Mr. Independent

Noah T.,

I'm sorry I didn't get to your post last month. The end of May was insane what with all the end-of-the-school-year festivities, Daddy's birthday, my summer class starting, etc.

I've really been enjoying being at home for the summer! We've already done lots of fun things together and the next 6 weeks are cram-packed with vacations and fun family outings! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

You and Daddy and I have really been into "yard sale-ing" this summer. We've come across lots of great finds, including some nice furniture for Baby Hunter. You're always such a good tag along, even if we go at it for several hours.

We bought Daddy a bike for his birthday and we recently got a bike trailer for you and Chloe to ride in. We need to fix the tubes in Mommy's bike and then we'll be set for lots of family bike rides over the next few months. We can't wait!

Mommy went out of town for 3 days last week to visit Auntie Kristi in Montana. When I got home, I swore your vocabulary doubled in the time I was gone. I could not believe it! You are talking in complete sentences and you say the funniest things. It is so fun to live with you because we just never know what you're going to say or do.

We've been working on your shapes and your ABC's. You've pretty much mastered your shapes: circle, triangle, square, oval, rectangle, star, rhombus, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, and parallelogram. We still have a bit of work to do on the ABC's. There are several that you know, but you aren't 100% consistent with them: D, E, G, I, O, Q, S, T, W, Z. I'm sure you'll have them down in no time and then we'll have to work on lowercase letters and letter sounds.

We've been visiting the library about twice a month. You absolutely love this! You usually pick out 5 new books, which Mommy and Daddy end up hating by the time we have to return them because we read them all 2-3 times a day, but that's ok. We're just glad you love reading so much!

You are so independent these days. You want to do/think you can do EVERYTHING for yourself. Sometimes you get frustrated when something doesn't work, but usually you're pretty good about asking for help if we let you try it on your own first.

You've still been practicing lots of t-ball with all the stuff you got for your birthday. Nampa has t-ball for 3 yo's so I'm going to sign you up next summer. I think you'll really like it - you are already really good at batting and you've got quite the arm.

You've started this new, somewhat hilarious habit. When you want something you'll crouch a little bit and put your hands on your knees (like you're an adult talking to a little kid) and rub either my arm or Daddy's arm gently while quietly asking for whatever it is you want. I'm not sure if you think this stance will help generate the outcome you want, but you seem to think it is worth a try.

You love to say that everything is funny, but you don't always pronounce your "f's" correctly so it usually comes out "sunny." If you hear someone laughing you always ask, "Is it sunny?"

Clothing is something you've recently become very particular about. You will only wear shirts that have Big Bird, puppies, bears, or monkeys on them. Luckily for us, we have just enough of these shirts to get through the laundry rotation every week, at least for now.

You still love to be outside, read, take tubbies, color, watch Curious George, and play with your toys independently. Some of your new loves are Veggie Tales, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas the Train, playing the games out of our game cabinet, picking out your clothes, and eating at the table without your bumbo.

Daddy and I were having some trouble getting you to eat for awhile. We decided to transition our family to eating together at the table every night for family dinner time. This had been the plan all along, but when Daddy and I first got married we got into this bad habit of eating dinner in the family room and watching tv while we ate. We knew we wanted to change this after we had kids, but we just hadn't done it yet. Since we've started our family dinners your picky eating has pretty much subsided. You like to join in the conversation and eat whatever Mommy and Daddy are eating and you love it when you get to drink out of "big people" cups and use "big people" silverware, which you're pretty darn good at, I must say.

Daddy and I have added singing to your bed time routine every night. We've been teaching you some of our favorite songs from our childhoods. You love to sing them and already have your favorites which you request every night.

Probably your top 2 favorites are "Apple Red Happiness" which you call "Apples," and "The Birdies in the Tree Tops" which you call "Birdies."

You are getting really good at saying your own prayers before bed each night. You always end your prayers with "I love you, Jesus. Amen." This melts my heart every time and I always have to work to keep myself from crying. I'm going to ask Daddy to take a video of you saying your prayers so I can put it on your blog next month.

Mommy and Daddy are just so proud of the little boy you are! You are truly our world and we would be so lost without you! It is such a huge blessing to have the responsibility of raising you. We continue to pray that the Lord would bless us with wisdom and understanding so that we raise you in accordance with His pleasure and will. Keep being the amazing person you are and always remember how much Daddy and I love you!

These are a few of the pictures from your 2 yo photo shoot! Auntie Kendra's friend Elia took them and she did a great job!