There's nothing wrong with my tongue

He does this thing with his tongue a lot. He obviously thinks it's pretty cool, because he'll smile while doing it. He started doing this around the same time that Nolan last visited the doctor (his two year well visit). The doc noticed a little crease in the middle of Nolan's tongue (I mean really little) and expressed some concern about his speech. "Can he pronounce 'L' sounds?" "Does he have any serious troubles repeating things?" No worries, Doc, Nolan can talk and one of his favorite words starts with an L (Li-ia for Olivia). Anyway, soon after we had this conversation, which Gerret was present for, the Pook began doing this interesting little jig with his tongue ....all the time ...as if to say, "Look here! There's nothing wrong with my tongue."

Moving Up and Getting Around

Gerret

Here we see that Gerret still continues to grow (it would be distressing if he stopped). He's still so cute. He's so close to crawling that I'm sure he'll be successful any minute. He would prefer to just stand and walk though. He refused to sit for his last bath. He kept using my arm or Nolan's shoulder to stand up and when I would try to get him to sit back down, he would stiffen up and not bend at the waist. The struggle ended with him laying down with his head on Nolan's tummy so I could rinse his hair. Nolan thought it was so funny. I thought it was kind of frustrating (but I was smiling behind the mask). He has this really innocent look and I think it fools most people. He is by no means innocent. I'm sure behind those endearing eyes, his wheels are always spinning, thinking, "what will I get into next?"

On to Bigger and Better Things

.....Like Big Boy Beds! Nolan is moving up in the world. So is George. Nolan and George have now taken four naps and slept three nights in it and are currently tucked in, sound asleep, as I write this. I was a little nervous about the prospect of an easily escapable bed and putting my free spirited two year old in it. I mean, there are enough horror stories floating around to make a mom a little nervous. Would he be in and out all night? Would this be the end of nap time? Would I need to sleep on the floor next to his bed from now on? Questions like these haunted me during church Sunday as I prepared mentally for his first time in the big boy bed -his Sunday nap. Then the moment came. And then it went. Nothing happened. He just stayed there and went to sleep like any other nap. My nerves started to surface again Sunday night when it was getting close to bed time. Maybe the nap was a mistake and this time it would click in Nolan's mind that he could just hop right out of bed without a problem. But it wasn't a mistake, he went to sleep that night like normal. Nolan understands that he can get out because when he wakes up, he does get out and stands at his door calling me. He just happens to be a very good little boy and he's pretty good about being obedient and he likes to sleep. As always, I am so grateful to be the mom of Nolan. Every day, he is going on to bigger and better things. Tonight, it was acknowledging that he didn't want to sleep with George if George didn't get a diaper on. So, George is now sleeping with Nolan and wearing a diaper. I guess next on the list is potty training my child and a monkey.



This is Nolan waking up from his very first nap in the bed. We couldn't wait for him to wake up on his own, so we snuck in and clicked this picture. The flash woke him up.

At the Fair

The week of Nolan's birthday was also the week of the Trumansburg Fair. We went with my sisters and mom mostly to see the animals, but Nolan also got to ride two rides and drive a bus. He was in little boy heaven.

Summer's Last Hurrah

It's hard to say when exactly summer begins or ends round these parts. It has been above 80 for a total of maybe almost 3 out of the past 11 weeks. It was too cold to go swimming for the entire month of August. It didn't start to get warm enough to swim until the end of June. I wore long pants and sweaters for a larger part of the season. School started this week (meaning no more aunts), September snuck in, and I even saw some Maples down town changing colors. I thought I'd have to start planning Halloween costumes around snow suits and boots. When Nolan and I paint, I always forget to add a sun to my landscapes because I have seen it so infrequently that I sometimes don't remember that it is still out there somewhere, warming up some (far away) part of the earth. Now, don't assume that I'm complaining. Really, I have enjoyed my summer like I haven't enjoyed a summer in six years (to be exact). But, cool and rainy was the way that it was and having been that way, the kiddie pool sat sadly in the back yard, unused and unloved, for a majority of the summer. I was beginning to contemplate deflating the poor thing and folding it up for winter storage. But then.....

A uncommon event transpired. The sun came out and dried up all the rain. It happened Thursday, the second day of school. I nearly peed my pants. So we broke out the swim suits one more time and jumped in the kiddie pool. Here follows some pictures from our last (probably) Summer Shebang. For the record, Gerret did hop in, but I couldn't take a picture and keep him from eating the floating leaves at the same time, Nolan prefers riding the rim of the pool, and I deemed it only warm enough to dip my feet in.

Newsflash(es)

The Pook is on his way to ingestion freedom with the appearance of his first tooth on Sunday and a second one coming. Though he thinks he is capable of chewing up everything he puts in his mouth, the truth is that there are some things that simply require teeth, and this fact is sometimes the cause of tension between the little squirt and myself. I had begun to worry that he would be one of those kids who fail to get any teeth before their first birthday and would have to learn how to be super proficient at the art of gumming. Nolan had at least four teeth by now, (I refer back to this photo, taken at 9 months, proudly displaying a mouth full of five pearly whites) and as comparisons of your children are wont to make you feel, I was experiencing a twinge of worry. I am constantly reminding myself to stop comparing my boys and stop expecting Gerret to be like Nolan, because he is definitely not Nolan, he only looks like Nolan (and there's a limit to the similarity anyway). He is much more vocal than I remember Nolan being. This is good when he does cute things like laugh and babble like a little crazy, and not so good when he does his signature high-pitched, blood-curdling, glass-breaking scream. Going along with that, he is all around more social and has been since birth. He craves attention and loves human (and cat and dog) interaction.

Second piece of business:

Nolan finally emerged from the negligible weight category and placed in the tenth percentile last week! What a big accomplishment! He's starting to fit into 24 month clothes and I can honestly say he looks big to me. Maybe that's because all the boys his age in the Branch moved away. The only logical explanation for my boys' skinniness is genetics (and not mine) because they both eat like there's no tomorrow. And I don't mean they eat their favorite foods like there's no tomorrow. No sir. These boys will eat anything. Gerret even eats paper and leaves and grass if you don't keep an eye on him. He's pretty sneaky about it too. Nolan cleans up. I think of him as a catfish or other cleaner fish. He'll eat what you give him and then watch and wait for my sisters to leave so that he can confiscate anything they didn't finish(this is especially true at breakfast and lunch when his plate isn't brimming to the top with food). Sometimes he doesn't wait for them to be done and steals food when they aren't paying attention. You have to be careful if you sit next to Nolan at the table because he is known for stealing food from his unsuspecting neighbors. He especially likes to steal beans and fruit.