Big boy bed

28 months 5 days
Noah has been sleeping well for naps in his big-boy bed. I am so proud of him! He stays in his bed the whole time and waits for me to say ok when it is time for him to get up. Last night was the first night he slept in his bed for the whole night!!! We are so proud of him!!!

noah fell the other day and hit his nose (nothing happened, no marks, no blood). He was crying so hard (the nose does hurt!) and came running for me and asked "momma fix! momma fix! bandaid! I need bandaid!" so I gave him one of those little circle dot ones and he put it on the end of his nose! he looked so funny/cute that I started to tear up. then he asked why I was crying, and I said, "b/c you got hurt, momma cries when noah gets hurt." so all day he kept saying, "momma cry". it is so cute that he notices everything and says/repeats everything!

He loves to give kisses goodbye and mimick me when I go "mwa" when kissing him. so tonight, before I was leaving for work, he kept kissing me and going "mwa" and then kept saying "more mwa, more mwa." He is such a character!

another fun thing he is doing is singing his abc's now and counting to 20. He can start to identify quantity, too. He saw two frogs on the tv screen and told me. The other day at Lucia's office, he was playing with her business cards. I asked him to count them, and he did, each one, up to 10!

He loves to sing the "play with me sesame" theme song, too. and at night, when going to sleep, he'll sing "rock a bye" with me, but really focuses on the "fall down" part of the song. wish I could sing something more positive, but it is such a ritual between us, as long as I can remember, now noah ask for me to sing it. "amen, rock a bye?" asking for prayers and sometimes, "amen, again?" to pray again, and then for me to sing.
I just can't get enough of him!

17, 18, 19, tummy!

27 months, 3 weeks

I am trying to transition noah to his toddler bed. Yesterday he kept getting out and playing around in his room on and off for 20 min. It was a good first try and I put him back in his crib. Not as a punishment, but as a first trial. Today I put noah in his toddler bed again to trial for nap. I have to keep going up reminding him to stay in, and he is listening better today. just horsing around mostly in bed, playing and talking. it is a slow transition, I guess. I will just be patient and keep going up to ask him to get back into bed and not expect it to happen over night. I will have to realize that his naps will be shorter, than in the crib. but I also have to realize that he is growing up. The next child, I will not put the toddler in their room until it is time to transition. I think what made it hard on noah is that I use the bed for noah to play and read on, so how can I expect him to sleep in it, if after all these months I have been letting him play on it? silly mommy! Also, I want him to be able to sleep in the twin bed this summer in the cottage in Rhode Island that we are renting without having to bring the pack n' play.

Forgot to mention about 2 weeks ago, he had his first peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. He did well, no allergies, thank goodness.

He is getting over another stomach bug that he and joe both got. It was really awful, non stop vomiting for the both of them. Luckily Noah bounces back quicky. Joe on the other hand landed in the ER. I think Joe had it worse than noah.

Noah is talking so much, learning new words every day. He asks me to open the shades in the morning, "OPE shaybee" Not open shade. "close the door" at night sounds like "call joe". lol sesame street is finally "sesame steet" not "sessa".. I love hearing him talk!

He loves his friends in play group. He loves saying hello to "emm mama" (emma), "zame" (zane) and he says sarah and andrew correct and notices when one of them is missing. yesterday he said "andrew coming." so he knew he was missing.

we are playing outside a lot more, now that spring his here. the bad thing about winter is that noah got hooked on tv more than I had anticipated. He is obsessed with sesame. ("play with me sesame", not sesame street, although he calls it that).

Noah always amazes me, each day, with how smart he is. Today at lunch, Noah was counting his little pieces of corn as he was moving them from the left side of the plate to the right. He was counting 1 to 10 and I laughed because he sped counting from 6 to 10, like an experienced counter does. Then he proceeded to count to 14. I just stopped and stared, my mouth gapping open. I had no idea he could count to 14!! I helped him count to 20 and he had no problems doing it. The funny thing was twenty was "tummy"! I love how smart he is!

I love you, Momma

(27 months)
Today, for the first time, Noah said, "I love you, Momma." We were leaving gymboree, and I kept saying I love you, I love you.. and he repeated it, adding Momma, at the end. I thought that was the sweetest thing! I just huged and kissed him. He said it again later that night.

I love these days. I don't want him to grow up. He yells, "momma!!" from across the room and runs right to me and gives my leg the tightest hug. He does this several times a day.

I am so scared for him to get older, knowing how precious these young toddler years are. I pray that God keeps his heart tender. He is so innocent, no cares in the world and just enjoys being 2. Watching an ant crawl on the driveway, playing outside with a shovel and dirt, playing with his friends in playgroup or gymboree, throwing a ball to Paris, yelling "hello" through the hallway vent into the basement, taking a bath and playing with the bubbles, watching sesame in the afternoon and curious george and clifford or super why in the morning with momma as I drink my coffee. getting excited because nana and grandpa (pappa john this past sunday) are coming over. smiling and getting excited because he loves to count to 10 with me as I drive and then say his alphabet and colors. singing rock a bye baby each night before bed and praying to Jesus. I love these days so much, it hurts to know it won't be like this forever; here's praying for fun school age and teen years.

rock-a-bye-baby...

(almost 27 months)

I am totally not pushing noah on the potty. he says, "I gotta go pee pee" and will sit on his potty fully dressed. just copying me. he tells us about 50% of the time when he has poops, after the fact. so he is starting to show signs of readiness... this summer will be the time, when he is only wearing shorts and a top, not 13 layers...

Noah is growing like a weed. He still is in 18 month pants, but they are quickly becoming high-waters. He is just a little too short for 24 month pants but can wear them now, where as a month ago, or just a few weeks, a couple pairs were just way too long.

He is recovering from a stomach bug, which unfortunately triggered his reflux again. He was only vomiting in his crib at night, which was an awful sight and smell in the morning.

He had a so-so Easter and good Friday, as he was sick, but still enjoyed family time. He loves to say beCKy, emphasis on the hard k sound, and Dan, and still says emmma and baby weeoo. He just started saying "poppa" for grandpa. and nana has always been nana. my mom came to visit a week before easter and noah knew right away she was nana and said hi nana and when she was leaving, bye to nana. Even though he does not see her too often, he still knows who she is.

He loves taking his vitamin each day, or "one blue one--sin" as he calls it. It started as giving him "one blue one", and telling him it was medicine, which is why he could only have one blue one. Just recently he began calling it "medicine" finally, instead of "sin".

At night for the longest time now, as long as I can remember, I have been singing "rock a bye baby" to noah, and before naps, too. Well, he has finally learned the lyrics and will sing along with me and at the end of each line, will open his mouth up really wide and sing loudly and shake his head like he is some great opera singer.. It really is so funny to watch.

He loves music, singing, and playing any instruments and "rock band" which Joe and I made up to play along with him. I really think he will make a hobby or career out of music.

I just have to keep saying how fun noah is. The things he comes up with, the faces he makes, the words he says, never cease to amaze me. He was drinking his milk and told me it was his coffee.. I did not even know he knew what coffee was, or that I drank it. But it goes to show how much he does listen and pay attention.

He was acting silly at dinner and making Joe and I laugh, unintentionally and I said to joe, this is why I stay home with him, instead of working full time. Just sheer joy he brings me. I know he will never remember any of this, but I will.

He is starting to tell us when he has poops.. or "pups" or "popes"... so we slowly are on our way, non-rushed to potty training.

He still loves to play in his bed, but loves to sleep in his crib. He'll be ready to transition when he is ready. simple as that.

Over the last week or so, we have noticed words that noah has been saying for a while, although previously pronounced incorrectly, he is starting to say them right. For example, he is now saying "pappa" for grandpa, instead of "boppa". He says frog, instead of "fop". Alright, instead of "awfight", TV instead of "weewee", mommy and mom, in addition to "mamma", daddy and dad, in addition to "dada". sesame street, which used to be "sesame" and prior to that, just "sessa". "hanging" is still vacuum though. and the latest which took us a week to figure out, "dadoff"... is pizza!!!

He now starts sentences with "why, what and where" when asking an appropriate question. "why is it off?" for example, when turing off the tv or light.

I love hearing him say "thanks" now, when you give him an apple, or a dropped block, or a napkin (which he asks for to wipe his hand or mouth).

He is using pronouns now, all the time. mine, I, you, it's, for example. and he can say his name! Not sure if I wrote about it, but he finally started referring to himself as noah, not baby or ray. where did he get ray from?

and the best is the singing. He now sings "jesus loves me". The part he does best is at the end, "yes jesus loves me, yes, jesus loves me, yes jesus loves me, for the bible tells me so....." and he'll just sing it right along!

I guess the point of all this is to just share and note how much he is changing and growing up. and I don't want to miss any of it.

2y, 2m, 2w or 26.5 months

Today I decided it was time to get rid of noah's high chair. He has been eating well in the booster seat and today I just had enough of cleaning the high chair again... so up in the attic it went after one final good scrubing.

We are starting to play outside and go for our walks. It is a little bit chilly, but so fun to be back outside!

I was leaving for work tonight and Noah gave me a big kiss and then asked me to kiss his foot, then knee, then toe.. he is so funny. and at dinner now, he is doing this cute thing of mimicking Joe eating.. makes this funny face with his lips pursed out. This kid has such a sense of humor!

He has been so great about praying with us at meal times (bows his head, closes his eyes and put his hands together. sometimes he'll even initiate it!)

He also has been praying before bed with us, but now he'll kneel before his little race car bed and pray with us. I love how he does it automatically, with joy.

He is so funny with his sock puppets, or sar-packs or sock-pup, either one. He'll take off his socks and put them on his hands and those are his little sock puppets.

His favorite breakfast is "shake-shake, waff"...little organic waffles with shake-shake (cinnamon and sugar). He also loves to eat the mashed avacado and banana, too. same food from when he was a baby!

His funny words are "hanging" for vaccuum. When you ask him to chose a bib to wear out of the drawer, he always chooses "kitty et-day boom"... kitty birthday bib, or a picture of an animal (not sure a cat) on a happy birthday bib. and blue berries are "bee-you"... but he can certainly say blue and berry.. he is so cute how he puts things together.

"I have pups"

(26 months)
so, exciting news for today,... noah told me he had poops! he always would tell me no! when I smelled something.. you know, not wanting to stop playing to get a diaper change. well today he was kneeling on the kitchen chair eating his snack and started saying he had "pups" .. it took me a minute and I realized he meant poops. so I went over and asked, "noah, do you have poops?" and he said "uh huh" and picked his hiney up automatically for me to do the "sniff test"... ohmygosh, I almost fell over laughing!! such innocence!

He is talking so much and even saying words that I had no idea that he knew. As he was leaving my bedroom today, he caught a glimps of my necklaces hanging on the necklace tree. He points to them and says, "ohh, beautiful!!" I had no idea he knew that word and how to use it appropriately. He continues to count, identify letters and numbers and colors. He truly amazes me!

Life with a two year old...

25 months, 2 weeks
I just can't get over how funny Noah is. At lunch today, he intentionally kept hitting his hand on the tray or his cup, and then look at me very seriously and sadly and say, "boo-boo, boo-boo" and then lean his hand toward my mouth to kiss it. He did this repeatedly and each time, he was as serious as the last, no matter how much I laughed. Then he says, "Hey, mom!!" like, don't ruin my fun here, and joined in the laughter.

I came home from work one morning and see a cooking pot in the living room, with lid, and a couch pillow on the dining room floor, with a hat. What is the answer to this riddle? Life with a two year old. Life is never ever dull, nor boring. It is never ceasing amazement.

I love how fascinated Noah is with mail trucks, cars, and large trucks, air planes and helicopters especially. He is 100% boy. How does he know to knock his home depot tractor over to fix the wheels with his bob the builder tools? It has to be ingrained in him.

Looking at Noah, I see what it means to have pure innocence. He is never mean nor malicious. He would never want to hurt anyone or anything. LIFE-- has not gotten to him yet. He does not know cruelty or deceitfulness. He is 100% honest and will let you know if he disagrees with you at any given time. When does life start to wear these beautiful qualities away in a person? As he was settling down for his afternoon nap today, I could hear him giggling on the baby monitor. I turned the picture on to see what he was doing.. He was tickling himself and cracking up. Laying on his belly, tickling his back and laughing whole-heartedly. What joy! If only life could really be that simple.

One characteristic of Noah is that he loves animals. He loves all of his stuffed animals, and sleeps with kitties, puppies, frogs, bear and stinky. He derives great joy from going to the pet store and watching fish swim, birds chirp (coo-coo as he calls it), cats lounge in their crates and mice run on their wheels.

He is amazing with his numbers, colors and letters. He correctly stated all the letters to the word "CASTLE" when he saw it displayed on TV. He can count to 10 and identify all his colors, yellow being the cutest to hear, as he wiggles his tongue out of his mouth across his lips when saying it.

He has a lot of fun playing with paris, and feeding him dinner and taking his dog bowl away when done. I hope he continues to be a good helper.

He started story time at the Plainville Library, to which he says is "eh tay tay.. books" and always has to say goodbye to the library when we leave. He does not like sitting in circle time and participating yet, but we have only gone twice. I am trying to get him prepared for preschool, while a little more than a year away, but getting him used to the idea of structured play.

His favorite people (besides mom and dadda) are nana and grandpa. He spent the night over there recently and Noah had a wonderful time. He also loves Emma and Leo and asks for them often.

When I look at Noah I see 100% pure joy and feel nothing but love. I am his number one fan. I will teach him that he will be always loved, no matter what. That Joe and I are his best friends and will support him no matter what his future endeavors are. I wonder if he will ever remember how much fun we have together. How he knows automatically when he sits, my lap will always be under him, he never has to look for me. That I read to him, sing songs, play games, prepare endless meals, offer drinks, keep his bottom dry, tuck him in, and most importantly, say prayers. I know he won't remember these days, but I hope it shapes him to be the wonderful young man that he will grow to become one day.