Nolan {Summer 2014}

Size: Nolan is somewhere between 27-28lbs and is probably around 35" tall. His closet is so crazy right now, I just about can't stand it--seriously ranges from 18 month shorts (I think there are only a couple left that still fit) through 24 month and into 2T now as well. A lot of 2T is still on the big side, but some of it is fitting now so I'm just going with it. Shoes are size 5-6. Diapers are a 5. Undies are 2T/3T, and a little roomy. :)

Potty Training: Early June I attempted to go "cold turkey" with him just to see if he was ready--he was NOT! He peed all over my house for hours on end and I quit. Mid to late July, we observed several instances when his diaper was off (after swimming, waiting on the bath, in the bathtub standing) and he announced "pee pee" and then started peeing. After it happened several times in a relatively short span, we started back on the potty train and started sitting him more on it. The beginning on August we finally got a little traction. He was able to pee on the potty right before bath time, then twice on the potty at school the next day including poop. And the following Saturday, twice on the potty. Since then he's had hot/cold days where he pees 6-7 times on the potty when prompted and remaining dry between potty breaks, but then other days where (we fail to sit him on the potty) he doesn't go once. He is right there and ready to be potty trained, it's mom & dad that need to get trained again. :)

June:

Illnesses: None to speak of! Yay!

Favorites: His play watering can, going to the pool or playing in the water table. Reading his Corduroy or If You Give A Mouse a cookie book. His green tennis racquet.

Funnies: Nolan knows his colors pretty well and told my mom (Gigi) that his favorite color was purple because it was Papa's favorite color (it's not)!

Observations: We flipped his carseat around and he's forward facing now!! He's pretty happy about it, especially on car trips, but I can't say that he was ever "unhappy" about being rear-facing. Nolan was observed to climb completely out of his crib unassisted and come downstairs on his own when it dawned on us that the crib had to go! Nolan transitioned to his toddler bed relatively well so far. He can now say is whole name--sounds something like this: No-No Em-ans. But he refuses to admit that he's 2, he's still convinced that he's 3.

July:

Illnesses: A runny nose with a "stuffy" (?) eye. He had goop coming out of his eye and it coincided with a cold he had and his ears draining a lot. We were on vacation so we didn't take him to the doctor (even though the triage nurse was convinced it was pink eye) and it eventually improved. I swear to you, it looked just like when he had a blocked tear duct as a baby. I plan on asking the ENT (?) at his follow up visit if he has any thoughts on it.

Favorites: FROZEN! SOFIA! This kid loves princesses--it's adorable, and slightly annoying. I know he's only 2, but he loves pirates and bugs and sharks, but screams with delight when he sees TINKERBELL! Oy. I can deal with his favorite color being purple, but at some point he will grow out of princesses, right?!
He can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star all the way through. He likes signing Two Tickets to Paradise--no joke.

Firsts: Dippin' Dots and Real Italian Ice on our vacations.

Observations: Nolan has been much more confident going up and down stairs and has been observed to use a step over step pattern as well without holding on. He absolutely loves to play with Jonah and the two of them crack each other up. Sometimes Jonah is a bit rough, but Nolan is a pretty tough cookie sometimes. Nolan loves when Jonah pulls him around the house in the lego wagon. When you read his If You Give A Mouse A Cookie book, he can tell you the last word on every page if you pause for him to say it. He has learned how to skip/prance (where he looks like he's from Monty Python & the Holy Grail and riding an invisible horse), even down to the one arm out in front hopping along.

August:

Illnesses: Chewing on his fingers a lot but no two year molars yet. The ENT confirmed my suspicion that Nolan likely did not have pink eye, but rather had enough "gunk" in his sinuses that it was migrating out of his eyes (that sounds kinda gross, I know). His appointment also revealed that both his tubes have migrated out of place and are sitting in his ear canals--we decided to leave them and let them fall out, no sense in irritating his little ears trying to pluck them out. The bad news, he already has fluid behind his ear drums again. So, it would appear that whatever sinus issue he had going on in late July probably had enough pressure and fluid that it built up and pushed out the tubes and is still hanging out back there. We have a check-up in October to see how they are doing then and we can make a decision moving forward. To quote Dr. Chastain: "I'm afraid we might have a repeat offender." In the meantime, he started getting grumpy and running a low grade on and off so I decided to get him to the pediatrician to see if we can make this fluid/infection go away before his ENT check-up. I'm thinking that if it comes back before the ENT check-up, that will be very telling on if he needs tubes again.

Favorites: PARACHUTE! Oh my, he learned at school one day what the big parachute is and he's absolutely obsessed with it right now! He makes us grab corners on his blanket and do "parachute" with his blanket, going up and down and shaking it. Then he stuffs it all up into a ball and says "all done parachute" and puts it "away" in it's "bag" (which is a plastic bucket with a handle).

Funnies: "See you Friday" is his current phrase. "No seatback" he says, as he climbs in the chair or space on the couch you were just sitting in. I overheard Jonah and Nolan having a conversation at the kitchen table the other day and it went something like this: J: Is your name No-No? N: No, it's Nolan. J: I think it's No-No. N: NOOO!!! It's NO-LAN ZO-SEF!! :)

Observations: He copies everything his big brother does and says. Down to the minutia. It's pretty cute. When Nolan talks, he talks in complete sentences but struggles to get the words out fast enough. You can see his little brain going a mile a minute but his mouth doesn't move fast enough to get all the words out. Over the past couple months, Nolan has continued to talk about my family dog (Kirby--sadly we had to put him down on my birthday in early June) like he still sees him and wants to see him. It's adorable and breaks my heart all at once. The jumping!! Oh the jumping on the bed and the couch--he's going to split his head open. From a developmental standpoint, he's gotten really good at jumping and keeping his balance. :)

And that's a wrap on Summer 2014 for my little Noley!