Rhyming

My Pooka Gerret,

he ate a caRRot,

he liked it so much, he wouldn't sHarE it

but in the end, he sure did WEAr it

The Bud is 2!

Nolan had his 2nd birthday, Tuesday. His favorite part of the whole experience was blowing out the candles. In fact, every time he sees the left over birthday cake, he yells "blow blow" and then repeatedly leans forward and blows at the cake until I vocally recognize that he wants to blow out his candles again. I gave in yesterday, re-lit his candles, sang him Happy Birthday, and let him blow them out, but just once. We went to the Science Center for his birthday. He liked it so much that he cried, "No no no" as we headed out to the car at the end. Curious George graced us with an appearance on Nolan's cake at his birthday party (thanks to Grandma). After Gerret, George is Nolan's best friend/hero/favorite word, so having him on his cake really made his year. He was so elated to see George there, hanging out on the cake, that he leaned down and kissed him! Nolan received nice presents and cards and was totally wasted at bedtime. He was so exhausted that he woke up two hours late yesterday morning.

It's hard to believe that I've known this special little boy for two years now. He has brought so much laughter and love into our home and continues to do something new and amazing and funny each day. He is such a thoughtful, loving kid. He loves to groove to any kind of a beat (even chintzy ones from Baby's toys) and has some pretty wild dance moves to show off. Nolan is gentle to animals and gets excited about most anything that moves and breathes. The only living thing he isn't gentle with is flies, which he can catch and kill bare handed. Nolan loves all things Grandpa, meaning anything that Grandpas ride on, look at, play with, say, or do and Grandpas themselves. He even loves things that look like they could be Grandpa, like any tractor, truck, motorcycle, or airplane, and he identifies them all as "Bapa". Nolan gives out kisses and hugs like they're candy and he likes to distribute them freely, except to my sister Olivia, which is really a sore point with her at the moment. And he picks me flowers all the time. He knows how to impress a mom and make her putty in his hands. He is so sweet and lovable. I just cannot get enough of this kid.

Cute Boys - Funny Faces

Gerret started wiggling around to get places today. It's the step between rolling everywhere and crawling. You know, forward motion, legs bent, butt up, push off, hands move... just not quite the way an experienced crawler does it. I call it wiggling. Not wriggling like a worm, wiggling like a baby who has an idea about what crawling should be. He's getting there. Watch out. He'll be 7 months old this Friday and was weighed last Monday at 14 lbs 11 oz. Nolan is a repeater. He constantly tries out new words and phrases. Unless I'm prepared, I can't understand most of it, but he is so hilarious.

Our Family

Celebrating List Style

Since our family began 4 years ago, we have:

1. moved5 times (lived in 6 different places)
2. owned 2 cats, 14 fish, and 1 turtle
3. made 4 cross-country drives
4. owned 3 cars (almost... we're still trying to own the last one)
5. vacationed at the ocean 1 time
6. obliterated 1 saucepan, 1 skillet, 1 blender, 1 wooden spoon, 1 glass bread pan, and countless other kitchen items
7. received 2 diplomas
8. had 2 sons
9. worked a combined total of 9 different jobs
10. climbed Timpanogos 1 time
11. attended The Saurkraut Festival 1 time

This list is not exhaustive, but it does include our bigger accomplishments since our wedding. I'm glad to be married to Patrick the Boy. It's the biggest adventure of my life and I expect that the adventures will just keep coming.

Bathtime Buddies

Last week, both of my boys were in dire need of some cleansing and Patrick was working the late shift. I didn't think I could give two baths after Patrick's return, but before bed, and still expect to eat dinner. So, I considered the possibility of giving two baths in one (i.e. two boys in one bathtub at the same time). After considering it, I thought, "What, are you absolutely insane?" and promptly dismissed the idea as pure craziness and continued on with my day and on with my two smelly boys. But I guess their smelliness really started to wear on me, or maybe Nolan's post-lunch face, hands, arms, and hair got to me more than usual, because I broke down and casually mentioned the word "bath" in front of Nolan. Now, you must understand the reality is that there is no such thing as casually saying anything that sounds or even looks like bath. If Nolan gets the idea in his head, there is no erasing it and there is also no getting his clothes back on. Just say, mouth, or think the word and you'll have a cute little brown-eyed boy, prancing around, naked, chanting, "bas, bas, bas..." At this point, all that can be done to remedy the situation is to fill up the tub. Well, on this particular day, I went for the gusto (I really just like the phrase Go For the Gusto) and prepared to stick my two boys in a bath together. I'm sorry for the story's sake to say that everything went smoothly. Better than smooth. They absolutely loved it and there were no accidents to speak of. Isn't that amazing? They just had such a blast together that I don't think I'll give separate baths anymore.

The truth is: These boys are more than just bathtime buddies. They are best friends all the time. I'm not exaggerating. Nothing makes Gerret laugh more than Nolan. All he has to do is look at the baby and the laughter bubbles and rolls and oozes out. Nolan gets a kick out of most everything the baby does. He is so interested in him. He is so eager to help him. Now that Gerret is eating solids, Nolan takes the opportunity to spoon feed him. He invites the baby into his crib after naps and covers him up and reads him books and bounces him and plays peek-a-boo with him. It's a ritual. Nolan loves to do things with the baby, which is why the bath was so successful. We went to a playground recently where they had Nolan's favorite playground toy: a big pretend car -the kind that has multiple steering wheels for selfishness prevention. Whenever Nolan sees these cars, he invariably forgets about the rest of the playground. He will choose them over spraygrounds, twisty slides, rocks, lake swimming, and food. And he will drive for as long as you let him and then beg to continue driving when you say it's time to go. When we found this special car last week, his primary concern was that Gerret got to drive too. Nolan kept patting the seat next to his and yelling "Daydee dive" and went bonkers with excitement when I broke my back to help the baby sit inside the car and pretend to drive. As usual, Gerret got a kick out of Nolan's excitement and just laughed and laughed. Children make everything so much brighter. They make me think that maybe the world isn't so bad and that there may still be hope for the future. All children are special, but there is a different feeling, a much stronger and more emotional one, when I think of my own, especially because their love for one another is so evident and so sweet. When I watch them interact I can't help feeling that this is what life is about.