My 2 year old

• Lennox is pretty much conversational but he still mixes in a little gibberish here and there
• He says, when attempting unsuccessfully to pee pee on demand, "nope. it not working." He is actually very upset by things not working. He usually wants me or Jay to "pix it" or he throws it across the room. ha ha. I know you people out there that are laughing at me getting a taste of my own medicine. It is so hard to discipline a child when you know EXACTLY where they are coming from with their behavior... and they seriously can't help it!
• He is still very OBSESSED with heavy equipment and hauling dirt or digging more dirt or pushing dirt or scooping dirt. Just yesterday he threw his new front end loader across the room because it wouldn't dump dirt into his dump truck exactly how he thought it should... and he needed a nap.
• He is really good at recognizing and saying the names of shapes.
• He is still not so good at identifying colors. He can match colors though... even if they don't have the correct name.
• He is stubborn, stubborn, stubborn
• He is also so sweet when he wants to be. I was crying the other day and he followed me through the house giving me hugs and telling me "Poor Mommy. It's alright mommy... you ok? all better." how could that not make it all better?!
• He is weighing in at 28.5 lbs approximately.
• He has not been a good eater lately. He likes to chew food up then spit it out or just refuse to put any of it in his mouth. That doesn't stop me from making a plate as if he were a good eater. Jay thinks that just wastes more food but I think it just shows him that he's getting the same things on his plate, regardless of what he is willing to eat. I am not going to cook up a corn dog for his dinner while we eat a healthy balanced meal. It's just not going to happen.
• He loves his milk these days. He goes through phases with the milk but right now he loves it. I am not switching from whole milk until he starts eating better though.
• Lennox usually takes showers with me just to make life a little easier. Bending over the tub is getting to be difficult. When I turn off the shower he says "All queen mommy? I all queen." Then he waits by the door and points to the floor and warns me, "berry slippery mommy. YOu will slip down." He says those thing every single time.
• I am a little concerned because I bought him sippy cups at Marshall's the other day and they were Super Why. I had no clue who that cartoon was but he sure did know. He also knows Barney, Mickey Mouse, Sesame Street, Dora, Diego, Tom & Jerry, Backyardigans, Clifford, and some others I have never heard of. So, my concern comes in because I only let him watch Dora, MM, and Sesame Street... so who is letting him watch all of this other stuff? possibly the summer baby sitter? hmmmm.
• He loves to swim and has no problem jumping right into the water, regardless of whether he is wearing floaties or if someone is there to catch him.
• I moved all of his baby toys out of his room and into the baby's room so he could have a place for his big boy toys. As much as he loves his trucks, I have noticed that he has only been playing in the baby's room with baby toys? Go figure.
• He is getting more and more accurate at counting objects which makes me happy.
• He still can't hold up 2 fingers to show that he is two so he holds up five fingers and grabs 2 with the other hand.
• Thank you is pretty much always "tank tu, welcome"
• When he does something wrong, like spit food out on the floor, he immediately looks away and starts changing the subject so I will not be mad. It doesn't work (most of the time).
• He has been without a pappy for about a week. It wasn't a big deal, we just didn't give it to him and he didn't ask.
• He must be getting taller because his jon jon's are starting to pull in the crotch.
• Shirt size - 2T, shorts/pants - 24 M or 2T, shoes - 6 or 7 unless I have a cute 8. He's like me, he's flexible with size if there is some kind of bargain involved!
• His other favorite things to do are play with the water hose, read books, shoot the basketball or throw the football, and play with grandparents. When we get off of the exit and turn right toward our house, he usually cries and says "no, dat way!!" pointing to the left so we can go see Papa.
• He is finally getting interested in his Leap Frog letter magnets. That will be exciting if he starts to recognize the letters. He did ok for a while but regressed. Ah well, that's a toddler.
• He starts school after Labor Day. I am nervous to find out if he is actually not well behaved. You know, sometimes it is just hard to see your own child objectively. Of course you are blinded by how much you love them but I do try to be somewhat realistic. I am both looking forward to and apprehensive about what the teachers have to say about him.
• As always, I can't believe how fast time flies. A TWO YEAR OLD?! I don't know what to say except that he is loved beyond measure. He is the best thing that has ever happened to either of us. That's all I have to say about that.

It's sad when they misunderstand

I asked Lennox if he wanted me to get his supper which he excitedly answered YES! Too bad he thought I said "do you want me to get you a sucker?" Poor guy. It took him while to get over that one.

It's going to be a uni....

When I saw this picture, I had to laugh. I wasn't just laughing at that face he's making but, if you can zoom in, you can see his eyebrows. This child has NO chance at not having a uni-brow. Jay and I suffer from this condition but, luckily, there is a remedy! I just don't know how young is too young to start "maintaining" the brow!

Out Takes... well, actually they are all out takes

"Cheese!"

"Hold elmo like this?"

"what do you want from me?"

"What's on my head?"

"STOP with the pictures"

"here, you take elmo... i'm done"

So the photo shoot for the invitation didn't go so well... but I knew it wouldn't.

4th of July

Since he can't show me a 2, he shows me 5

"I wanna see dennx"

"two pibes"

Lennox & Meme... who would just love this pic (sorry mom)

I think he looks like Jay here...

Aquarium

He was basically glued to the fish tanks the whole time

Lennox & Mary Margaret checking out the fish in the swamp exhibit

Lilly, Lennox, MM, & Kaycee (it is really hard to take photos of kid's faces at the aquarium)

Last month we met Megan & her girls and Kristy, Kaycee, and Brandon at the aquarium in NOLA. There were about 10,000 kids there from every day camp throughout the city but Lennox didn't seem to mind. He pushed his way to the front and made sure he got to see what he wanted to see! ha. What can I say? He certainly isn't timid... and I am so glad! Thanks to Megan for sharing her free passes with us!

Lately....

• Feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt and pity for Lennox because he is only going to be the baby for a little while longer. I know that it will be good for him to have a sibling but I also feel like I am taking something away from him by having her... I hope that is normal. I think that is why I can't just toughen up and make him stay in the big boy bed.
• I went back to the doctor yesterday for my 25 week check up. My blood sugar levels have been ok since I started using the glucometer. I hope they stay that way. I am still convinced that I am not diabetic, I just can't pass the glucose tolerance test. What do these medical people know anyway...? (that's a joke)
• I go back to the doctor in 3 weeks and I get to have an unexpected ultrasound. Apparently last time the tech didn't get a good picture of the baby's face. Hopefully we can go ahead and verify again that, despite the size of my belly, there is still only one baby inside. I would also like confirmation that I am, in fact, having a girl. If I am not having a girl, some of you might want to get my ebay seller id! This child's closet is already reaching capacity.
• We put together the new baby bed. I feel a little guilty that Lennox got a very nice bedroom set when he was born and this baby gets a crib from Hudson's with a garage sale dresser. Times are rough people! It will be cute when I am finished. Anyway, what is this guilt problem that seems to accompany pregnancy?!
• Lennox has decided that his name is spelled with only one N. L-E-N-O-X! I am proud that he can spell something close to his name but I don't know how to get him to add the extra N.
• Jay and I had our 5th anniversary last Friday. Yep, five years. I can't believe it has only been 5... seriously. We had a big celebration. I got home from work about 730 and made quesadillas then did homework! We are both such romantics.
• We picked out Lennox's presents for his birthday. Since his dream in life is to be a heavy equipment operator, we got him a remote controlled back hoe and bull dozer. I also bought him about 10 books... which I already gave him. Guess which one is his favorite!? The heavy equpiment book and he particulary likes the back hoe & excavator page. He stares at it for what seems like hours and says "OOooo see dat? See dat back hoe... What dis? Escabatator (or something like that for giant excavator)!" It's the little things. Now if I could just find someone with a bull dozer to come to the party...
• I finished one of my classes and have 2 tests left in the other one! Now that is exciting.
• I ordered cloth diapers. Laura.... you might be proud of me! I only ordered 10 because I wanted to see how it went before I made a huge investment. I am excited though b/c they are really cute. I am watching a few others on ebay so maybe I will get lucky.

Big Boy Bed HELP

About 2 weeks ago, Lennox decided he was completely finished with sleeping in a baby bed. No amount of coercing, ignoring, or discussing was changing his mind. He insisted on sleeping in "your bed." Initially, I thought that taking him out of his baby bed was a bad, bad, bad idea because then he would not be contained or restrained. He surprised me a few times though because I would put him in our bed and let him fall asleep. He wouldn't get up. He didn't try to come into the living room. He just went right to sleep. He did fall off the bed a few times but that's another problem that I think I can solve. Anyway, so Jay and I decided to go ahead and convert his bed to a double bed. Well, it seems that Lennox has no interest in staying put in his own bed. Every time we lay him down and tell him to go to sleep he cries and says "Way by me mommy/daddy.... way down wiff me." Now what kind of heartless soul can resist that plea? So, we end up having to lay with him until he goes to sleep. The trouble is that we fall asleep first. Then, even if we wake up later and get in our own bed, he comes to our room in the middle of the night and one of us ends up in his bed. What do I do though? I closed the door to his room and told him not to get up... he did anyway and then cried at the door until I went to get him. I keep talking it up but he's just not interested in staying in his room by himself. Does anyone out there have an ingenius solution to this problem? Please help me!

Quotes

We were riding along in the car, talking about something I don't remember and I asked, "Are you a big boy or a baby?" You looked at me with a confused face so I asked again, "Are you a big boy or are you a baby?!" Very seriously you said "I a gurl!" ha. I hope not.

You have started eating some of your meals at your little table. That is probably not a great idea because there is no strap on your little chair. But, you like it, so I let you. The other day (after you wandered away from your table) I said, "Go eat the rest of your watermelon. You like watermelon!" Hoping that would coerce you eat the rest of your meal. With that pouty mouth and eyes looking out from under your furrowed eyebrows, your response was "NO, I WIKE TWUCKS!?" Then you rolled your eyes. Ha. I guess you told me! I have NO idea where you would learn to roll your eyes. That is beyond me!

When I ask where the baby is you point to your own tummy and say "Baby Kister in der. Mommy BIIIGGGG bewwy..." ha. You have got that right.

Random Counting

I just have to post this like Lennox says it... I have tried and tried to get him to say it on camera but I have failed. I know that quoting your kids is annoying to those who don't speak baby talk but it's cute to me! :) I want to remember how he says this because he will talk plain one day, I know it.

When he counts he skips a few numbers but this is how it goes:
"one, two, tee, pour, pibe, sick, eight, nine, webben, twelb, tirteen, portteen, portteen, portteen,... tenty" I have no idea why seven has never existed in his vocabulary and ten has suddenly disappeared. Now there are several fourteens and one is fading into the distance quickly. So, if you show him 2 objects he says "two, tee!" ??? Then I say One and he says "two, tee!" What do you do? ha.

4th of July

We had a great time visiting with family both sides of our family on the 4th. I'll try to post some pictures tonight... I thought Lennox was going to love the fireworks. He is not scared of many things. Actually, the only thing I can think of that he is afraid of is the bicycle horn at my parent's house. Oh, and he's deathly afraid of the chicken claw in his animal book! I have explained repeatedly that their claws are used to scratch the dirt to find bugs and worms so he is warming up to the chicken claw a little. Afterall, anything that likes to dig in the dirt can't be that bad, right?

Anyway, like I mentioned before, the kid has super sonic hearing or something. We were inside my parent's house and he heard the start of the fireworks. I didn't hear anything at all until he started crying. We all explained that fireworks wouldn't hurt him because they were so far away. We explained that they just make loud noises like thunder, which he's not scared of at all. We tried to get him to watch them light up the sky but he would have none of it!! NONE! He just cried and cried and buried his head saying "Mommmmmmyyyy... Piwaworks care me! Piwaworks loud like tunder... they care me!" So, we didn't force them on him and he slept with me that night. He woke up several times talking about the piwaworks and he is still talking about how much they "cared" him!? It's kind of sad. I'm glad I didn't take him to an actual fireworks show! That was just a disaster waiting to happen!

23 Months... already?

- Lennox is using “Peez,” “tank tu,” and “queue me” very well.
- He is already fascinated with burps and toots… he thinks they are so funny but he does say “queue me” after he announces “I tooted!” Like we didn’t already know?
- He is really enjoying the sand box Jay built for him. I’m not so sure I’m enjoying the sand in my house and in the bath tub but he does love it.
- We bought a tiny potty for him which he LOVES. He really likes to take it apart, stand on it, stand at it with his diaper off… He still hasn’t actually used it for its intended purpose though. But, hey, showing such interest can’t be a bad thing, right?
- He does talk about his baby “kister” but he thinks she’s in the back yard. I’m not sure what he thinks is in my belly!
- We gave our dog away about a month ago but he still insists on talking about Yogi poo poo in the yard??? Again, what a boy thing to fixate on.
- So, like my last post said, he chipped his front teeth. He wouldn’t eat anything for a week or so and he kept saying “no, hurt me!!!” Somehow 2 donuts and chocolate milk didn’t “hurt me.” SO… that was the end of that pity party. He is also getting some other teeth (about 4) so when he woke up the other day he pointed at his tooth and said, “mommy… dis toof HURT me!” What a big boy thing to say. Pin pointing the pain.
- Lennox likes to refer to Jay as “day” instead of daddy. We have discussed what everyone’s name is so plus he hears me call jay “Jay.” Apparently Jay doesn’t say my name that often because when I told Lennox my name was Laurin he started calling me “Aunt Laurin.” I guess that’s the last time he has heard someone refer to me by name… that’s kind of a weird thought huh? He doesn’t say his own name very well yet either. He says something like “Denx???”
- He is obsessed with noises. He has super sonic hearing or something because every single noise he hears, he says “what dat No-ise?” If you don’t answer, I promise he will keep asking until you do. Most of the noises he hears, I don’t even notice until her points them out. The other day he was sleeping in his room and an ambulance drove by. I knew it was coming so I stopped to listen. I heard Lennox from his room saying “Oooo, Mommy! What dat no-ise?”
- He is still obsessed with the back hoe, tractor, dump truck, and bull dozer. He always want to “scoop more dirt.” My dad lets him ride on the tractor with him and operate the loader so I guess that’s where he learned to scoop dirt.
- Lennox’s favorite condiment is “sywup.” Syrup is defined by him as maple syrup, ranch dressing, ketchup, or any other dip that makes life better. So, if he’s asking for sywup for his chicken it’s probably actually ketchup that he wants.

I CANNOT believe Lennox will be 2 in less than a month! Time goes by so quickly. I haven't even started thinking about his birthday party but I think that is because I don't want him to turn 2. I just want him to stay like he is now... part big boy, part baby. Isn't it weird that the center of your universe can be someone who has only been in your life for a short time? I swear, I had no idea how much I would love my child. I guess it is one of those things you just have to experience to understand. How lucky am I?!