The Vanderwalls: Noah T.

Noah T.,

Oh my goodness! You are 2 1/2 going on 20. Every day you seem a little more grown up than the day before. Your Daddy and I are constantly commenting to each other that we are amazed at what you pick up on and how good you are at holding a conversation. It seriously feels like I'm talking to an adult sometimes!

You are such a blessing to our household! You keep Mommy and Chloe company each day while Daddy is at school. You are such a big help to me. You love your baby sister so much and you try your best to help take care of her all the time. You love to get things for her, help change her diaper, clean her up when she spits up, read books to her, bring her toys, and the list goes on and on and on. It makes my heart so glad!

Your interests are expanding quite a bit lately. You do love some of your old favorites, but you've added several new ones to the list. Curious George is still a hit, anything transformer, minions, Woody Woodpecker, and dinosaurs. You like to color, write, read, build with blocks and legos, play with cars, sing, use the kid's mode on Mommy's phone, play football, and baseball. It is fun to watch you play football and baseball. You've actually got a really good arm and you can hit off a tee quite well. I'm planning to sign you up for t-ball in the spring.

You are one of the biggest Seattle fans around! You are all about the Mariners and the Seahawks. You love to say, "Go Seahawks! Boo Niners!" You also LOVE Russell Wilson. As you always tell us, "Go Russell Wilson! Russell Wilson wins! Russell Wilson plays for the Seahawks! Russell Wilson is number 3! I'm Russell Wilson!" As you can imagine, your Daddy beams with pride every time you start your Russell Wilson chants :)

There are times when eating is still a battle with you, but you've gotten much better lately. You recently decided to try hot dogs for the first time and discovered that they are actually quite delicious! Think of all the years (I put that 's' on there hesitantly...) you've been missing out! Some of your other favorites include: mangoes, macaroni and cheese, cuties, nachos, cheeseburgers, yogurt, cereal, sandwiches, grapes, bananas, corn, carrots, olives, jello, and grape tomatoes.

One of your favorites that Daddy and I could probably do without is exercising your strong, independent will. Now, most of the time, you are a sweet, carefree, easy-going little boy. However, when you get your mind made up about something you feel that you need to follow through no matter what. This can be a little exhausting sometimes, but we love you just the same!

We have been doing an advent calendar together this year. It has been really fun! Each night we have a little devotion about Jesus' birth and then you get to make a Christmas ornament to hang on the tree. We haven't been able to get to it for the past couple days because of all the Christmas parties and whatnot, but I'm hoping to get back to it tonight.

You have a great memory! You have the Winnie the Pooh memory game and you're quite good at it. Mommy also has a Kids' Bible app on her phone and we read a different Bible story each night and it gives you 1 or 2 comprehension questions and you typically get them correct. You also have this amazing knack for rereading books I've read to you. You'll sit and read them to yourself or Chloe after I read them and you always get the plot correct, sometimes even word-for-word.

Mommy is finished with school at BSU for this semester. I only have my capstone next semester and then I am done with school forever!!! Daddy finishes his first semester of law school on Thursday. You now think that everyone does homework and goes to school because your parents do it so often. We've created some sort of culture for you...not sure what I'd call it.

We got to make Christmas cookies with Auntie Kendra last week. You thought it was the greatest thing. You really do love helping in the kitchen whether you're cooking or doing the dishes, you like to be in on whatever is going on when we're in there. Maybe someday you'll be in charge of the meals in this house :)

Mommy is planning to post one more blog entry for you and Chloe this month. We are headed to Seattle for Christmas and I want to make a post that is all about Christmas. However, I might wait until we get back to Idaho and have had Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Papa so I can post ALL your Christmas photos. That will be so much fun!

Keep being you, Noah T.! There is no one better for you to be! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you! Our hearts are overflowing with love for you! We promise to point to you Jesus, always, to the best of our ability.

Merry Christmas, Sweet boy!