23 (1/2) Months

I am super slack this month! Seeing how this post is 2 weeks late! I guess my trip to the Bahamas kinda got me side tracked.

See how tall I am?

 So, what has Michael been up to?
- Since taking away the binky, his sleeping habits have changed. He is not sleeping as well, and has been waking up in the night crying, which he never used to do. But, I know that this will pass.
- He has grown another 3/4 in. He is measuring some where between 34 and 35 inches. I'll be interested to see what the Doctor office measures him at. His legs are getting so long.
- He is such a character. He makes himself laugh all the time. And in doing so, makes us laugh, which makes him laugh harder, and try harder to make us laugh more.

Standing on his tip toes

- He is doing great in the pool. We have actually tried swimmies on his arms, and he does great with them. I thought he wouldn't be able to balance, but he loves wearing them.

- He is in the process of getting his last molar. He started a few months getting his 2 year molars, and that could be the reason for the lack of sleep too. I'll be so happy once this last one breaks through. I feel like he has been teething for 1 1/2 years straight.  His poor mouth needs a break.

- He loves going to babysit with me. It is teaching him all about sharing and playing with other children.

Sweet moments

 - His favorite movie is Toy Story. He asks all the time to watch "Buzz and Woody." He also loves Mickey Mouse clubhouse. We only have 1 Mickey DVD, so I think it's time to invest in another one.
- He is still fascinated with Motorcycles. The other day while driving down the road, he said, "Motorcycle, where are you?"

Showing off his first tattoo

 - He is a little picky when it comes to food. The things he will always eat and usually asks for are, Cheese, Applesauce, a baked sweet potato, noodles, peanut butter, and cookies. There are other days where he will eat whatever we are eating, and will usually try different food if we ask him. Like the other day he ate a few green beans! I couldn't believe it. We are working on this, and hoping he will go back to eating whatever he can get his hands on. I know it's a toddler phase, and he will one day eat real food.

What a little stud!

 - He is talk, talk, talking! If full sentences!
- He knows all of his basic colors!
- He knows the letters, A, B, C, D, G, M, P, S, and T.  He does really well when I associate a name with a letter. Like P - Papa. Every P he sees he yells, "P Papa"
- He tries to sing Jesus loves me, and it is so cute. He only knows a few phrases, but loves for us to sing it.

 - He loves to pray. Every night at dinner, we hold hands and pray. Usually we have to pray more than once, because he reaches for our hands and says, "More, Amen" or "More, Pray." I love that he loves to pray! The other day, in Wal-Mart, he grabbed my hand and said, "Amen..." I asked him if he wanted to pray, and he said, "Yes!" So, So Sweet!

Popsicle Break with the cousins

I can't believe that in 2 weeks, he will be turning 2! It's crazy to think about. We are in full birthday party planning mode! Here is my Pinterest Board for his party. It is not going to be extravagant, but it will be a lot of fun for him.

Future Drummer

Potty Talk

Every night, before bed, Michael sits on the potty. We have done this for several months, and usually he just sits there and laughs. At fist we were keeping his diaper on him, but then I started taking his diaper off of him, so he would start making the connection. Well, while I was in the bahamas, he went pee on the potty! I was shocked! I couldn't believe it. He only did it once, so on Friday night when we were putting him to bed, I didn't really expect anything. But he sure did surprise us by going pee and poop on the potty! I was speechless! I decided that I would start putting him on the potty when I change his diaper, just to see what happens. Well, Saturday evening, at Andrew's parents house, I put him on the potty and he went pee! Then Sunday afternoon he went pee and poop again on the potty. He also went pee Sunday after he got out of the swimming pool at my parents house. He has gone pee on the potty once everyday since.

I wasn't planning on potty training till after we get home from vacation in September. And even then I wasn't sure. He will have just turned two in August, and my mom says the magic number is 2 1/2. But now I'm not sure what to do. I guess it's just one of those things we will have to play by ear. But for now, we will take it slow, and see what happens day to day.

A Week in Paradise

Jennifer and I spent last week in The Bahamas! It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation. We have been planning to go on a big trip for our 30th birthdays for years. We had hoped that Jessica and Julie would come too, but they chose not to come. It would have been so much fun to have us all there.

We flew out of Charlotte on Sunday on a non-stop flight. I'm so glad we spent the extra money for non-stop. It was a quick 2 hour flight. But, once we arrived, we had to circle the airport for an hour because lightning struck the airport, and their communications were down.


The View from the plane

Once we were finally able to land, we went through customs very quickly and found our luggage. Then it was on to the transportation desk for the resort. We were staying at Breezes Bahamas, an all inclusive resort. We got our shuttle and headed for the resort. Upon check-in, we were told that our ocean front room was not available, and that we had been down graded to an ocean view room and that we would reimbursed for the difference in price. (I'm still waiting for my refund.) That was fine with us, since we could still see the ocean and we had a room on the sixth floor. It was a great view.

Our View from our room

The view looking the other way

Before our trip, we had read a lot of reviews on trip advisor, and I was a little concerned about what we would find on e we got into our room. Well, the room was definitely outdated and in desperate need of new furniture and bedding. The room was clean though, so that was good.

Also, the bathroom had been updated, and was very nice.

We went straight to eat and then put our bathing suits on, and went straight to the beach. And that is where we spent the next 4 days.

We would get up in the morning, eat breakfast, then sit on the beach until around 7pm when it was time to get ready for dinner. There was a grill and bar right by the pool, so when we wanted something to eat or drink, it was really close.

For dinner we ate at the buffet the first two nights, then we ate at the two different a la cart restaurants the rest of the week. The buffet was just ok, but the restaurants were great! After dinner we watched the "entertainment" in the lobby. Some nights were better than others, but it was fun watching all the drunk people. The band played till midnight every night, and you could hear it from all over, so there was no going to sleep before midnight.

It was very cool being able to watch the storm roll in,
and actually go right around us

It was a wonderful trip, and very, very relaxing. We have already planned our text trip.

I loved having 5 nights of uninterrupted sleep, and being able to eat my meals without having to worry about what someone else was going to eat. But by Friday, I was ready to see Andrew and Michael.

Cute Things My Kid Says

I wanted to make sure I wrote down some of the cute things Michael is saying, before I forget.

- "Watch Mommy..." He says this probably 50-100 times per day. And once Daddy gets home, it's "Watch Daddy..." After he says this, he then runs across the room, or jumps off something, or jumps on something, or throws something. If neither Andrew or I are in the room, I hear him say, "Watch Toby..." (Talking to the dog) I get such a kick out of him wanting the dogs to watch him.

- Covering his eyes with his hands, he says, "Where's Michael? Where's Mommy? Where's Toby?" And then when he takes his hands away, he either says, "Peek-a-boo" or "I see you"

- He loves to bend over and touch the ground, while keeping his legs straight, and then look through his legs behind him, to see what he can see. When one of us is behind him, he says, "I see you!"

- He can hear a motorcycle coming a mile away. And when he hears it, he yells, "MOTORCYCLE!" but it comes out more like, "mocicycle" which is really cute.

- He also has a fascination with "Big Trucks." A big truck can be anything from a pick up truck to an 18 wheeler. Anytime he sees a truck, he yells "Big Truck!"

- We are working on our colors a lot lately, and he is doing great! He knows, and can identify Blue, Red, Green, Pink, Brown, White, and sometimes Black and Orange. Purple he has a hard time with. Well, one night at dinner we were pointing out colors and he looks at Andrew and says, "Daddy, White." Well, Andrew had a white shirt on, and that is what he was talking about. Then he looks at me and says, "Mommy, White." I also had a white shirt on. It was very funny, because our shirts were the only thing he knows as white.

No More Binky

This past weekend, we said goodbye to Michael's Binky. He never used his binky a lot. It was only for naps and bed time. In the morning we would put it on his dresser, and he was fine with that. But lately, if he sees it in his room, he will grab it off of his dresser and put it in and walk around with it. When I tell him "no, that's only for night-night," he would put it in his crib without hesitation. But, I knew I wanted it gone by the time he turns two so I figured now was as good a time as any.


This picture was taken several months ago
right after he woke up from his nap.

I had done some research on the best ways to take away the binky. He's too young to understand the "Binky Fairy" and I didn't want to just cut the tip, or poke a hole in it, because I knew he would still want it, even if it was damaged. So, we decided going cold turkey was the best method.

So Friday night, we put him to bed, and when he asked for his binky, we said, "Binky went bye bye. No more Binky." Well, he didn't like that answer and cried for a solid hour. I was prepared for 2-3 rough nights, so I knew this was normal. On Saturday he only cried for a couple of minutes at his nap time, so I was hopeful that Saturday night would go better. Well, Saturday night he cried for an hour again! This mama was not happy. I just sat at the top of the stairs crying with him. I had decided that if he cried again on Sunday night, that I was going to rock him to sleep if I had to. I was not going to let him cry for an hour again. So, Sunday nap went great, but he fell asleep in the car and just transferred to his crib still asleep. Sunday night, I let him cry for 15 minutes. Then I went up and hugged him, and rocked him, and reassured him that we love him. So I put him back in his crib and he cried for 10 minutes, and then silence! Monday night was another time where he fell asleep in the car, so I carried him in, and he stayed asleep. Tuesday night he only cried for 5-7 minutes and then was asleep! So, I think it is safe to say that we have kicked the binky habit. I just hope the rest of this week goes as well as last night went. The odd thing is, he never once asked for his binky, and if we talked about his binky, he would say, "no more binky, bye bye binky." I think he just had a hard time falling asleep without it, so he cried instead. He does have a favorite blanket that he sleeps with, so that has been helping a little. I have no plans of taking the blanket away from him. He can go to college with that thing for all I care.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Andrew! Michael loves you so much, and he wants to be just like you. I'm so thankful that he has such a Godly example. He is so blessed to have you as his Father.

22 Months

So, not much new or exciting has changed with Michael this month.

Michael is 34" now!!

- He did get his first hair cut from Mommy, which turned out good.
- He has grown another 1/2 inch, putting him at 34 inches!! I haven't weighed him in a while, so I'm not sure how much he weighs. But if I had to guess, I would say he is around 30 pounds!
- He loves to put our shoes on his feet, and walk around and thinks it is so funny!

This is his "I Don't Know" Expression

- When he has two of something, he says, "One-two, one-two." We are working on adding "three" to that.
- He loves the pool! Both little and big pools. He does really well kicking his legs when he is in the float in the big pool. We are hoping that by the end of summer, he will be swimming a little bit.

Here are some pictures of Michael from this past month.

Wearing Mommy's slippers

Taking a Green Bath. He loves the color change tablets!

Playing with Maggie, Memorial Day weekend

Riding the shark in Papa's Big pool

Loves the "water slide"

SPLASH!

Wearing Daddy's Boots

Garden update

My garden is growing nicely. I have one large tomato, and two tiny tomatoes on the plants. My pepper plant has several blooms, just waiting to turn into little jalapeños. It won't be long till all of the plants are full of veggies!

Pool Fun

Michael loves his pool!! He tries to get in it every time we are outside. I keep his swimsuit handy just in case I have to go in and grab it quickly, which I have had to do several times. Here are a few pictures of Michael in his pool.

I decided to give Toby a bath after Michael was done playing.
As you can see, he wanted to help.

This was at Grandma and Papa's Pool.

Michael's First Mommy Haircut

This past weekend I gave Michael a haircut! I got out the clippers and put him in his high chair and started. He was a little squirmy, but pretty good. We will definitely be giving him all of his haircuts in the future. Why pay for someone else to cut it when we can do it? Next time I won't put him I. The high chair though, because it came up too high on his back and it was hard to cut the back of his head.

I got him this lawn mower a couple of weeks ago at a consignment store, and he hasn't stopped playing with it since.