Nolan {Summer 2015}

Size: I've been packing up the 2T items and moving him into almost exclusively 3T clothes (with some difficulty in shorts due to his skinny waist)--I'm a bit surprised at how he's grown this year. Shoes are basically a 7 now. Undies and nighttime pull-ups are still 2T-3T.

June:

Favorites: Music, drums, blankets, blue bear, parachute, play food, sprinklers.

Firsts: Nolan got to be a ring bearer for Uncle Brad & Aunt Christine's wedding! He got to play on a slip 'n slide. For his 3rd birthday, he got a bike and he's still learning to ride it. There was blueberry and blackberry picking this month.

Funnies: At my brother's wedding, Nolan couldn't get enough of the dance floor! Except he didn't want to actually dance, he'd walk up to a woman (almost always) and hold his arms up for them to pick him up and then "dance" with them. Since then, he's been obsessed with the song "I Love Rock 'N Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. He had major water anxiety at first, but he's really warmed up to the pool and does well swimming with his puddle jumper on. When I tell him we're going to the pool, he almost always says "bring my float, I don't want to sink". One morning I asked Nolan what he wanted for breakfast. His reply with a smirk on his face was "candy". Ha!

Observations: He is totally a musician right now. Almost daily, he has a drum or a guitar or a microphone and is singing or playing. Truthfully, he's not too bad at playing the drums, and he does like to play with 2 sticks and sometimes sets up 2 drums to play on. I must give this kid some credit--from about 1-2.5years old, he would give me such a hard time with eating fruits and vegetables. There were only a few of each that he "liked" and would eat. Somewhere in the last 6 months, I think he's figured out that we aren't trying to poison him with these foods and he actually likes them! We've pointed out to him that he's doing so much better with eating them that he exclaims "I eat bedge-tables now" with a big smile on his face. I'm so glad we continued to offer them to him and encourage him to eat them.

July:

Favorites: music./drumming/guitars, snacks (cheese, grapes, gummies, crackers, popcorn among others), inflatable water park, parachutes, jumping

Firsts: He conquered his fear of going down the slide on the inflatable water park we have and with the water sprayer on (he had been refusing to do this until this month). Not exactly first trip to Tellus (but he was a baby the first time he went) science museum but first "class field trip" as a tagalong to Jonah's class trip. Nolan has officially moved into Jonah's room. He looks like a hobo at the moment because his mattress is on the floor, BUT that is intentional because he can't stay in the bed yet (he's so used to the partial rail by his head in his toddler bed) and mostly half hangs out of the bed at night. At least this way he is safe and won't wake up repeatedly from falling out of the bed. Eventually we'll move him off the floor with a railing.

Funnies: Three-year-olds are hilarious, let me tell you. They say exactly what's on their mind, with no filter whatsoever. And this one in particular is so stubborn and hard-headed that it makes for comedic events. 1st tale: At Gigi and Papa's house, getting ready to leave to come home, basically past bedtime. Nolan: "I want some milk". Randy: "No, it's too late". Nolan: "But I want milk!!! I want this milk!!!" Randy: "ugh, fine, just drink your milk so we can go" [hands Nolan very small cup of milk] Nolan: "NOT THAT CUP!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!" [dancing around the kitchen like a banshee] Randy: "ok, fine, don't drink the milk" Nolan: "NOOOOOO!!!! I WANT MY MILK!!!!!" [stamping feet and screaming] Randy: "ok, so drink the milk, we need to leave" [hands Nolan the cup back] Nolan: "I DON'T WANT THAT CUP!!! NOT THAT CUP!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!" [still stamping around the kitchen, screaming at the top of his lungs] Mommy & Papa are laughing hysterically by now, Randy exasperated, tells him we're leaving whether he drinks the milk or not. Nolan stops screaming, takes the cup and chugs the milk. We leave!
2nd tale: Mommy & Jonah are cleaning up the playroom, Nolan wakes up from his nap and comes downstairs to see what we're doing. He's told we are cleaning up the playroom. He is given the choice to clean up his toys or lose his privilege to play with playroom toys. [Tantrum starts at playroom door, which gets closed with him on the outside due to his decision of "no cleaning". This consists of screaming at the top of his lungs, some words strung together in screams along the lines of "open the door" for approximately 5-10 minutes. Mommy is on the other side of the door telling him that when he stops screaming, the door will open and he can use his big boy words to tell Mommy what he wants. Eventually door opens, he is standing there with a water bottle, 75% filled with water, and an empty cup. He proceeds to tell Mommy he's thirsty and wants to drink water, but doesn't want to drink the water from the bottle, but rather to pour it in the cup. There is disagreement, screaming starts again, eventually stops and his request remains the same. He is able to calmly discuss the bottle vs cup situation and Mommy obliges to cup request. Nolan requests all of the water be poured in the cup. Mommy shows Nolan that the height of the water in the bottle is taller than the height of the cup and all the water won't fit (he's not exactly a science lover like his brother). Nolan says it will, Mommy says it won't all fit. Mommy pours water into cup about 3/4 of the way full. Nolan screams because all of the water wasn't poured in. When he calms down, he calmly requests all the water to go into the cup. Again, Mommy tries to tell him it won't fit, but he says it will. We agree that if the water doesn't fit and spills on the counter, Nolan will wipe it up. Mommy pours water into cup, Nolan screams in shock and starts crying, refusing to clean up the water. Mommy patiently waits until he asks for Mommy to pick up the cup so he can wipe the counter with tears still in his eyes. Cup is now full to the top, Nolan refuses cup of water three times. Mommy says she will pour it out, she does. Nolan starts screaming and crying because he wants water in his water bottle. --Y'all, I can't make this up. This is the life with a stubborn, hard-headed, spirited child. It's like insanity trying to do anything with him.

Observations: Potty training is this funny thing in my house. He's been able to go to the bathroom by himself for months, but he still has the occasional accident at naptime. It's a bit perplexing to me because he will have them at home sometimes and have them at school sometimes, but it's never the norm. He might go 2 weeks without having an accident and then have 4 days in a row with one. I'm not sure what's going on here. Nolan still has a little trouble with his "b" and "v" switching with some words. This month, he's latched on to Jonah's love of Star Wars (even though neither have actually seen a movie) and was talking all about "lightsavers" and what color they were for a character. We've corrected him and now he will say "Mommy, I said lightsaBer... BER!!"

August:

Firsts: Nolan moved up into the 3B class at school with his favorite teacher, Ms. Evelyn! He's finally getting his chance to play a sport: baseball started this month with practices! He got to watch Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time (and first Star Wars movie). Attended his first funeral (his great grandfather's).

Favorites: Absolutely in love with music/instruments and talks about them a lot and guns (unfortunately)

Observations: He continues to have such a personality split at times--excellent participation and even independence with tasks compared with whining/crying dependency on mom/dad. He has given inconsistent effort at baseball practice requiring ongoing support from Mom/Dad/Gigi to stay engaged with the drills, but loves to swing at the tee and run the bases. Definitely in the "why?" phase and asks a lot of questions (especially when he's not around Jonah who does tend to dominate conversation at times).