-Hand him his cup off the counter. "NO, I DO IT" puts cup back on counter and picks it up.
-Open the back door when we get home. "NO, I DO IT" closes the door and re-opens it.
-Attemp to put his shoes on. "NO, I DO IT" tries to put his shoe on only to hand it to you and ask for "help, pease?" I think you get the picture...Mr. Independent.
11-1-14 - We have cut out the morning nap. Took this picture at about 10 am...how are we doing?
I think he told everyone for a week "Daddy fix mommy's cars"
After our pumpkins rotted, Kiel threw them out and Jase noticed right away when we got home. Every morning that week, we had a conversation that went something like...
J - Daddy take a punkins
Me - Yes, daddy threw the pumpkins away because they were dirty
J - Oh no, my punkins dirty
Me - We'll get some more next year.
J - My punkins. Miss em!
Since Halloween, we regularly hear..."Cany? Kit kat? Sucker?"
And another current favorite is "STOP IT!" My mature response "No YOU stop it" may not be helping the issue. He has also started calling daddy, Kiel (insert laughing smiley face). Put those two new things together and you get the always hilarious, "STOP IT KIEL!"
But they are still best buddies...
Tonight, as most nights, Jase went into the bathroom and shut the door. Kiel was standing right around the corner so he knocked and Jase yelled, "I'M POOPIN, DADDY!" I laughed so dang hard...no denying he knows what happens in the bathroom since every time one of us walks in there he barges in and says, "What you doin Mommy/Daddy?" For the record, he was not pooping, but what a perfect response.
11-4-14 - Finally mastered the duck call...I have not decided how awful this could be.
11-5-14 - I think he likes the sheets I picked out for his big boy bed (transition to happen in 2015)...
11-8-14 - The plan for this weekend was to have a girls night out with Suzy, Nicole & Trina in Champaign and then meet Kiel in Bloomington Saturday morning to hand off Jase so he & Reagan could have a play date while the ladies & I ordered pizza in our yoga pants.
11-10-14 - We headed to the dr first thing Monday morning and while negative for strep, our NP gave him an antibiotic anyways since his throat was a wreck and he had developed a rash that resembled a strep rash. He was a champ when they swabbed his throat only crying until they handed him a sucker. Aside from that horrid cough and those red eyes, you'd never know there was anything wrong with the kid showing off for all the nurses with his new sucker and stickers telling them all what a dragon says, "Dragon ROAAAAARR!!!"
I've posted videos of Jase dancing from before he could crawl so we know he's always loved music, but lately he's started singing and it's so darn cute...
11-11-14 - Jase announced in the grocery store tonight "I wuv oooo, Mommy! I miss oooo a work!" And then when Kiel got home, Jase hugged his leg and said, "I miss ooo, Daddy!" I thought my heart was literally exploding at that moment...I guess he is listening when I pick him up from daycare and say, "I missed you while I was at work today, buddy!"
When he's not yelling at the kids at daycare because it's morning and he hasn't had a cup of "coffee", "STOP IT LUCAS!" or biting me because he doesn't want to do whatever it is I'm asking him to do...he is shocking us with his affection. There is rarely a diaper change that Jase doesn't grab my arm and kiss my elbow and say, "Hi Mommy!" I get the BIGGEST squeeze when I pick him up from daycare and all night long after we get home there are leg hugs, fishy kisseys, wuv ooos...the amount of times this kid says thank you is unfathomable. The other day I heard him on the phone in his new playhouse on the porch (which he still says, "Papa bing me house, tank ooo Papa!" weeks after Papa delivered it!) calling my dad, "Hi Gampa. See a big tuck. Bye bye, Gampa. Wuv oooo" My heart jumps up into my throat every night when I lay him down and he whispers, "Night night, Mommy" as I close his door. Ok, I'm done...for now.
"My ball Henny, my ball!"
11-16-14 - Boys will be boys...
11-23-14 - We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Torman's a little early this year and got this awesome picture of all the HAPPY kids with Grandma Farm for her birthday.
11-25-14 - This was the top story on my homepage when I got into work today...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ferguson-businesses-torched-in-overnight-protests/ar-BBfJTrf
All of the news updates are the same...disgusting. A community of people destroying their own community trying to prove a point. People have been injured and local businesses have been destroyed...they're doing exactly the opposite of what they are trying to accomplish. I watched a video of a young black man today talking about "personal responsibility" and I found myself shaking my head yes the entire time he was talking. The only message these
11-26-14 - Instead of heading out to the local bars to celebrate Black Wednesday with the rest of the town, we headed to The Henkel's to do what parents do...hang out with other parents and their kids
I joked that it was just as crowded (because of all the kids instead of drunk people) but the boys were cuter and I actually enjoyed hanging out with all the girls...but seriously. We were home by 8 and didn't have a hangover on Thanksgiving. Winning or getting old? Potato/PoTAto
Plus, there was all this cuteness!
11-27-14 - Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Since we celebrated with my mom early, my dad & Cindy were out of town and we didn't make it to Louisiana, we spent the day at home by ourselves. While it would have been great to be with everyone, it was really nice to have the day to just BE together. I threw a turkey breast in the crockpot and made my Grandma Farm's Dutch Apple Pie (crust from scratch next time ;)) in the morning. We watched the Macy's parade and drew hand turkeys. Kiel didn't go hunting and didn't really complain about it. Our little meal turned into quite the feast and the day didn't go by too fast or too slow, it was just right with my two favorite boys...
Note to self: When looking through tubs of old clothes for gloves, be aware of your engagement ring. It can and WILL fall off without you noticing and you WILL freak out for 4-5 hours until you go through said tubs and find said ring.
11-29-14 - Jase took a pretty strong liking to the Christmas lights around the square and kept asking Kiel, "Pease Daddy! Chismas lights on my house!" After a little resistance, up on the roof Clark Griswold went...
Jase and I got the Christmas decorations out after naptime when daddy went hunting and he was the best helper! "I help you, mommy." "I do it." My tree is a little heavy at the bottom on the right side where he was standing, but it was so fun having him participate this year! When it got dark, I took him out to see the lights Kiel had put up for him and when I turned them on he took a deep breath in awe and said, "Good job, Daddy!" This kid is something else...Christmas is going to be so fun!!!
11-30-14 - Dad & Cindy came over for dinner and delivered the best 'first-Christmas-as-an-engaged-family' I've there ever was! I look at these stockings on Pottery Barn every year and every year I reluctantly decide to wait til "next year." Thank you Cindy!
Tantrums have drastically improved! We're pretty sure they stem from being over tired (can't blame him there) so at least we're usually pretty prepared for them when they spring up on a short nap day. His appetite has been down since being sick, but he's still sleeping like a champ so he'll eat when he's hungry. He is solely in 2T shirts and is working his way into that size pants. His jammies are getting a little snug so I've started stocking up on 3T...ridiculous.
We recently learned Jase isn't ok with the dark anymore. Ever since he was a baby we shut his bedroom door when it was bedtime until he falls asleep because our house is small and noisy (God love a video monitor) leaving him completely in the dark and he's never seemed to mind. But at the end of the month, he started waking up in the middle of the night screaming. Not the scream he lets out when he wants his paci and is too tired to find it himself, but a scream that raises the hair on your neck and makes me bolt from my bed into his room to see what is hurting him. The only thing we could come up with is that he's started dreaming more...he also talks in his sleep sometimes yelling out things like "Stop it" and "My tractor"...so he may be waking up from a dream disoriented in the dark. I randomly turned his closet light on and left the door cracked one night after a screaming episode and he immediately went back to sleep. He's still waking up every now and then but it's usually due to that super fun cough we can't get rid of or that darn paci so hopefully we've cracked the code. Dump truck night light has been ordered!
Jase is really into daddy right now. He and I have our routine in the morning and when we get home from work, but when daddy gets home everything is, "Daddy do it." If Kiel is home, I can't give him a bath or change his diaper (oh darn!), put his jammies on, or even help with Popsicles. I love watching them together so it doesn't hurt my feelings like I thought it would when he says, "No mommy! Daddy do it!", but if he takes away our rocking and singing before bed, I will probably die of a broken heart.
This November, I'm thankful for fishy kisses, sugar spots, and being called Mommy. I'm thankful for Kiel's ability and willingness to climb on the roof just to make his kids face light up. I'm thankful that our families are so involved in our lives (near and far) and that Jase will never have need to question how much he's loved. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays and this year while it was a little different, has still made me realize how lucky I am to have this life I've been given and the people in it...
-Nicole
