The First Noels: 2014

Time for an update!

LOVING

all things sports

Balls, golf, volleyball, world cup, soccer, slam dunking, tennis, you name it. Anton loves to play on daddy's skateboard and is very interested in bicycles at the moment. He has a tumbling mat that he loves to practice yoga on. We're trying to steer clear of TV and screen time, but every once in a while he asks to watch tennis, golf, or basketball. He's also crazy for elmo.

EATING

Like a champ. A little too much into snacking if you ask me, but what do I know about a toddlers hunger? He loves PB n J, olives, blueberries, scrambled eggs, spicy sauce( "picey"), cheese, beans and rice, pears, pizza, smoothies, tomatoes, banana, cereal, waffles, he's pretty much tried everything at this point and isn't too picky so far.

SLEEPING

He is a pretty good sleeper. Goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and sleeps until 6:45-8:00 the next morning. Naps from 11:30 to 2:30 sometimes more, sometimes less. He's had a couple nap strikes here or there, but generally goes down easy after a couple of books and a good rock in the rocker. Daddy is the best at putting him to sleep at night. He gets a bit clingy when mama does it.

TALKING

Up a storm! This kid is really developing an amazing vocabulary. He tries to say pretty much everything we say. My favorites are: Elevator, domino, record player, world cup, sweater,

almost (almosh), beans and rice, etc…. just says a ton right now. He's starting to put together some little sentences such as - "Mama back to sleep", "Nola has yellow dog", "Dada at work", "Anton cooking" etc. He's accidentally picked up some slang and naughty words lately.

His new thing is to say "oh man". All the time!

DISPOSITION

I would describe Anton as super serious and inquisitive in new situations and very silly and funny at home. He takes a good 10 minutes or so to warm up around new people but talks about them non-stop after they have gone. He is very sweet and snuggly most of the time and has a mini-melt down here or there. Luckily his little tantrums usually only last a couple of minutes and are easy to fix with

a snack or distraction. He loves to go to new places and races to put on his shoes and hat.

He is getting pretty good at entertaining himself and also enjoys having friends over to play with. He's starting to appreciate "private time" to use the bathroom. Which really means, he just goes into a corner or into the bathroom to fill up his diaper. I've heard this can be a step in the right direction. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

GROWTH

He weighed 30 lbs last time I checked and seems much taller than most kids his age. He is growing out of his 18-24 months quickly and is wearing mostly 2t-3t at the moment. He wears size 5 diapers and size 6/7 shoes. My baby is such a big boy these days.

TEETH

He's got the front middle teeth - I call them his bunny teeth. The molars have come in, but he's still missing some of the middle teeth. He's gone through some teething behaviors, but I've never been able to tell if it's really his teeth bothering him or just regular 1.5 year old behaviors.

ACTIVITIES

Loves to go swimming lately and has a blast throwing rocks in the creek nearby. The world cup has inspired him to kick his soccer ball all over the place. He seems to kick right footed but does most everything else with his left hand. He's got a pretty good left handed golf swing down and has been hitting a ball off the tee left handed as well. Has been showing interest in cooking and will stand on a chair and watch mama or daddy cook. Loves to sing happy birthday to everyone he can think of. Is really enjoying music class and has been actually remembering songs and singing them in the car. He will join in during family dance parties. Loves to drum with daddy. Has a nerf basketball hoop and shoots hoops several times a day. Still loves books and will ask to read often. Has a couple of music videos from the world cup that he asks to watch occasionally such as waka waka by shakira and the wave your flag video. Has a bit of an obsession with our garden statues - two buddas, and a pig. But above all else, this kid loves to kick, throw, and chase balls. We always joke about how he really doesn't need anything else in life right now:)

Life just keeps getting more and more entertaining with this little bugger around. We've got a great little summer routine and were soaking up all of this leisurely, and relaxed summer mojo.

This kid. He is full of new words lately. Bubble, Ba-Ball (basketball), Uh oh, Baby, ... he's also been trying really hard to pronounce the names of the other kids in his class at school. It is such a hoot to hear him trying so hard to talk. He will often sit with a book and make the strangest sounds all strung together like sentences. He is working on walking but still a bit unsure about it. He will take four or five steps and then decide crawling will get him there faster. He has been a champion at taking a 2 hour nap during the middle of the day at school and at home. He is also trying all kinds of new foods. We were surprised to see him scarf down a huge pile of kale last night. He seems to like most foods we feed him, but gets tired of things if we repeat them for too long. He has started to express his happiness by clapping and saying yaaaaaay. One of my favorite little scenes. He still loves his hats. People always compliment him while he wears his hats out in public and are surprised he keeps them on his head. I'm pretty sure he would ask for me to put a hat on his head when we leave the house if he could figure out those words.