Noah, Noah, Noah

I feel like I haven't posted much about Noah in awhile. He is at such a fun--and, yes, challenging--stage right now! He's getting to that age when kids just say the funniest, most random things and I love that. He keeps me laughing for sure, even if there are moments when he has me pulling my hair out. I am about 98% sure that his 4th 2-year molar and FINAL tooth in the teething process is pushing it's way through, so I'm praying that is to blame for most of his challenging moments. He's always been a bit of a handful when he's teething!

Anyway, we haven't been up to a whole lot, just enjoying life with the little guy. He is still a huge fan of the pool, even if we don't go quite as often as we did earlier in the summer. I do feel a little guilty about that, cause why should he suffer because I'm so large and easily exhausted? So I can see us spending more time there as the summer winds down and little brother's arrival gets nearer.


He absolutely loves to jump off the side of the big pool, and will do it over and over and over. He also does a great job of "swimming" back to the ladder to jump again. Of course he wears his floatie, but he will kick his legs to get there all on his own.

He makes lots of big messes:
But he also gets pretty annoyed with messiness and is really into cleaning up too! As long as it is his idea to clean up and no one has told him to :) Little stinker. Yesterday he had made a big mess and he claimed that his buddy Dalton did it. He hasn't even seen Dalton in over a week! Not sure where he got that from.

His favorite toy right now is his easel.

(side note: he's going to be ring bearer in Micah & Kelsey's wedding on Saturday and on this particular morning I had tried his shoes on him, then he refused to take them off!)
(side note #2: he's completely obsessed with these "Bug Pajamas" and hates wearing any others)

This easel is the greatest toy ever, he can do SO much with it. He loves painting (I highly recommend Crayola's No-Spill Water Colors. More like markers but he thinks he is painting), and he loves coloring with his dry erase crayons on the white board side of the easel. (I'm also a big fan of Crayola's dry erase crayons. Much better than markers, and truly washable--trust me!) That side also doubles as a magnet board and he spends lots of time playing with his Leap Frog Fridge Phonics letters on there. Tilly gave him Fridge Words for his bday, and along with many other toys I've had it stored away for a day when he needs something new. I think that day is coming! He's getting bored with just the letters. He has always loved Leap Frog's Letter Factory DVD and last week I got him the Word Factory one, which he now loves.

Yes, his letter obsession continues. He spends lots of time "writing" letters. He writes O's and M's perfectly and intentionally, but then he makes random little scribbles and claims that they are other letters :) Here he is with a sheet full of M's and O's. He was way proud and wanted me to take a picture to send to Mar Mar and D when they were in in Scotland (well, and he also said he wanted to show their dogs. He thought they went with them...)

He is pretty serious about his letter-writing, it is really funny. He holds the pen/crayon/marker/whatever very carefully with both hands and leans over with his nose on the paper and proceeds to write TEENY TINY little letters--mostly M's. It cracks me up because when he's just coloring, he scribbles all over the page using his right hand, but when he is "writing" it is much more careful and intentional.

We recently went to Krispy Kreme for the first time and I'd say he's a huge fan. Fun hat, free hot donut, cooking action to watch, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV--what's not to love??!Another funny thing right now is that he constantly wants to know where everyone is. He goes through the list at least 3 or 4 times a day. "Where's Daddy?" "Daddy's at work, he's working hard." "D work hard?" "Yes, D is working hard too" "Matt? Cott?" "Matt and Scott are at work too." "Em? "Emma is at school." "Where's Brady?" "He is somewhere with his Mommy." "Mimi?" "Mimi is working today." "Jim work hard?" "Yes, Papa Jim is at work." "Mar Mar?" "Mar Mar is probably running errands" "Where's Kelsey?" "Kelsey is ___(wherever)" "Mike??" "Micah is at work right now" "Where's Mollie?" "Mollie is at school" and ON and ON it goes...you more than get the picture. I am almost positive that he thinks Josh works with Papa D at his office, and that Matt & Scott do too. This conversation comes up every time we drive by there. He does know that Mimi works at their church, and he doesn't seem to think that Papa Jim or anyone else works at D's office, but he most definitely thinks Josh works there. He always asks when we drive by the golf course if Daddy and D are playing golf, and then I answer that no they are working today, so that's probably why he thinks that. He just assumes they are together. Funny boy.

Let's see....he seems to have sprouted at least an inch taller in the last few weeks. He's gotten very independent--everything is "I do it". He has become quite attached to his blankie. He's woken up at 6:00 am for the last 5-6 days (UGH). He is way interested in bugs right now. He still loves being read to. He loves getting Sonic drinks (ice water :)

That should get me about caught up for now, since this is Noah's "baby book" and all!