23 Month Recap

Lots to catch up on! Before we dive into all the birthday festivities, time to recap March 2014 - Nolan's 23rd month of life. 

Nolan Lucas at 23 Months. All dressed up for Picture Day at school!

March definitely came in like a lion, and (just barely) came out like a lamb. The first few weeks of March we still had a few days of snow. Things started turning around the last week of March or so, and now we are SO ENJOYING the arrival of spring and warm weather in April! Here are some snip-its of family happenings in March...

Joe and I have been working really hard to get our training miles in this month for our upcoming 10 mile Broad Street Run in May. We ran the race last year, and while we feel like we're in better shape while training this year, we're both feeling really exhausted finding the time and energy to go to the gym on weeknights and get our long runs in on the weekends. Only one more month to go!

Mommy got new running shoes for the Broad Street Run! Of course Nolan had to try them out too.

Our friends Kevin and Virginia's daughter Cylar turned three this month and had a fun party at their place in Philly. Nolan and Cylar have always played really well together. Here's some funny pictures of them being goofy during the party (and eating cheese doodles!)

What a stinker!

Cuties

Hugs for the birthday girl!

Friends who eat cheese doodles together... stay together!

March also had St. Patrick's Day of course too! Nolan and I had to rep the Green on St. Patty's Day of course since we're the two Irish-blooded members of the household :)

Irish Buddies

Smiles

Not surprisingly after the winter we've been through, it SNOWED on St. Patrick's Day. It was only a few inches (seems like a dusting after our other storms this winter), so school/work went on as scheduled.

Seriously??? More Snow?!

Nolan is not amused with the snow.

Nolan's Daycare had some special days in March too. As seen in the first photo, Nolan had his fourth School Picture day (they have them 2x/year), and March is also "Dr. Seuss" Month at Daycare since it hosts Dr. Seuss's birthday. 

Fueling up before School Picture Day. Dean is waiting for some spillage.

For Dr. Seuss month, one day was "Wacky Wednesday"where kids were encouraged to dress as crazy as possible. With all the striped clothing Nolan owns, I had a fun time putting together his ensemble that morning :)

Mr Stripes for Wacky Wednesday

My Wacky Wednesday

It was so nice to finally get some outdoor time towards the end of the month. It has been a long few months of indoor play, so even though there was still snow on the ground, we snuck in some playground time!

Swinging with snow in the background - Freedom Playground

Tunnnel!

More tunnel time at our neighborhood park 

So much more agile at the playground now!

Loving being outdoors - his favorite - the "ooh wee" (Swing!)

Nolan has definitely developed a huge interest in Airplanes and Helicopters this month. He is obsessed with spotting airplanes in the sky and points out a ton of airplanes to us every day. Every day he looks for them out the window of the car during our commute and out on our deck. I never knew how many airplanes are visible throughout the day before this month! He has incredible vision and sees the smallest, most far away airplanes, and recognizes their sound (even when so faint). He has a great eye for details and asks what every little new sound is these days.  He saw a helicopter once at school when there was an accident nearby and hasn't stopped talking about it since! We may have to schedule some trips to the airport/flight museums this spring since he got so excited while traveling to NC!

Dining in his carseat (backwards) the night before he we flew to NC

Nolan Stats - 23 Months

Language - Nolan continues to amaze us with his rapid language development. He's moved onto multiple word sentences, and we've fallen in love with his "toddler pronunciations" of all the words.

Toddler Words:

Nope = "Note"

Helicopter = "Haw-dah-der"

Airplane = "Er-Peen"

Open = "Opent"

Swing = "Boo-Wee"

Slide = "Oh-Bee"

Motocycle = "Mono-Die-Kle"

Other One = "Dahter one"

Bagel = "Beagle"

Look = "Yook"

School = "Gool"

Away = "Way"

Birthday = Boor-Day

Favorite Phrases:

Favorite word right now - "MORE!" 

Mommy Night Nights (not Daddy Night Nights)

In Da Sky! (referring to airplanes)

Nanu does it (always want to do everything himself)

Follow MEEEE! (leading the way)

What's THAT?! (in an adorable high pitched voice)

Where'd Dean/Daddy/Mommy Go?

Opent Door

Out-Dare! (always wants to be outside)

Daddy Work (when I ask him where Daddy is)

No Gool (started saying this every day on the way to school, but then never wants to leave when I pick him up)

Learning like crazy

Favorites:

Color = Yellow. This is the first time he's really shown a preference in colors, and it's cute that he chose Yellow as his favorite. Such a happy color for a happy kid!

TV Show = Caillou. It's basically all he wants to watch now. Every night he demands milk and caillou with me holding him on the couch with a specific blanket on (Grace's Penn State blanket). I much prefer Yo Gabba Gabba, so I'll put that on from time to time to switch it up, but Caillou is great to put him into slowdown mode before bedtime.

Books = Cat in the Hat (knows all the words), Red Truck, Hippos Go Berserk 

(He completes so many words in all of his books. The one that makes me laugh all the time is from "Cat in the Hat". Mommy = And something went... Nolan = BUMP! Mommy = and that bump made us... Nolan = DUMP! (supposed to be Jump).

Toys = Train Set - he can put together the tracks now, although it's mostly in one straight REALLY long track, which is hilarious. He also likes his toy cars and can put together puzzles pretty well! He still likes his "classic" Jack in the box and Top, and his mega blocks too.

Nolan and his train set.

Trains!

Break to give Dean his bone.

Typical Counting. One, Doo, Tree, Four, Five, Seben, Eight, Nine, Leben, Twelf, Thirteen, Thirteen, Lebenteen, Twenty! When I help lead him though, he can count from 1-20 pretty well!

Singing.
Favorite songs - Baa Baa Black Sheep, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABCs, Birthday Song, Yo Gabba Gabba, Hold Still (from Yo Gabba Gabba), Bumble Bee (ie - I'm brining home my baby bumble bee. His favorite!) All are SO adorable! I just love his little voice.

Food.
More of the same from previous months. He'll drink as much milk as we'd give him. Loves pasta, rice, beans, and pizza. Demands snacks on the way home from daycare - preferred order is fruit snacks, then pouch, then a bagel (he's upset if I don't have them all available). I sneak in veggies through pouches and mixed in with pasta/rice. Still pretty picky, but hopefully he's getting all the nutrients he needs, and loves his daily vitamins. So far he's doing better than the "typical" toddler diet of only mac n cheese and chicken nuggets.

English muffin and cereal for breakfast

Special pizza dinner with just Mama before "multicultural night" at school

Sleep.

For the most part, sleep has been great. There was a short period that he was waking up earlier than normal, which we think was due to him getting in his 2 year molars. His baby teeth are complete now! We're lucky to have gotten through the winter relatively unscathed other than 1 stomach virus that went through the family. No ear infections is amazing! I also feel so lucky that my sleepy head will sleep until 9-10am on the weekends. Makes for more well-rested parents.

Sometimes Nolan only will nap in mommy's arms, which is both touching and frustrating :)

Fell asleep on the way to Target. I anticipated it and brought a book to read in the car for awhile before waking him up.

Waking up Nolan at 10am on a weekend. Growing boy!

It's been a great month, and I'm thankful that we're able to start getting more outdoor time! Looking forward to a fun spring with lots of outings/festivals to attend now that the weather is getting warmer.

Fun times with Mommy and Nolan

We love you Nolan!