2-1/2!

Someone around here turned two-and-a-half years old last Wednesday... I can't believe that he's over halfway to three. That seems way too big! He's acting so much older these days, too. Speaking more clearly and more maturely, remembering so many things, understanding things we never would have guessed that he'd be able to comprehend... And the list goes on.

Some things that are making us smile these days:

- Questions like "Where go?" and "Who is?," the latter of which also means "What is it?" Also, "Daddy help you?" meaning, "Daddy, will you help me?"

- Singing songs from memory - and what a memory he has! Right now his favorite is Anthem Lights' "I Wanna Know You Like That." 

- Upon waking from his nap, immediately remembering exactly what it was we were talking about doing when he woke up and running to go do whatever it is. (i.e. Eyes open, AJ says "No rain? No rain on the sandbox? Play in the sandbox!" while running to the back door.)

- Talking about the baby, what baby will be doing once he or she is born, and about the birth. AJ is very excited to cut baby's cord, but always reminds us "No kid scissors."

- Asking for something (usually something to eat - he always wants something to eat), then nodding and grinning at us while saying "Yeeesss," as if that guarantees a favorable response. Unfortunately it doesn't always work, but it does always make us smile. Hopefully we'll get that on video sometime soon!

- Getting excited about recognizing letters. We don't do any kind of remotely formal learning around here; the most in-depth we get about the alphabet is reading "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (boy does he love that book!). But he's still recognizing "K about to cry!" and W, and "L knotted like a tie!," among a few other letters. He also asks us to write specific letters down on paper ("Big F, little f!"), and is even noticing the letters on highway signs.

- Remembering the author and illustrator of the books we read. It's not something we stress a lot while we read, beyond saying their names right after we read the title, but he's picked up on it anyway. He knows that all of the Bear books are written by "Karma Wilson" and illustrated by "Jane Chapman," that Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is written by Bill Martin "Jr! and John Archambault" and illustrated by "Lois Elhert," and that Hello Baby is written by "Jenni Overend."

- Asking questions about Jesus and heaven; for example: "Surfing in heaven?" I can only imagine how fun it's going to be to talk about what heaven really is or isn't like someday... I imagine remembering his questions are going to give us quite a few laughs up there!

- While watching football with Daddy, AJ started running around the living room in circles before falling down and fumbling the ball. Why? Because that's what he'd just seen the Cowboys do - no lie! We, of course, cracked up, and now when we ask him how the Cowboy's play he does the same thing - and we didn't even have to teach him! ;)

- Our boy has become a pretty good napper and sleeper; he naps around 10am for an hour or so, depending on when Daddy comes home from work. The second that front door starts to open, though, AJ is wide awake and ready to see his daddy! At nighttime, he falls asleep in his room and stays there until about 6:30am or so, most days. While I've been on bed rest, he falls asleep with me on the days that James has school or volunteering (three nights a week, total) and then gets carried to bed once James gets home. He usually nurses just once in the morning; pregnancy has made nursing drive me a little crazy, so I'm looking forward to things going back to normal - albeit a new normal - once baby is here. Every once in awhile AJ will talk about baby nursing too, and it's nice to hear him sound so at ease with the idea.*

We tried to take a few photos on Wednesday while we were downtown, before going upstairs to our midwife's office, but someone was a little too quick for us. Here's the best we could do:

Hiding his grin behind Daddy's shoulder.

Blurry boy: The best picture we could get!

This would be why...

There were too many birds to chase!

Happy Two-and-a-Half Years, AJ! We so love watching the little boy you are becoming, and we are so thankful God chose us to be your parents!

*I know that the subject of toddler nursing makes some people uncomfortable, but as a mama, I know how encouraging it can be to find that you're not alone in this often-not-talked-about part of mothering. So, it is in that spirit of encouragement and camaraderie that I write about it in this space. It is my hope that in not hiding this part of our lives, nursing can once again become normal (and far from newsworthy) for those who come after us, especially for our children and their families in the future.

AJ is TWO!

I can't believe it. Our sweet little boy is two today. How did that even happen? And as the days go by, this boy of ours is acting older and older. Here are the newest changes:

He's mastered the apostrophe: certain things are "Mama's," "Daddy's," and "AJ's."

He's also saying short phrases, especially "I do," all the time. From buckling his car seat to turning the pages of a book, everything prompts him to say "I DO!"

He also says "bless you" now whenever someone sneezes (or coughs)! How sweet is that?

He likes to "dump" things out, whether it's his little toy bin, a bag or container of food, or himself off of the couch (by Daddy), everything gets "dumped."

He's got all of his teeth now, with the exception of his two-year molars.

He is (mostly) potty trained! (Through no effort of ours, I must say.) On our three flights to VA totaling fourteen hours, he kept his diaper - singular - completely dry. We were beyond shocked, but when he continued to stay dry the next day, we figured it was time to go out and get the boy some underwear (we hadn't thought it necessary to pack any for the trip). He wore undies the entire time we were in VA and Philadelphia, with only a few rare accidents. What a great surprise!

How cute is he in his little boxer briefs? 

For the past three nights, he's been going to bed without a single fuss. I hug him, lay him down, we pray, then I kiss him goodnight. And then? Silence. All the way until the morning. How amazing is that?!

He knows that he is "two!" And he says it so cutely:

In lieu of more stuff for our now two-year-old, which we and he certainly can do without, we decided a trip to the Honolulu Zoo would be a fun birthday outing. Somehow, we avoided every drop of rain once outside of the car. We had a little picnic lunch, walked (a lot), and had a great family day.

Our first visit to the Honolulu Zoo.

Watching the white-handed gibbons, and listening to their loud "whoop"ing.

Big boy wearing his mama-made, daddy-inspired "dos" shirt.

A real smile while he and Daddy explored the goat pen.

This peacock just happened to be resting right alongside our path.

Handsome two-year-old.

Hanging out with the cool Hawaiian hippos.

Finally, a real smile from the boy! Just have to get a little silly with him.

And then five minutes later, only a couple minutes after getting into the car, exhaustion wins.

Happy second birthday, Andrew James!

23 Months

While I pretend that nothing big is happing next month, let's just focus on what's already going on, shall we?

As of February 12th, AJ has been putting two words together. First, it was "Ni-night, Daddy." The following day it was "Bye, Mimi." He's even saying "love you" now!

More new, frequently used words: Awesome, milk ("momp"), balloon, gone, me, I, moon, outside ("side"), phone ("shome"), cracker, granola ("gongonc"), sorry, sit, Missy. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot, as he's repeating pretty much everything these days.

He knows many animal sounds now. This should sum it up:

As of February 13th, he can (occasionally) jump and actually get both feet off of the ground. Who knew we'd be considering that an accomplishment? Apparently it takes more coordination than it appears!

He's now asking for "momp" (milk) daily, and as long as he's eaten his food, he gets it. He is still nursing multiple times a day, sometimes asking to nurse right after he finishes a cup of "momp," so clearly this doesn't seem to be a replacement for him.

He sings! The first song he sang, on February 23rd, was "Rise" by Shawn McDonald. He sings the last word of the line: "...rise..." "...me..." So cute! On March 5th, he started singing Newsboys' "God's Not Dead" while we were eating lunch.

His sweet face right after serenading me for the first time.

He's been incessantly slipping little bits and pieces of things inside the cabinet, and apparently (as I learned today), the fridge.

Time to put those muscles to use!

His other new favorite pastime? Putting all of the couch cushions on the floor and then jumping off of the couch onto them. So funny. He'll ask "mo?" and "momp?" to see if we want him to jump again. (Yes, milk and jump are apparently very similar words. You didn't know?)

Last, but certainly not least: HE SLEEPS! That's right. Finally, at 23 months old, for almost a week now he's been falling asleep and staying that way until morning (some days 6am, some 5:30, one not-so-great 4:20am wake up, and a glorious 6:40am this morning). He's even been falling asleep without us being in the room - I just lay him down, we pray together, then I kiss him and leave him with "Goodnight, I love you" - though we do play a 10+/- minute game of "AJ, stop talking or we'll have to shut your door." All in all, I'd call this a wonderful success!

Big boy on Ford Island. The trees on this island (all of Oahu) are awesome!

Up in the branches.

Trying so hard to pull the root up.

Silly boy trying to get us with his twig.

Seeing what he can make that twig to do.

I almost can't believe how much fun this boy is to spend our days with. We love you so much, Andrew James!  More than we ever could have imagined!

 Happy 23 Months!

22 Months Old!

Twenty-two months, and boy is he acting like it! This little boy is becoming bigger and seeming older every day. The new things he does, every day, are becoming a blur. I know that I am forgetting so much, but as life with a twenty-two-month-old speeds up, I find myself being reminded to slow down. To pay attention. To soak up each moment that I am blessed to spend with this sweet boy. For before we know it, we will realize how few those moments will be. So now, we stop. We close the computer, put down the phone, quit thinking about the to-do list. We do what we can to stay in the moment, to not miss these precious days. Days during which:

- He is talking so much more! Some new words: Airplane, not nice, snow, off, open, car, gracias, jet, mine. He's even starting to say people's names now, which is so sweet. In the last two days, he's begun repeating nearly any word we ask him to. A verbal explosion seems to be on the horizon!

- At bedtime, I always tell him that "Mama loves you and Daddy loves you," before I kiss him and lay him in his bed. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, he followed "Mama loves you and Daddy loves you" with "Jesus?" Boy, did that make this mama smile! "Yes, baby, Jesus loves you!" I told him. And not a single night goes by that he doesn't remind me.

- He also repeats "amen" after me when we finish praying at bedtime now, though it's usually quickly followed by a request for "more!" And so we pray again, as many times as the sweet boy asks!

(As you can see, I'm having some manual focus difficulties lately...)

He won't be two for another two months, but James ordered his gift early (and may or may not have had it put together before we even left for NY), so we gave it to him the morning after we arrived back in Hawaii. His reaction:

Followed by a big smile... Because of the balloons.

Yep, he hasn't even noticed the kitchen yet!

Oh, hey, this is kind of cool...

Finally actually playing with it.

Whoa! The oven knobs make noise?!

Signing "thank you" to Daddy.

Playing again later that day, after pushing the whole kitchen to the middle of the room.

Did you know that there are many alternate uses for a kitchen? Let us give you an example:

Why yes, this lovely kitchen does make a perfectly good step stool.

And wouldn't you know, our sweet order-loving boy always keeps his kitchen perfectly neat and organized. That is, when it's not being used for looking out the window, of course.

The Boy - 21 Months

Another month gone by already! Boy, I hope April takes its sweet time coming around... The pages of the calendar are turning much too quickly for my liking! As of today, our sweet boy is twenty-one months old. He's growing more and more each day, physically and verbally. My baby is seeming much too big these days!

- He now understands what it means to be "louder," particularly in the context of "Say 'bye'  louder, AJ!" His response: "BYEEEE!"

- He is repeating words like crazy. It's time to be really careful about what we say around here! Some new regularly used words are undies, ice, oso (bear), bowl,  eg-g, Josh, baby, and boo (boo boo). This list grows as the minutes go by!

- Speaking of baby, he finally likes his baby that we bought before we left for Italy. It only took about a month and a half to warm up to it, but now he hugs, kisses, cuddles, and gently lays Baby down in a nice, comfortable bed among the building blocks. As for babies in general, he's been getting so excited to see a baby in pictures, whether on the wall or on the yogurt container; and in person, pointing, smiling, and exclaiming (what else) "Baby!"

- He's been making these goofy faces at us out of nowhere, always unprovoked, looking for a laugh. He's such a silly kid.

- He's also been putting on little ukulele concerts for us, pausing every few notes to wait for our applause. How can we deny him? He also notices any kind of stringed instrument anywhere, which is sometimes amazing and always hilarious:

- Bedtime is tough. Most nights, it seems to take forever to get him to sleep. He just lays there, moves his feet and legs around, makes noise, talks to us, and generally tries to stay awake as long as possible. I know that this is just a phase, but I do hope it passes quickly. This mama is tired! Fortunately, he's been sleeping a bit better recently once he does drift off to dreamland. Maybe it will stick this time!

- We began potty training today after going through a diaper in less than thirty minutes yesterday - twice. We think that because he recognizes when he's going now, he makes an extra effort to get it out, and the diapers can't quite soak everything up that quickly. So, I wiped up various parts of the floor today more times than I can count, emptied out the little potty even more times than that, and tried to "keep calm and guide him on" (have you seen those posters?) this new adventure. May tomorrow be less eventful than today!

As always, I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting (like his recently acquired new tooth). I need to start keeping a daily journal or something lest I forget all of these wonderful, silly, frustrating, crazy moments that we are blessed to have with our sweet boy.

Here he is in all his silly, handsome glory while checking out the USS Parche memorial (the Parche was a submarine which sank 31,696 tons of enemy shipping during its six war patrols during WWII) on base today. Be still, my heart!

Running away from Mama & the camera.

What a face, and missing a shoe.  Such are the hazards of climbing a submarine.

Doesn't this face just make you melt?

Just me?

Really, that is just too much handsomeness for one face.

Happy 21 Months, Andrew James! Daddy and I love you more than you'll ever know!