Long night

How come kids only get sick at night? You spent the better part of last night (10:45 -7:00 am) throwing up. So sad. We all had the same thing for dinner (chicken enchilada's) but you did have hot dogs for lunch earlier. I came down to check the package and the sell date was October 20th -so, it's a good chance that was the cause.

Sorry little buddy. I'm obsessed with dairy expiration dates, but I guess I should start checking the processed meats as well.

 I think we'll be watching a lot of movies today.

All aboard!

A cardboard box, duct tape, spray paint, a flashlight and a little dry ice.

Some overall's from Savers and a borrowed engineers hat.

Oh, and a really loud whistle, provided by the train conductor himself.
 

My (almost) three year old.

It's so weird that you're going to be three next month.  Every year (at least for the first 5 or so) seems to be such an accomplishment -for more reasons than one!  You are definitely a bit more secure on your feet, you haven't had any trips to the ER for ages now.  You can run and climb and jump and do all sorts of weird, scare your grandma's to death sort of maneuvers without a lot of pain.  You are still sporting at least one bruise on your head, and a half dozen on your legs, but you are getting better!

You are full swing in the 'kids say the darnedest things' stage.  Grandma Hardcastle watched you guys for a bit last night and tried to get you to go to bed (something that dad and I have been struggling with the past few weeks).

At first, you came downstairs while Grandma was cleaning up your toys.  You quietly announced that you needed to help grandma clean up.  You then (as slowly as possible) put your toys, one by one, in your toy boxes and went back to bed.  Your next complaint was that your tummy hurt.  "I don't know what is wrong with my tummy,  I have too much food in it, it's too hard to sleep."

You say "Oh, that sounds like a good idea" and "Oh, sure" quite often.  You absolutely light up when you notice that Kate's awake.  You like to give her hugs and kisses, whether she is wanting them or not.  She just adores you as well, and try's to 'get you' where ever and what ever you are doing.  You often retreat to the piano room or outside so you can play without a little sister taking all of your toys.  You're not always so nice though, you will sometimes push her down either when she's trying to bother you -or you're bored.  You always try to get me to leave your two alone, "Go away mom, I'm playing with Kate".

When you say your prayers at night, and I say "Please help me to be a good listener" you always add, "... at the park".  I believe it's your way of reminding me that you'd like to spend all of our days together at the park.  I try to get you there at least every couple of days.  We'll have a hard winter, I suppose.

You watch too much TV and play with the iPad too much.  I try to get you to do other things and get us out of the house everyday, but I'm still not perfect in that respect.  You still climb on everything, couches, counters, dressers, desks, cribs -if it's above ground, you'll climb on top.  We're working on that one too.

But, I think you have good manners -please, thank you, you're welcome, pardon.  You are getting better at listening to mom (and dad) and you're actually working on better table manners.  You love pancakes and syrup, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and cereal.  Chocolate milk, water and ALL fruits.  I have to stop you from eating fruit during the day.  I'd run out of banana's every day if I didn't.  Banana's, apples, oranges, grapes, and peaches.  Vegetables are a different story, but we'll work on that too.

 These are your train's snow plows.  

 On Jodi's new exercise machine.  

 Playing in Big Matt's new kayak.  

 All dressed up for church this last week.  

 You're new backpack and church bag.  It used to be mine.  It's just a lucky coincidence it's the red sox colors!  

 At the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.   

 I just love the things you come up with when you're playing.  

You're learning new things every day and your little brain seems to be working overtime.  It amazes me the new things you say and do everyday.

Goodbye mom...

Success

"So... is this normal? Hyrum said he needed to go poop, so I helped him on the potty, and he just went." (Question from dad this morning, who has been gone for 2 weeks and I was away on my girls weekend).

It is now!!!

I hesitate to say this, but I think we've made it kid. There were a few moments (and weeks) I wasn't sure it would ever happen. But, then it seemed like something clicked and all of the sudden you were asking to go, and we were having no accidents. Ever. I'm sure we'll have accidents in the future, and we haven't even attempted naptime and bedtime, but we'll start thinking about that when you're three.

Here's a game you were playing with dad the day he left for Rhode Island.

And here is why you are uncle Gordon's FAVORITE nephew -you just love the 'cruiser.