My little man is 2!

My Max,

You are 2! This was such a fun birthday! You sang Happy Birthday to yourself ten times a day for a week. Seriously! It was so darn cute, we just couldn't stop you. Lulu, your new kitty cat (or sleepy sleepy I love you, as Noah named him) was your favorite present. That thing looks so darn real and sheds like it's real too.....ewwww. You allowed Noah to "help" open your gifts....such a 2nd born! As you can see, the cake was the highlight....I think the main reason you kept wanting to sing Happy Birthday too!

That's how you blow out candles!


So many new things happening for you since you are now 2:

1. You are potty trained! So proud of you!

2. You know most of your colors...finally (I was thinking you were color blind!).

3. You sing lots of songs and know the words to most of them....so darling!

4. You still LOVE to nuggle (especially with me!)

5. You still LOVE to climb (especially on the counters to get chocolate)


6. You love your brother and the two of you love to say "poop" and "poopy"

7. When you toot, you say "tooty fruity" to let us all know!

8. You love beer and wine (really!, we have to hide it from you if we are having a drink).

9. You have become a true 2 year old....opinionated, stubborn, sassy, and physical (But I just laugh at you cuz you're so darn cute)!

On that note, here's to your 3rd year of life! Can't wait to watch your little self grow and see how our family evolves!

Thanks for being my little man,

Mommy

Potty trained!

My Max,

You are potty trained!!!! You wear your cute little undies all day now (except at nap and bedtime) and even told you teacher that when you had to go 3 times today! Yippeee! It is so nice to have two kids out of diapers most of the day! One problem: you freak out when you have to go poopie. You ask for a diaper, but I'm trying to keep you out of them, so you end up going in your undies or on the floor : ) You won't even sit on the potty...we'll keep trying! Sounds gross, but you're so stinkin' cute and your my baby, so anything goes!

Something that melts my heart is when you get out of the tub you curl up on the floor on a "cozy" (your words) towel and "nuggle". So precious!

Climbing is your passion lately! We find you in the most peculiar places and as cute as you might be, this is driving me NUTS. Get down PLEASE!

Love you my almost 2 year old,

Mommy

Happy Halloween!

Dear Max (aka Robin),

This past month has been full of fall activities and lots of growing on your part! You had your first ear infection, had a girlfriend over (Sofia...fia as you call her with a HUGE smile of your face), and went trick-or-treating! You weren't very nice to poor Fia, but thank goodness your big brother stepped up and treated Sofia as a Redders boy should! You must've been playing hard to get! Look out girls!

Halloween was too fun this year! You didn't really love being Robin (you kept complaining about your costume being too tight), but you did LOVE the trick-or-treating and candy! You have a major sweet tooth...you had no chance being that you have me and your dad as parents..I love the chocolate, dad loves the sweet stuff, and you love it ALL!

The next door neighbors had a rat that you wanted to hold SO bad! You touched that thing with such excitement and loved it's tail....eeeewwww.

You have also been potty training yourself! We are so impressed with you and your ability to tell us when you need to go (most of the time)! You've had a few accidents but immediately head to the potty once you've gone in your pants : ) Nice try!

As you can see from the pictures, you LOVE to climb and are not afraid of anything (except you do hate the fireplace and beg for us to turn it off!). You also don't seem to feel like rules apply to you (take after a dad and grandma I know! as you will climb on everything even though I've told you not to 100 times!

My favorite thing that you do these days though is "nuggle". You'll come up to me, take my hand, and say, "Tum on, I wanna nuggle", as you pull me to the couch. Ahhhh, melts my heart!

Love you,

Mommy

Hippo Man!

Dear Max,

You LOVE hippos! We went to the zoo last week and I had to drag you away from the hippos! You were fascinated by their size and the fact that they could swim. You REALLY wanted to touch all of the animals, but of course, once I explained that we couldn't, you let it go!

You also love the Wiggles lately. You can sing a lot of the songs, but right now I think you're favorite one is Fruit Salad, Yummy, Yummy (which you sing in such a low voice).

Your Halloween costume came today and I'm not sure if you're going to want to wear it Trick or Treating. You keep complaining that it's too tight around the neck. You just wandered around in it today saying, "too tight, too tight". You are kind of whiney lately too...maybe you're getting some molars or something! Anyway, you are Robin...not because you have ANY idea who he is, but because Noah is Batman (he's obsessed) and you are his little side-kick, so it's appropriate!

Go Robin Go!

Love,

Mommy

Sweet Tooth!

Dear Max,

You LOVE sweets! Who doesn't, really? Here is a picture of you eating cinnamon sugar toast.....hmmm, I think you're licking all the sweet stuff and leaving the toast on the plate!

Falling asleep while eating has also happened a few times in your life. I think you try to keep up with the big dogs and sometimes just can't take it anymore...see below!

Daddy's birthday was this week and you wished him Happy Birthday every time you saw him. So sweet! Of course you loved the cake!

You can count to 10 now and can say most of your ABC's. You love Twinkle Twinkle and all of the Wiggles songs! You are having a little trouble with your colors (could you be color blind?). It's weird, we go over them and over them and it's like you've never been taught...makes me wonder.

You still love your paci and lovey. We were down to paci only at nap and bedtime, but once we let you have it in the car during a house showing that was at your nap time and it's back in your life now! Maybe when you're 2....

Til next week,

Love,

Mommy

Potty Time!

Mr. Max,

You have started going potty on the big boy potty chair and we are amazed! I seem to still think you've just turned 1 and really you are almost 2, so we should be expecting these things from you. But, you still seem like my baby! Sorry!

All of a sudden you are also VERY attached to me. You only want me for everything...bed, getting you out of your booster seat, wiping your face, getting you dressed (well, you really don't want anyone for that...you'd rather run around naked making us chase you!), on and on. You are so sweet with me and I'm am treasuring every minute nuggling with you!

I think you're going to be pretty athletic. You love going to Noah's soccer and karate practices, but I know you'd rather be out there doing it than watching all the action! You are fast and love anything to do with a ball. Swings are also a major obsession of yours these days! You could swing for hours and NEVER want to share it or let anyone else at the park even anywhere near "your" swing.

I love watching you grow up!

Love,

Mommy

Ribbit!

Dear Max,

You are ADORABLE! The other night after bathtime you wrapped yourself up in your frog towel and hopped around say "ribbit" in you cute, high pitched voice. You hammed it up for awhile, posing for the camera and then saying "see it, see it" so you could see your pictures. You seem to enjoy dressing up lately....wearing Daddy's glasses, my shoes, Noah's hats....I think you KNOW you're darling!

There are so many things you say throughout the day that I try to remember in order to write them to you. BUT, when I sit down to write at 9:00 at night I can't even remember my name! One thing that does come to me from today is when you and I were heading into the grocery store, you turned around to look in the back of the cart and said "Where Noah?". See, you had fallen asleep in the car and I dropped Noah off at his Dentist appointment with Daddy. You're used to seeing Noah hanging off the back of the cart and when he wasn't there, you missed him! Earlier today you were also missing him when you glanced over and noticed it was just you and I eating lunch together. You said, "Noah seeping?". He was at his friends house and I told you that and you said, "Why"? You didn't seem to understand why on earth he would want to be hanging out with a friend when he could be eating lunch with us!

One thing you don't seem to need is SLEEP! You're like your Aunt Jessie and it's driving me nuts. You like to stay up late and wake up EARLY. You wake up around 6:30am and say "All Done"! Aghhh, then Daddy or I (we take turns, nobody wants to get up that early) rest on your floor for as long as you'll be content in your crib looking at books and playing with whatever we throw in there for you. I wonder if you'll become like one of us and ever sleep in?!

Love you,

Mommy

No More Crying!

Dear Max,

You are doing so great at school! Today Daddy dropped you off and you didn't cry AT ALL! They said you didn't use your paci much and you talked a mile a minute! When I came to pick you up I saw you and your buddies walking down the hall, holding onto a rope so you all stay together. The little boy in front of you dropped his rope and you picked it up and held it out for him to get again. He kept "ignoring" this gesture and you kept trying again and again until finally he grabbed it and you guys went on your way down to you classroom. So sweet!

Keep it up!

Love you,
Mommy

First Weeks of Kids Day Out and Trip to KC!

Hi Max,

You are adjusting to Kids Day Out and LOVE MS. Karen. She's the only one who can get you out of the car without crying! Today was your 4th day and the first time you didn't cry when they got you out of the car! What a relief! Your teachers said you were walking around singing "Happy Birthday" today. I asked if you guys had celebrated a bday in class and they said No! You must have cake on your brain! You love sweets, just like me!

I was so lucky and got to take you to Kansas City last weekend to visit Gramma Marcia, Grampa Paul, Aunt Lindsey, Caden, Aunt Jessie, and Uncle Pat. You had such a great time and were so sweet! It was so much fun to have you alone and get some one on one time with you. You talked a ton and it made me realize how smart you are! You and Caden had a good time together at the park too!

You are really loving to sing lately. As a matter of fact, I heard you walking around singing to yourself last night. I stopped to listen and realized you were singing "Jesus Loves Me". Does my heart good!

Love you,

Mama