Two & a Half

I'm a few weeks late, but Miller is officially two and a half years old.  I wanted to be sure and document a few of his favorite things right now and some of our favorite things he says.  I've been putting off this post, because I wanted to include some pictures but that's just not happening these days.  Sorry folks.

Favorite song to listen to: "Noah" ("Arky Arky")

Favorite song to sing:  "Baby Jesus" ("Away in a Manger")
Favorite books: A Crack in the Track, The Thinks You Can Think, ABC Jamboree, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Favorite Toy: train table
Favorite Foods:  milk, bananas, biscuits, cheese, avocado, raisins, fruit snacks

Some of Miller's cute words/sayings:

polka dotty (his polka dot blanket)
dat's si-yee (That's silly)
doowin? (What are you doing?)
Sure is
oh dear
baby jo (Betty Jo - his great grandmother)
baby daddy (Baby Addie - Kendall and Will's baby girl)
tomato (tornado)
Wanna cuddle mommy?

He also uses the pronoun "my" instead of "I".  For example, instead of saying "I want to get down" he'll say "Want my get down".

We potty trained Miller this past weekend and he is doing pretty well so far. We've made it a few days with no accidents and the other days he's only had one each day.  Today he had an accident at school which got his shoes wet so he was barefoot when I picked him up.  On the way home he told me he had to tee-tee.  Since I'm not really sure how long I have when he says that I pulled over and had him go on the side of the road.  So there we were.  He had on no shoes, his pants around his ankles, peeing on the side of the road.  I didn't look like a redneck at all.

We also seemed to have officially hit the "terrible twos" this week.  He usually gets a good report whenever I leave him somewhere (school, church nursery, gym nursery, etc).  This week almost every time we went somewhere he got in trouble.  Each teacher said something along the lines of, "He just wasn't himself today."  Well, after four days I think we can officially call it a pattern.  Therefore we're stepping up our discipline game and not letting anything slide.  Hopefully we'll be back on track soon.  He's also in a big "I do it myself" phase.  So that's fun.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's learning to be independent and there are certainly lots of things he can do by himself even if he struggles some.  However, there are also lots of things that at two and a half he cannot do by himself and he doesn't like that one bit.

Even though spending my days with a two year old offers many moments of frustration, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  His contagious laugh or one sweet cuddle from him can turn my day around in an instant.  Love that boy.

Catching Up

In order to catch you up with what we've been up to, I'm going to have to jump all over the place.  Hope you can hang with me :)

1.  Last week Miller woke up from his nap to find a present waiting for him outside of his door.  It is his very own potty and he has been all about trying to use it.

I wasn't even going to attempt potty training until after baby #2 arrives, but he has been so interested lately that we're going to give it a try.  Since he has the desire, but can't quite figure out how it all "works" we're going to try the 3-day potty training method.  Basically we'll stay home for three days straight, drink LOTS of fluids, and hang out in underwear {him, not me} until he makes the connection to when he has to go and getting to the potty on time.  Wish us luck!  Our three days start on Friday morning.  I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but I know it's like many things in parenting.  I cannot let him smell my fear  ;)

2.  Our sweet adult Sunday School class threw a Girls Night Out/Baby Shower for Jenny Jones and me.  It was so much fun to hang out with girls, finish a whole meal without feeding anyone else, and open many precious gifts.  We were so busy having fun that we only remembered to take one picture as we were about to walk out the door.

3.  This weekend we got to celebrate this pretty girl's first birthday.

{The pretty girl on the right, not the left.  Just in case you were confused.}  You can see all of the precious party details here.  Miller could not wait to get his hands on a cupcake.  He may or may not have gotten his hands on two or three, but only one was allowed in his mouth.

 We tried to get a picture of the smallest party guests.  As you can see, it went really well.

4.  I have been busy "nesting" these days.  We moved Miller into his big boy room {he is still in his crib though} last night and I'm trying to reorganize some of his toys since his new room is the former playroom.  I'll be sure to snap some pics of the new room soon.  As part of the toy reorganization, I've been wanting to come up with some fun, creative activities that will keep Miller's little hands and brain busy.  He has a gazillion million toys, but honestly he walks right by most of them and acts bored after playing with them for about two minutes.  I found this great website with some terrific ideas for toddlers.  We've only done a few of them, but so far they have all been a hit!  Miller LOVES these little pom-poms {or cotton balls as he calls them} and has found so many ways to play with them.  I'll be sure to let you know if any of the activities flop.  I'm steering clear of anything involving rice or paint :)

5.  Last, but definitely not least we have been fervently praying for "Aunt Amy".  

Amy is married to my step-brother, Jay, and was just diagnosed with breast cancer.  Amy and Jay have precious twins, Ty and Mia, that are almost two and a half.  Tomorrow she will undergo a double mastectomy and your prayers would be greatly appreciated!!  You can read about her progress and leave an encouraging message if you wish here.

Sorry for all of the randomness!  Hopefully I won't be gone so long again and get so far behind :)