Jase Update: 21 Months- 23 Months

Hey Jase-

Your last update was for 17-20 months. You turned 21 months on Feb 8th, 22 months on March 8th, and 23 months on April 8th. Man, you have grown SO much in these past few months and you are totally blossoming!! It is a JOY to watch! You are a full blown TODDLER now, and Daddy & I are having a blast watching you grow & learn so much. Your personality is so, so much fun and you are seriously too sweet. Just when we think you can’t fill our hearts anymore, you take our breath away with something else you are learning or becoming. And you’re testing some boundaries too, of course, so we are working on some “training.” Here’s a little of what you’ve been up to.

 

• My VERY favorite thing is when you randomly come up to me or Daddy and say “Mama, hug…Daddy, hug.” And then you give us a BIGGGG squeeze! Melts my heart.
• You also give us kisses and Daddy taught you to kiss on the cheek. You like for me and Daddy to kiss each other too, and you tell us to kiss sometimes after you give us each a kiss. You point at us and say, “Mama, Daddy, kiss!”

• You like to put all kinds of things in your pockets now. I love finding all of your treasures, & we definitely have to remember to check pockets before laundry now or else we end up with rocks in the dryer. Ha! This was your loot from one afternoon exploring.

• You LOOOOOOOVE to be outside and would stay outside all day, every day if we’d let you. Grammy bought you a bubble blowing lawn mower and that is your current fave. You take your job of “mowing grass” very seriously. Sometimes we see one of those “fits” when it’s time to come inside.

• We are so thankful it’s getting warmer and we are soaking up this perfect weather.

• You have started taking showers sometimes because it’s hard for me to give you a bath. (I can’t lean my big pregnant belly over our tub, so Daddy handles bath duty.) You think you’re such a big boy in the shower, and as soon as you get out we wrap you in a towel and you wrap yourself around whoever is getting you out to keep you warm.

• You are also testing boundaries & sometimes have tantrums when you don’t get your way. We are working on that as well as your listening skills. Teaching you to say “yes ma’am” when you get instructions. Right now are biggest struggles are you throwing food on the floor, putting you in your car seat, sharing your car, trying to get you to leave somewhere when you’re not ready, and not giving you a snack that you want. When you make up your mind about something, you are REALLY focused on that and want your way. 
• You like to sleep with 4 little stuffed animals: Mac, puppy, bear, and puppy. (I know, we’re super creative with names.) You can’t say your r’s very well yet and it’s so cute hearing you say “night night bay-ewr.” You like to tell them good morning and night night and pretend feed them at breakfast. Speaking of pretend, I LOVE seeing you use your imagination!

• You LOVE Veggies Tales! We had to watch a little more than I’d like over the last couple months to keep you entertained while you were getting breathing treatments. They are super cute, have an awesome message, and the music is awesome, so Daddy and I enjoy them too.
• You really like to play with balloons and laugh hysterically when we blow them up and let the air out.

• We have spent some time painting & you really like it, but don’t have a super long attention span for it.

• You love for Daddy to take you on wagon rides around the yard and ask me to take you on walks in your stroller.

• You like driving your green car in the house. Definitely your favorite inside toy.

• Bubbles and stickers are your new jam.
• You are obsessed with sitting in the driver’s seat of our trucks.

• You put up a pretty good fight when we put you in your car seat because you want to get in the front seat. We are learning the art of distraction. Still rear facing. Not sure when to flip you around because we know rear facing is safest and want to keep you that way as long as possible.
• At our last doctor’s appointment, you weighed 31 lbs and were 35” tall. You are wearing 3T clothes and size 8 shoes!

• You are all caught up on your vaccines now.
• We’ve been going to story time at the library, and one time you fell on a wooden couch and busted your lip. There was blood all over the place!! I try to stay as calm as possible because I know it’s going to happen, but I feel sick to my stomach when you get hurt.
• Speaking of hurt, we had to remove the box spring and put your crib mattress basically on the floor because you have been pulling up on the side of your crib. I have blankets around to soften the fall in case you pull yourself over, and you did on April 2. It happened so fast! I had just laid you down to take a nap and you flipped over when I was walking out of the room. Your problem solver of a Daddy took care of it though, so you’re good now. We’ll start thinking about a big boy bed soon. Just don’t want too many transitions before the baby comes.
• You love hanging out with your buddies! Watching y’all together is the most precious thing…

• We have had a tough couple of months with your health. You have had an ongoing cough /cloudy ears that has led to breathing treatments, a steroid, and 2 antibiotics. We finally got a clean bill of health at your appointment on April 1.
• We went to the chiropractor twice and it really helped your ears and cough. I DEFINITELY prefer the chiropractor to antibiotics.
• You have this hilarious fake laugh (I think you are copying your Dad’s fake laugh) that cracks us up!! You love to make people laugh.
• You don’t like for your neck to be touched. (You get that from me.)
• You like to run all over the place and want us to race you.
• Your appetite varies. Sometimes you don’t eat a whole lot, but most of the time you eat like a grown man. Especially at breakfast!! That’s definitely your biggest meal of the day. I make something different most mornings, but you always get some type of eggs and either Ezekiel bread, oats, or homemade waffles.

• You like to drink water before bed & are now peeing through your diaper, so we stated putting on Pull-Ups over your diaper at night.
• You like throwing pillows off the couch & snuggling with blanket to go “night night.”

• You like playing on slides at the playground.

• I’ve caught you pushing another kid a few times. We aren’t going to tolerate that and you get in trouble, but we are trying to find the balance of not intervening all the time either.
• You are extremely independent! Wonder where you get that from? Sometimes you throw a little fit if you want to do something by yourself and we’re trying to help you.
• You are like your daddy- really grumpy when tired or hungry! Who isn’t though, right? Fortunately you’re still a good sleeper and sleep 12 hours at night + a 2- 3 hour nap during the day.
• Your vocabulary BOOMED this month. You are now saying a ton of words and even speaking in small sentences sometimes.
• You love to help Daddy!! It doesn’t matter what he’s doing, you want to help.

• You can be a little shy at first when meeting someone new. But then sometimes you say “heyyy” to strangers when we are out. I guess it just depends on your mood. You like to tell people “Bye bye, see ya later, thank you.”
• You just had your second hair cut and did a little better this time. Only 2 in two years…not bad!

• You love to help us clean. Vacuuming is your favorite, but you also help throw away trash and “help” with laundry. You can get the vacuum on your own, turn it on, and know how to use it. You even put it up when you’re done.

• You tell Daddy to pray at night and before meals. You bow your head and say “pray, Daddy…pray.” You bow your head but peek up with your eyes and loudly exclaim “Amen!” when we’re done.
• You can spell your name, but your favorite part is “s, eeeeeee”
• You like to strum daddy’s electric guitar.

• You are awesome about brushing your teeth. We’re still working on spitting out the toothpaste, but you try hard.
• You have learned to blow your nose and let us know when you need a “tissue for boogers.”
• You absolutely ADORE all of your grandparents. I mean LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. You talk about Papa all the time, and you cry when we leave Grammy.
• You went to the Environmental Center with cousins & had a blast playing with everything.

• Aunt Jade & Grandma have been hooking you up with some of the cutessssst clothes!!

• We had snow & ice which meant lots of indoor playing and a couple days of bundling up to get some fresh air.

• You give us the cutest little “thumbs up.” It needs a little work.

• Your favorite snacks are organic yogurt, peanut butter on rice cakes, hummus, oranges, & boiled eggs. You also really like bars/cereal and sometimes throw fits over snacks. You’re not as great about eating veggies, but you still down some juice when I make it. (It’s pretty much all veggies.) Sometimes you even ask for juice and go get a cup for it.
• We aren’t really potty training, but I have been talking to you about it more and you are definitely showing some interest. Before you bath I sometimes have you try to go on your little potty. You pooped in the potty for the first time on March 31st & pee peed in the potty on April 3. I was laughing so hard I cried! It just caught me off guard, but we celebrated big time! Since then you’ve gone about 4-5 times (#1 and #2), so we will probably start working on potty training soon.

• You can identify some shapes from your farm book- circle, rectangle, triangle, square, and oval. We are working on colors, letters, and numbers too. You know a few. A, B, C, S, E, Y for sure. You can somewhat count to 10. Sometimes you forget a few.
• I LOVE these pictures of you!!! Such a little cowboy in your America shirt and boots from Dustin & Jade.

• You sure love your Daddy! He teaches you all kinds of cool stuff and spends LOTS of time with you. He is the BEST! You wake up hollering for him every morning and love to show him stuff during the day.

• You had ZERO interest in egg hunting at any of the 3 egg hunts you went to, but you really enjoyed dumping the eggs out everywhere.
• Sometimes I bust out my camera because you just look so stinkin beautiful to me that I want to capture you right then. I don’t think the camera quite does you justice. And actually, just to take my mamarazzi to a whole new level, I really want video everything you say too. I am trying to memorize your sweet little voice and all the funny things you say and that laugh that makes my heart feel like it’s going to beat out of my chest.

Goodness gracious, sweet boy, I LOOOOOVE being your mama!! You are one of the lights of my life and my heart is so full of love for you. It is such a joy and privilege as well as a calling and responsibility I take very seriously having an opportunity to raise you. I ask the Lord for wisdom every single day when it comes to training you up, and  I cannot WAIT to see the man you become because I feel so confident the Lord has GREAT things in store for your life. But for now, I am cherishing every moment with you. Soaking up sweet memories that I know will pass by so quickly. (Even the little tantrums.) Life is so, so much sweeter with you in it, Jase. I can’t wait to see you as a big brother. Love you more than words could ever say…