Santa!

We had our annual visit to Santa at Crown Center's Crayola Land on Sunday. This is the first year Noah kind of gets who the big guy really is. He's been talking about him and has been planning on asking for Diesel 10 and Toby the tram engine (because he doesn't have enough Thomas trains!). He still says he wants raspberries, too. Forget the traditional oranges, candy canes or chocolate!

Noah's first Christmas, I didn't do the picture thing. He was a very fussy baby and I didn't feel the need to take him out into a germy crowd and get a screaming baby picture. His second Christmas, he was a happy toddler, and well, we still ended up with the classic terrified baby shot. But, we do treasure it and he did have fun playing in Crayola Land that year!

His third Christmas was better. Still didn't really "get" the whole Santa thing. I took him on a weekday with intentions of just playing at the Crayola Land. It was dead and I let him play a long time. He warmed up slowly to Santa. Mr. C. was great taking time to talk to Noah and make him comfortable.

This year, his fourth Christmas, he really anticipated it and talked about it. He knew what he was going to ask for. Although he wasn't scared of him, he got very shy and wouldn't talk. I let Santa know the two trains he wanted, and Noah would nod to answer questions. Santa asked if he'd give him knuckles or high five and Noah did indeed pound it.

He was so not going to crack a smile for the camera though.

Little Elliot had a blast playing in Crayola Land, too. And no surpise for our easygoing E, he had no problem going right on the big guy's lap and even gave us a big smile for our picture.

Checking out the creepy vintage Santa that moves and says "ho ho ho" while Daddy waited in line.

While waiting I also took Noah to the candy shop. It's right there (naturally). He dropped a piece on the ground and picked it up. I quickly took it away and told him it was dirty. And he knows better. But, much like Buddy the Elf and cotton balls, he just couldn't resist it. He grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth SO FAST like Buddy does the cotton ball when he gets his finger pricked. Gross? Yes. Hilarious? An even a bigger yes.

I'm posting this because it could very well be the last pic of me wearing him in the bjorn. He is so over it and wants to be on the go. I only use it in the grocery store and Target. Once he is walking, we'll probably be done with it for good. *sniffle*

Sweet Freedom to roam!Happy Boy in the Crayon Tunnel

The only one of them playing togetherThis is from our camera. The one we ordered from them, the boys are looking at the camera. E is cheesing and Noah pretty much looks like this.

*For a comparison of the past two years, just click on the Santa tag below to see last year's post*

Noah is thankful for Hudson. And raspberries.

The other day I asked Noah what he was thankful for, he said "I thankful for Hudson, mama!" <3

On another note, I'm kind of embarrassed that I have never bought raspberries for my fruit loving son. I just am not a big fan of them myself. I went to go pick him up from Hudson's on Tuesday and Kelley was just making them all lunch. She asked Noah if he wanted raspberries or blueberries. Well he LOVES blueberries. But, he picked the red raspberries. And loved them. Wanted seconds. So I said I'd go to Costco and get some (where Kelley had gotten a huge batch of them) Wednesday.

Tuesday night when Paul was reading him bedtime stories, there was a book that had raspberries in it. Noah told Paul he was going to ask Santa for some. He REALLY wanted them! Well yesterday I had Claire (our babysitter) come over so I could run errands, but she wasn't available for very long as she had to pick up Erin (her sis and our old babysitter) from the airport with her mom. My first errand took forever. I didn't think I had time to do Costco on Thanksgiving Eve. As soon as I got home, Noah came out to the car in the garage searching for the raspberries from Costco. OOPS! Felt a little bad.

Then last night I heard him on the monitor as Paul was putting him to bed pitifully say "Miss Kelley has raspberries at her house. We don't have raspberries at our house". I am starting to feel like I neglected the poor child.

This morning I had to call Paul on his cell as he was leaving the grocery store. Noah was upset and whining about not having raspberries, as he longingly looked at that book with them in it. No more waiting for Costco. Paul went back in and bought him some raspberries. FINALLY!

Noah ate two bowls happily. He also says they are his and not ours. I decided this wasn't the time for a lesson on sharing. They are all his.

"How do we go through so many cups a day?"

Paul always wonders how we go through so many dishes during the day. But, this little quirk of Noah's we owe to his dad. I think the story was one time Noah wanted to drink out of a big cup of ours and Paul had him dump his drink from his sippy cup into it. Now, Noah always wants to do this.

Today I had the kid drawer open so Noah could pick his cup for juice and Elliot was playing in it, so I left it unlocked.

I left for a minute and came back to find 3 dirty juice cups. Noah not only poured it from one cup to a second cup, but then a third. Silly boy.

So, Paul, that is how we fill up that dishwasher so fast. And it'll only get worse as Elliot gets older. I'll address the spoons another day.

Elliot Eye Update

I think it was early October that my sister noticed one day that Elliot's eyes would sometimes be misaligned. One would turn out. He was super tired that day and I dismissed it. I thought he looked like he was just staring off into space. We had a big day full of activity and he had to just nap on the fly (not well).

Well I have noticed it a few times recently myself. It's usually brief. And I do think it's mostly when he's tired. It's hard to notice, because you can think he's just looking off to the side. But, if you pay attention, one eye is straight ahead. Anyway, I emailed our Opthamologist with some picture examples yesterday and this is his response.


Unfortunately, a later consecutive exotropia (outward turning) is not uncommon following an initially successful surgery for infantile esotropia. If it is happening infrequently (usually when tired), no treatment is generally indicated. Sometimes it becomes more frequent and in some cases surgery may again be needed. I think the current appointment is fine and it would be good to monitor it and see when and how often it is occurring so we can discuss this at the appointment.

Thanks for the update.

So we are just praying it stays infrequent enough to not need surgery. It was hard the first time, but he was a trooper. He's now older, mobile and just much more spunky. Don't want to go down that road. Please pray for his eyes.

You can see what I'm talking about in the post 2 below called "New Game".

Sleepy Noah

He was hoping to just enjoy a nice read on the way home, but sleep just snuck up and bit him.

New Game

Last night the boys bathed seperately, because Noah was coming down with a little bug and was super tired and needing to go to sleep early. I love doing baths at the same time, but I'm always on Noah for pestering his brother, stealing toys, etc. I feel sorry for E when he does this.

Well let me tell you, Noah keeps him in line. Last night with the whole bath to himself he was way too honery for his own good. Without Noah on his side (the side of the faucet), E kept trying to stand up and hang onto it, play with the drain handle and dunk his head to get a closer look at the drain. He seemed to be in the mood to slip, fall and bust his skull open. Of course, every time I moved him to safely sitting down and give him a toy, he let me know how he felt (MAD!).

Then he discovered a new game. One that all babies do at some point. He threw a toy out of the bathtub. At first I didn't think it was on purpose, so I put it back in the tub. Until he repeated it several times. I just had to laugh. It was so funny. His expressions when he does this stuff just crack me up. This is a busy, challenging and FUN age.

Here's my little Elliot after his bath. He looks so cute with his hair all fixed up after bathtime.

Having Fun

Mandy does a great job of sending me little snippets of their day each day at work, just to remind me what I'm working for. Lately, Noah has been begging me not to go to work as I leave the house, asking me to stay "five more minutes" or read a book, or demanding, "You NOT got to work today, daddy!" It really is hard to walk out with him begging like that, and even harder on Mandy to deal with the upset crying after I leave.

But she does a great job keeping them active and engaged throughout the day so they forget about me being gone, and all usually seems to be forgiven as I walk in the door at night and hear Noah's pounding feet running across the house to greet me with a big "Daddy's home!"

Even E seems happy to see me, and smiles hugely when I pick him and beats on my shoulders (his way of saying hello). Only Mandy looks ready to run away from me, but it's probably the kids she's wanting to get away from after a long, hard day...



Building a "cookie shop for you, daddy!"



Playing on the just-made bed


A rare serious look at the camera

Discussing strategy - how to get on Mom's nerves next.
Our Angel boy. Don't let the light fool you - he's mischievous.

I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything.

"what?"

Hey Daddy-O! This is for you :)

It's fun to play at the Y-M-C-A!

Today we went as a family to the YMCA to take the boys swimming. Paul hadn't been since I signed up for a family membership, so he had to get his picture ID. Then the girl said the boys needed one too. No one has ever said anything about it the other times I had gone, but I have to admit I was kind of excited for them to get their first little gym ID cards. A little rite of passage.

Noah was so excited when he walked in the pool and had such a huge smile on his face. He had a lot of fun playing around. We hadn't gone swimming since this summer. This past summer Elliot enjoyed the water too, but he wasn't mobile. He is going to be our little guppy! Noah has always been a little afraid of going under the water. Not E. That boy was going insane! I wish I had a camera. Big eyes, splashing like crazy, expressions alternated from joy and laughter to serious business. He was trying so hard to dive in head first. I sat him down in the water to splash (it's a zero entry) because that's what we would do this summer. Well he immediately took off crawling and was ready to just go under the water for an adventure. He splashed and kicked and went nuts. It was so much fun having a family day. It's been way too long since we all been able to hang out together enjoying some quality time.

After Elliot was getting tired, we dressed the boys and showed Paul the kid's area where they go to "child watch" when I workout. It is closed on Sunday's, but we were still able to go in there with the kids. There are a lot of fun toys to play with. We haven't been in about a month between all the sickies in our house and Noah is nervous about me leaving him again, so this was good to remind him of all the fun toys there to play with.

We headed to Waldo Pizza afterwards for some lunch. E passed out before we even got seated and slept through the whole lunch (and is still asleep now at home nearly 2 hours later). Noah has had several late nights lately and has been waking up early since DST, so he actually started to almost pass out while eating. We paid up and left fast. He fell asleep on the way home and we are enjoying a very rare time of both boys napping at the same time. Ahhhh........ great day!

Sweet E sleeping on mommy's chest while I chowed on some delish pizza :)

Noah, after he passed out on the ride home from Waldo and got put to bed. It was rainy, dark and cold today - we were all wishing we could do this.

Elliot is no longer Ed-uh-wit

I think it was probably about a week ago I asked Noah if he could say "El-ee-ot" slowly. He did it. Of course, he's capable, but we never tried to correct him. It was cute how he called him Ed-uh-wit. And even cuter when he started calling him Ed for short. Anyway, ever since then Noah has started calling him Elliot. We still call him Ed for a nickname, but mostly he's just Elliot. I'm glad Noah can say it right, but a little bit sad about it too.

First time in the bouncehouse

I bought this when Noah was about the same age as Elliot. He was terrified and sobbed when I put him in it with Charlie. Elliot reacted a bit differently.


I told Noah he could bounce gently sitting down. Um, that did not happen. As I'm telling Noah to slow down and not scare Elliot, Elliot is laughing hysterically at being bounced.

"No somersaults while Elliot is in the bouncer, Noah".......5 seconds later

A taste of my own medicine

Background info:
In one of my many attempts at getting Noah to potty train, I bought him a "poop toy". He pees on the potty, but the other is still an obstacle. I bought him a pretty obnoxious Wonder Pets boat that sings their songs when you press the button. I figured Murphy's Law is the more annoying and obnoxious is it the sooner he'll potty train? Hasn't worked yet! But, he sees it everyday and I let him push the button one time and remind him it's ALLLLLLL his if he only will poop on the potty

More Background Info:
Noah is obsessed with his megablocks and often builds things for someone but usually that doesn't mean they get to play with the blocks.

So today Noah built me a robot out of his blocks. I asked him if I could play with the robot. He said, "YES! But, you have to go poo poo on the potty first!"

His favorite place in the whole, new world

In his Mom's arms...

This is one of the things I miss the most. With Noah, and his well-known sleep problems, I was up almost as much as Mandy was, rocking him, holding him and putting him to sleep. As much as I wanted a full, uninterrupted night of sleep during those days, there were many times when I just enjoyed holding him in my lap, listening to him breathe contentedly and watching the sweet innocence in the face that appears only when a baby goes to sleep. That look still transforms a 3-year old back to a newborn, and I still miss the days when I could zone out rocking him to sleep, and watching him slip off to dreamland.


With Elliot, I have not been able to rock him to sleep since he was several weeks old. For whatever reason (the reason is probably that all babies are different, and psycho), he likes to go to sleep sitting up unless you have a boob he can latch onto. I can walk him around, with him sitting up and laying his head on my shoulder, and he will go to sleep, but God forbid I decide to lay him sideways and rock him in a chair or try to rock him to sleep. He just gets mad. For that reason, Mandy has been saddled with going it alone at night with this one. As much as I am willing to help, it is just more practical for her to take care of it. Don't get me wrong - I love the sleep, and being able to roll over and go back to it when she has to get up several times a night, but there are many days when I'd love to hold him in my arms and watch him sleep. She's sacrificing, but she is also getting something I cannot have.


As everyone who has been down this road before is fond of reminding us, this will not last. Pretty soon, Elliot will be off on his own things, taking care of business, and we will not get to hold him like this. I believe it. Once we got Noah his "big boy bed", it was over. It is both a milestone and a bittersweet moment when that happens, and as much as I disliked having to rock him to sleep every night at the time, I miss it now.

"This is the Belton Train"

Noah said this is the Belton train he rides with Charlie. Is it me or is he pretty darn good for a barely 3 year old?

"Where you headed, pal?"

E looks like he's going for a cruise down the highway in his convertible, one hand on the wheel and hair blowing in the wind. Noah actually looks like a digger driver. Beer belly and all.

A little bit country...

...and a little bit rock and roll

Figuring out grammar

Noah gets "can" and "may" confused. His new thing is combining them. This morning he asked, well demanded strawberries. "I want strawberries!" So I said, "how do you ask?"

"Can I may have some strawberries, please?"

And I've noticed him role playing with his stuffed animals asking for things and then answering them "Yes, you can may!"

The world through a child's eyes...

Noah has begun to draw stick figures on his toy etch-a-sketch. He tells us who he is drawing, then goes at it. Apparently, daddy looks like an egg.

Noah loves putting his dad to sleep

Noah almost always wants Paul to lay in bed with him when he goes to sleep. And Paul usually does on most nights. He doesn't like to when he's really tired because he is so prone to passing out with Noah.

A couple of nights ago I came downstairs after putting Noah to bed (Paul was in there too) and turned on the monitor. It was pretty quiet and then I heard Noah "Daddy wake up." "Wake up, Dad!" "DADDY! WAKE UP, DADDY!". Paul wasn't waking up - haha. He gave up after a few tries and decided to go ahead and go to sleep himself.

Noah's 3 year check up

We had Noah's 3 year check up today (just a little late) it went well. No vaccinations today - he's already had his seasonal flu shot and H1N1 nasal mist. First, the most observable stats:

Height: 40" (95%)

Weight: 40 lbs (95%)

He is doing well in all other areas too - basically a normal 3 year-old - and Dr. W assured me I won't have to homeschool him because he will eventually potty train.

Here's some of what Noah's up to these days:

Favorite Toys: Blocks! He builds towers, pretends they are food and builds railroad tracks with them. He really does so much and uses his imagination more and more. His favorite for building towers (and churches and grocery stores and rainforests and cookie shops) are his mega blocks, but he also has wooden blocks he plays with that his grandparents built for him. These are mostly "food" and other imaginative things. He still likes trains and plays with them daily, as well as his trucks and cars. He has also gotten into dinosaurs recently, and spends time "roaring" around the house, and reading dinosaur books. He loves to paint and draw, too.

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite foods: olive mazza and feta pita pizza lately (before that it was PB&J), mac-n-cheese, chicken and fish sticks (and pretty much anything he can dip in ketchup. He has no trouble eating, just a little trouble eating dinner if it's healthy (unless we're creative)

Favorite drinks: Naked Green Machine juice, and water

Favorite cookie: Snickerdoodle

Best Buddies: Hudson, Addison, Jack......and introducing his imaginary friend, Keena

Noah at one of his soccer games (rolling around on the ground, goofing off with Hudson instead of playing actual soccer)

The broken dvd player.....

When we had our old car I had a portable DVD player only for longer road trips. We hardly ever used it. Well in the mini-van we have these awesome headphones. Noah can listen/watch his show while I have peace and quiet and enjoy a little XM radio. I take full responsibility for what you can imagined happened. Noah became addicted. He started demanded it for even short rides around town and often I'd give in. A few weeks ago when he threw a fit becuase we were home and he didn't want to get out of the car because he was watching Max and Ruby, I decided to cut him off. I told him the DVD player broke.

Anyway, today on the way home from my parents (a long enough trip normally I wouldn't mind him having a show, but couldn't let him have it because then he'd know it works - haha), he said he needed Daddy to fix his "show". He just pulled a screwdriver out of the drawer, handed it to Paul and asked him to fix his "show" in the car. It was so cute.

Paul took the screwdriver out and fixed it. He said he could only fix it for longer road trips and it's still broken for around town.

Hey Elliot...

..wanna try some eggs?


What, are you trying to kill me? What was that?


Well, maybe I'll try another bite...

Halloween 2009 - Captain Serious

The two previous Halloweens, Noah was a Mizzou Tiger football player (Chase Daniels, if you want to be specific). That was primarily because he had no intention of ever getting into a costume, much to his mother's chagrin. In fact, people in costumes scared him quite a bit, so the prospect of even going out for candy was a bit dicey.

We played it safe by going to Brookside's Trick or Treat Street, an annual event at the neighborhood shops a few blocks away, where over 60 retailers hand out candy. Last year we went, got scared, got a smattering of candy and came home. Noah just looked at us, handed us his pumpkin and went off to play.

This year, he understands what candy is. He didn't understand that the point of getting dressed up and going out was to get some, but at least whenever he fussed about getting dressed up or getting in the car, we could say "Candy" and he would hang in there for at least a few minutes longer.

Unfortunately, Mandy was very ill and couldn't go, so I packed up E & N, and we went trick-or-treating. You can't see Elliot's costume, but I think he was a pumpkin. The ghosts and goblins didn't bother him a bit. He loved being there.


Noah really wasn't sure about the Captain America mask. In all fairness, it didn't really fit well and stay in place, so he was constantly trying to see when it was down. Here we are getting out of the van.

Five seconds later, the mask comes up. You can even see our mini-van in the background, that's how far we got.

Crossing the street to the shops. He's getting excited now.

He spots his first candy giveaway. You can tell he's getting excited, because he's getting much more serious looking.

Candy from the Brooksider. If he were only ten years older, he could probably buy a beer here too.

This is the scary-ass clown that almost made both of us cry. Noah seemed cool with the whole costume thing this year, until we saw this clown. I didn't realize I had a picture of him, but right after he got the candy, Noah turned around, saw him and started freaking. He calmed down eventually, but kept looking over his shoulder. Looks a little old to be trick-or-treating at a kids event.

Reminds me of that Jack Handy quote: "To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad."

Waiting in line for candy. Noah kept looking at this boy like, "What are you supposed to be?" He was "Cat in the Hat".

Captain "Cheese"

Only long enough to get the photo.

Noah saying cheese, and Elliot being busy doing whatever Elliot does these days. Which is primarily being busy.

I think I found Captain America's kryptonite. Skittles. He let me pull his mask down, and even walked a few yards with it down for pictures. I can see why he didn't like it.

Holding his Halloween bucket, I was like the pied piper. He followed me all the way back to the car without a peep.