Nolan {Fall 2014}

Size: Nolan was roughly 35" tall (somewhere around the 40th percentile) and between 27-28lbs (30-40th percentile). He's wearing 24mo to 2T clothes and in size 5-6 shoes.

September:

Illness: Nolan caught a minor virus mid-month that left us with 3 days of fevers (up to 103 at it's worst) and some loose BMs, but that was about it.

Teeth: I do believe I have spotted two of his 2-yr molars starting to break their way through the gums on the bottom. No movement on the top that I can see yet.

Favorites: Cool Cars book (which used to be a favorite of Jonah's), Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book, carrying around a big play drum that he stuffs full of various items (including his blanket). He likes to make "shapes" out of his fingers (go ahead, try it--place your two hands together and match up your index fingers and thumbs; ta-da, a triangle)! Nolan is such a cookie monster--he would live off of cookies and sweets if we let him.

Funnies: He seems to have difficulty understanding the difference between the pronunciation of the words "thing" and "finger" because I keep hearing him saying "thinger" when he refers to a "thing". Also, he has started to sing "Amazing Grace" back to me but it sounds like he's saying "mazin grate". I heard him singing in the playroom with Jonah "higher, higher, raise it higher"... from the Dolphin Tales show at the Georgia Aquarium back in June. "I say no. You no say no, Mommy" or an alternate version of the saying is a common occurrence. One of the rides he was on at the fair was a motorcycle ride, sitting behind Jonah. Here, our nervous Jonah is in front with his worried face on and when the ride starts up, they both just stare out wide-eyed. About the 3rd time around, Nolan starts pumping his fist in the air as he goes by us with a big smile on his face. We cracked up with that!

Firsts: Nolan splashed around in the Chattahoochee River near Uncle Brad & Aunt Christine's place. He wasn't too fond of actually getting in the tube but seemed to enjoy walking through the water. First 2014 football game attendance to the UGA v. Troy blow-out. Here's the recap: frozen lemonade, cracker jacks, band/instruments during the game and halftime show, running up and down the aisles flipping over seatbacks. :) We went to Zoo Atlanta (again, because it's awesome) and finally broke down and let them do most of the kids stuff there. Nolan got to ride his first carousel and he won't stop talking about it! He loved the rhino, carousel and train.We also went to the fair and Nolan rode the train and the motorcycle ride without hesitation. Technically he wasn't "big" enough to ride some of the rides at the fair this time (truthfully, he's not 36" tall but no one seemed to bother to check and we were cool with him buckled in on some of the easy rides). He also loved the carousel (again)! I think he also ate his first funnel cake--yummy!

Observations: Nolan is learning to brush his teeth pretty well. He has the side-to-side motion down, but no up/down yet and certainly not scrubbing those back teeth yet. It's a good start. I've started to see him get a lot more of his letters correct by sight. He also seems to be counting a lot better 1-20 now--typically skips 4, 14, 16 & 17 for some reason.

October:

Illness: Another ENT check-up reveals that his tubes were still stuck in the ear canals, so he had to get them plucked out (joyful time, I assure you). After that, we confirmed that he still had fluid behind his L ear drum, but his R one seemed fine. We voted for the wait and see approach for the time being. Within a couple weeks, (I know, you're shocked) he developed a right ear infection which we treated with antibiotics. Needless to say, we're not sure how this is going to pan out, but we weren't exactly high on jumping in and doing tubes again that quickly. I guess you could say we are hoping he grows out of it. We've also got him some nose spray (just like Jonah) to hopefully help through this stuffy nose season and prevent another one from cropping up.

Teeth: Still working on those bottom 2 molars--and he keeps his hands in there often chomping away.

Favorites: Blue Bear, blanket, carrying around his toy drum with various things stuffed inside (calls it his backpack because it has a strap), laying out his blanket on the ground and telling us it's a bounce house that's blowing up... which of course blows down, too. :)

Funnies: Nolans says "stubbin" for something, "grav" for grab, has learned to start repeating Jonah's jokes: What do you call a pile of cats? meow-tain!

Firsts: We went apple picking up in North Georgia the first weekend of the month. Nolan seemed to really enjoy the concept of biting an apple, eating it until he was content, then chucking it on the ground for the animals to eventually eat. He got to have his first pony ride and did wonderful!

Observations: Spilling over from last month, he's getting so much better at letters and numbers. He points out every capital N he sees and says "N is for Nolan". He also says several other letters like that "A is for apple, B is for ball, J is for Jonah, K is for Kinley (one of his (many?) girlfriends at school). I also have found that he can identify numbers too: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 and he seems to mix up 6 and 9, naturally. This month has been a rough period of potty training and he's lost interest in going potty at school and at home, he requires extra encouragement.

November:

Illness: Ear infection, I think?! (I didn't do so well keeping track of this month)

Teeth: Haven't been able to check well, but they're migrating into place.

Favorites: Everything his brother loves. Seriously, they are still frick and frack. Jonah is totally into legos right now, therefore so is Nolan--just a shorter attention span. Loves: blue bear, blanket, drums/drumsticks, remotes, iPad/anything that looks like an iPad, Frozen, Peter Pan, cake/candy/treats.

Funnies: We've started calling him a "scutch"-- which is something my grandmother used to call us. I have no idea the origins of this word but it basically implies a little imp, troublemaker, but a term of endearment. Sometimes he says "I'm not a scutch" and other times actually claims he is "I'm a scutch!!"

Firsts: Not exactly a first, but Nolan saw Santa this month and hated him! Would have nothing to do with the jolly 'ol man. If you ask him about seeing Santa, he will tell you no and gets all pouty--I think he's scarred for life (just kidding).

Observations: Nolan came home one day singing the entire months of the year song and has been stuck on the question "which month is it?"--Thanks Sara! Nolan is totally right-handed. The only time he uses his left hand is when he is holding his fork in his right hand and scooping up food with his left hand (why he does this? I have no clue). Since Jonah is learning to read/spell, we often talk about which sounds the letters make so Nolan has started to learn them too -- favorite letter? Of course, it's N! He points them out to us all the time. Nolan also has a new found obsession: Papa playing the guitar. He can't stop talking about it and is mesmerized when takes out the guitar.

That's a wrap on Fall 2014!