Big Boy!

Grant had is 2 year check up today. He is 36 3/4 inches tall (95%) and weighs 30 pounds (85%). The highest he had ever weighed before this was 40%. That's a huge jump in 6 months! Guess I don't need to be concerned if he only eats grapes and strawberries for lunch again. :)

2 Years Old!

It's hard to believe, but Grant is 2 today! We'd been talking to him a little bit about his birthday the past few days, and every time we would mention it he would get a big cheesy grin on his face. Yesterday at the sitter's he opened a couple presents and was SO excited. He wasn't there in the morning so the girls made him brownies, which they had for their snack after nap. The sitter said he was so excited and happy all day. This morning when we got him up we told him we were going to go get pancakes. He pretty much only said "birthday" and "pancake" the entire way to First Watch. Oh, and "birthday song again" when I started singing "Happy Birthday" (I sang that song many many times today, but it was worth it because he grins his cheesy grin each time). He ate a ton of pancakes and was the best he's been in a restaurant in a long time. We then went to COSI to play. Grant watched rats play basketball, spent a lot of time ringing the doorbells and painting the houses, drove the ambulance (and had some sharing issues with the ambulance), and played at the water table for a long time. We checked out some of the bigger kid areas- played with the hot air balloons, went to the ocean area, and did the slide and tunnel in grossology. After nap Grant opened his presents. He especially loved the mooing cow flashlight. We played with the new blocks, did the new puzzles, colored in the coloring book (he actually made me read the coloring book, and it had no words) and just played. All was fine until Troy put on the Wonder Pets, then turned it off after 30 seconds so Grant would talk to Grandma and Grandpa over video. Grant was NOT happy. He wanted to watch his show. Plus he was hungry. But after some Wonder Pets and food he was happy again and got to video with G and PawPaw, Jared and Jill, and Adam for a second time. I will probably add some pictures tomorrow.
-Our computer has ha d a horrible nasty virus for a while, therefore no blogging. I doubt I'm going to go back and catch up, but maybe I'll do some pictures. We'll see.

Potty Time!

Grant has shown some interest in using the potty for a little while now, so we finally got him his own over the weekend. When we brought it in and showed it to him he just stood there with a big grin on his face. He was very excited. He is also very excited to sit on the potty, though he only sits for about 2 seconds, then gets up to see if there is anything in there. The exciting news is that twice over the weekend there was something in the potty when he got up! We haven’t had any luck since, but he sure likes to sit on it. (He also wants to have all his clothes off when he sits on it.)

Grant has figured out that “timeout” is a punishment for doing something bad. Every time we tell him no or to stop doing something he says “Timeout? Timeout?” over and over. Once we asked him if he wanted a timeout and he said yes all excited. He started saying this after a day at the sitter’s so I asked her if Grant had gotten a timeout. She said no, but one of the girls has had timeout before, and the girls pretend to put their dolls in timeout. He must have just made the connection now.

Grant is turning into quite the little jabbermouth. Especially in the evenings, he gets to talking and does not stop. One night I brought a pizza home after work and Grant sat at the table with us while we ate and I think he talked the entire time he sat there. He must get it from his dad. J

On Sunday Grant and I were playing “nite nite” on our bed when he (accidentally) gave me a hard kick right to the nose. I thought he broke it, it hurt so bad, and I cried. Troy was in the shower and when he got out he told Grant to tell me sorry. This must have made an impression on Grant because he frequently looks at me and says sweetly “sorry Mommy,” even days later. He’s starting to make me feel bad!

Grant has started to say “excuse me” when someone/something is in his way. He says it to us when we have our feet on the ottoman or he wants to get around us, but my favorite is when he says it to things. The other day we were in the bathroom with the door partially closed and he stood at the door saying “excuse me, excuse me” trying to get through the crack without actually opening the door up himself.

Grant the Artist and Other Stories

One of these days I will post about Christmas....

-Grant discovered the pockets in his pants the other day. He tried so hard to get his hands in, and needed a little help from Mommy. He ends up pulling his pants down a little while he does it, it's really funny.

-On my day off I made Grant a fort with a blanket, but he kept calling it a fork. Just like he calls his paintbrush a toothbrush.

-We've put Grant on the potty a few times. We really need to get him his own little potty. He hasn't gone yet, but he keeps asking to "go potty" so maybe it will click one of these days.

-For Christmas Grant got an art easel and some art supplies. He loves to use the watercolor paints. And his favorite color to use? White. Hmm, doesn't show up on the white paper. Second favorite color? Brown.

-I've had to brush the snow off my car almost every day this week. When I use the windshield wipers to get the last of it, Grant always says "Bye snow!" I sure wish the snow would go away!

Catching Up

22 months- I haven't been posting these monthly pictures lately because he just won't be still long enough for us to get a decent one. This was the second attempt. Look how big he looks!

Grant took an interest in what he was wearing for the first time the other day. He refused to let me put on the shirt I picked out, put it away, and got out his dinosaur shirt. He then wanted to put on his "Buckeye pants" which are the above 1 piece pajamas. I think I may have to do some fashion training...

Last Christmas Grant got a nativity set. We got it out for the first time and he loves to play with it. He especially loves the angel and baby Jesus. He is always putting the baby in the stable for a nap.

Grant is still in love with Elmo. I brought home an Elmo/Sesame Street pop-up book and he thought it was pretty cool.

This is my favorite picture. Here is Grant in front of the tree giving baby Jesus a kiss.

Troy found Grant watching tv like this one day. I love the crossed legs, arm slung over the arm of the couch look he's got going on.

We took Grant out to explore all the tons of snow we got this weekend. In the bottom picture he's clapping.

Grant is starting to learn his letters and numbers. He almost always can identify R, O, and 8. He usually can get S and U. Sometimes he gets G and K. When he counts he either says 1, 2, 3 or 8, 9, 10. Those middle numbers are tricky. When he sings the ABC song he starts at Q, R, S and skips to "double x... now I know" but he sings the right tune. He also sings Wheels on the Bus as "bus round and round...all town." He is saying new things all the time. The latest additions are excuse me, bless you and hungry. Oh and dotcom. I couldn't figure out where he learned that until I heard the Garmin commercial today and then I heard him say it. I think Daddy must have the tv on too often. :)

Grant is starting to get in to dinosaurs. He gets excited about his dinosaur shirt and the dinosaur books we have. And he can say dinosaur, which I think is his longest word so far.

Elmo and Brutus have a new friend- Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets. Grant got Ming Ming last Christmas, but he just saw the show recently and made the connection with the stuffed animal. Last week Ming Ming was the first to sleep in his bed, but he stayed awake for 1.5 hours 2 nights in a row. Mommy didn't let Ming Ming sleep in the bed and he went to sleep much more quickly. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Ming Ming might be a bad influence.

One last random tidbit while I'm actually blogging. We bought Grant some white Hanes undershirts, which Troy wears all the time. When we showed Grant and put one on him he called it Daddy's shirt. And that's what he always calls them now.

Thank You and No Mine!

The other night Grant started crying in the middle of the nigh. When I went in to check on him, his pacifier was on the floor, so I picked it up and gave it back to him. Instead of just putting it in his mouth and going back to sleep, he told me thank you. I almost laughed out loud. I had to go in there a second time that night, and he again told me thank you when I gave him back his pacifier. He's so funny.
One of the many blog posts I've had in my head and never written is about how often he says thank you. I think for probably 2 months now he's been saying thank you. When he first started saying it you could tell he was so proud of himself for saying it. He would purposely do things so we would tell him thank you, and if we didn't say it fast enough he would say it first. He still says thank you almost every time we give him something, from water to a toy to candy. And he's so cute when he says it, I think it will be something I never forget. I hope he continues to be a polite little boy as he grows up. One thing I hope doesn't continue is "no, mine." The daughter of our new sitter has some sharing issues and is ALWAYS saying "no mine" whether Grant is trying to get whatever she has or not. He has taken to saying "no mine" instead of just no. For example, we'll ask him if he wants more grapes and he'll answer "no mine." So much fun. So far that's the worst thing he's learned from the kids at the sitter's, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Bandaid Blues

Last night Daddy took Grant to get the H1N1 shot. It was fine and didn't take too long. When I gave Grant his bath, he saw the bandaid on his leg (or maybe I bumped it taking his pants off?) and immediately started crying. He cried during the entire bath, and cried harder everytime he looked at the bandaid. When I got him out of the tub he clung to my legs and cried. I eventually got him diapered, but he still cried a little and he wanted me to hold him. I put him on our bed and he was ok, until he looked at the bandaid. Then he had to climb on me and cuddle with me. After I put his jammies on and he couldn't see the bandaid any more he was fine. So either I really did bump it and made it hurt, or he saw the bandaid and remembered how it hurt. Either way, he milked it for some mommy time.