his stomach and he talks. so last night on the monitor, we hear elmo talking. so we turn on the video and watch... "GIVE ELMO A HUG" and so noah hugs him. "YOU ARE ELMO'S BEST FRIEND." noah responds," thanks elmo" "LET'S GO FOR A WALK" noah responds,"ok, we can go to the car wash" "LET'S PLAY!" noah scolds, "no play! stay in bed!"

I was crying, laughing so hard. we video taped it (the monitor comes with cords you can plug into the tv and watch the baby monitor on the tv and we recorded off the tv). how I love this age!

noah is totally peeing on the potty now! just the poops he asks for diapers. but the catch, he has to be naked all the time from the waste down. so if you come over, there will be a potty in the middle of the living room and then you will see a half naked two year old running around that has no shame, just tons of precious innocense! he got his second train tonight from all the holes being punched in the thomas card!!! way to go noah! he is so proud of himself, too. he does a pee-pee dance! it looks like a cross between the chicken dance, hiphop and white boy dance!