Noah 2.5

Today, on 10-10-10, Noah is officially 2 1/2 years old! It is SO hard to believe! He's growing up way too fast and honestly it makes me pretty sad to think that tomorrow he will be closer to age 3 than age 2 :( Time marches on I guess.

Here's what I want to remember about my first baby boy at age 2 1/2

• Last time we went to the doctor he weighed 33 lbs, and according to our doorway measurement he is 37 1/4 inches tall
• He no longer wants to eat dinner at all. He eats a good breakfast and lunch but has no interest in dinner most of the time. Every morning he asks for pumpkin muffins for breakfast, and he is not a happy camper if we don't have any. So I pretty much have to make a batch of pumpkin muffins 2-3 times a week! He also loves grapes right now, and he loves bananas like always. He also likes mac & cheese with green peas for lunch.
  
• He wears 3T shirts and 2T or 3T shorts/pants. He wears size 9 shoes.
  
• He goes to bed between 8-8:30 and wakes up in the morning between 7-7:45. He takes a 3-hour nap every afternoon. He loves to have 4 pacis (I know, I know), 2 stuffed animals, 2 blankets, several books, and usually some little cars in his bed with him.
• He knows all his letters, colors, and basic shapes. He counts to 13, and he can count actual items up to about 5. Like, how many grapes are on your plate? And if there are 5 or less he will count them correctly. Any more and he gets a little tripped up.
• He's our little athlete. He spends pretty much the entire day playing some kind of sport. Like I posted about a couple days ago, his current favorite is most definitely golf. He also loves football (throwing and tackling) and basketball (shooting from really far away, he refuses to shoot closer). He went through a major baseball phase and is sort of over that right now, but he does still play baseball at some point every day. Just not all day long anymore! He really does have a lot of natural athletic talent and I hope that he's always able to enjoy sports and have fun playing.
  
• He loves to color, play with cars & trucks, and play outside.
  
• He's a little social butterfly. He absolutely loves his little friends. His best friends right now are Annette, Ada and Ruthie. He asks for them all the time. Little ladies man :) But his all-time favorite friends to play with are his cousins Brady, Emma, and Mollie. He also loves Ellie & Annie of course, but those 3 are closer to his age and he is ALWAYS asking for them. ALWAYS.
  
• He has transitioned so well into his role as a big brother and I couldn't be more proud of him. He truly loves Sam so much and he is a great helper. He brings him his paci when he's fussing and says "shh, shh, shh Sam" He will say "what's wrong Sam? I'm sorry." He's gentle with him and hasn't ever tried to hurt him. He does sometimes get jealous when I have to give Sam a lot of attention, but he never takes it out on him. He just gets clingy and fussy and wants me to hold him.
  
• He LOVES going to school and church. He goes to his Moms n More class at our church on Tuesdays, and to MDO at another church on Thursdays and every other Wednesday. He adores his teacher Mr. Bill at MDO. Whenever I ask him who his friends are at school he just says Mr. Bill. I hope he is making little friends his own age too :) On Sundays and Tuesdays at our church he has been learning about all about the things that God created, and he likes to talk about the things that God made (trees, birds, the sun, etc).
  
• He loves to sing! Especially Jesus Loves Me. He sings it to Sam sometimes and it is way too sweet.
  
• Hopefully he will be fully potty trained soon. If we had the time and energy right now it would definitely be done, but it's just difficult with a newborn around so we aren't going full-force with it now. He's been using the potty for months & months, we just haven't buckled down and gotten rid of diapers for good.
  
• He has a little sensitive streak that is really kind of sweet and frustrating at the same time. Sometimes when we have to get onto him for something, he just completely loses it and gets SO, SO upset. Like his feelings are hurt. He wants to just be held and hold us so tight and cries so hard. It's hard because I want to just cuddle him and apologize and tell him it's ok, but also he has to understand that there was a reason we got onto him in the first place! It's a balancing act.
  
• He is just the sweetest, funniest, happiest little boy and we love him so unbelievably much. I can't even imagine life without him and certainly don't want to! He is such a bright spot in our lives. We love you little man!

These pics are from a couple outings he went on in the last week. Last weekend he went to the pumpkin patch with my brothers & their fams, and last Monday Josh took him to an event put on by the fire department event where he got to "drive" fire trucks, meet firemen, and eat a snow cone!