Noah at 2 1/2

Noah is one heck of a character. I can't believe we created him. I could write so much about this kid. Here is all about Noah at 2 1/2 years old.

First off, Noah is a talker. He talks like the average three year old. He amazes us and others around him with his vocabulary. It's so fun having conversations with him and hearing everything that goes on in his head. It's really entertaining to sit there and ask him questions (as long as he's in the mood to sit and talk!)

He LOVES to sing songs, especially nursery rhymes. He is always singing and picks up favorite songs and sings them on repeat. One week he sang Ba-Ba Black Sheep over and over and over again. Then switched it to Rain, Rain, Go Away, then the ABC song. Then it was I love to see the Temple. He learns songs quickly and can remember all the words. We sing a lot of primary songs together.

Although he can sing his alphabet, he's still learning to recognize his letters. He can usually point out an "N" or "S" (for Sophia) but sometimes gets letters mixed up. But he loves to find written words on things. He has been able to count since he turned two. He can count easily to 10 and then starts shouting out random numbers like nineteen, thirteen, nineteen, seventeen... Same as the letters, he can usually recognize some numbers, like 1, 2, 0 but sometimes gets them mixed up. What's funny is several months ago he actually recognized more numbers than he does now, it's like he forgot. But he loves to act like he knows all the letters and numbers. He loves to find N's and say "That's N for Noah!".

Noah can be very busy-busy and go-go-go, yet other times, like in new places, he's very observant and it takes him a little while to become that busy kid in that new environment. He usually needs some warming up - not like he's afraid necessarily, but he needs time to observe and then act. This goes along with people too. He takes some warming up, and can come across as shy, and then he becomes your best friend.

He notices small details, or reads them in a way that you wouldn't have thought yourself. He's good at reading situations and he can really pick up on our emotions by the tone of our voice, our face etc. Sometime's if I'm kind of in a deep thought and maybe worried about something and not realizing it, he'll look at me and say, "mommy, are you happy?". Derek and I are really working on how we communicate, respond, and express our emotions so we can teach by example. Although, it usually feels like we're teaching him the opposite! It's hard when you're still practicing yourself how to react appropriately as well.

Noah still loves trains, and anything that moves. He went on the Heber Creeper train this Summer with Papa, Grammies and some of his cousins. Riding the train is his favorite thing to do at the Hogle Zoo.

His new thing is gymnastics. Especially since Hugh came here in the Summer. Just like he taught himself how to hit a ball, he taught himself how to do a somersault. One day he said, "Look mommy! This is my nastics!" and rolled over. Everything for the last several months has been his "nastics". He pulls up and climbs over everything and calls it gymnastics. He's pretty good! I want to put him in a class this Spring. He loves watching videos of Hugh doing his routines.

This kid is hilarious. He seriously cracks us up! I'm sure all parents think their kid is the funniest, but seriously.. OURS REALLY IS :) Just kidding. But really. He started saying things like "what the heck" and we're like, what! The things he comes up with, Derek and I look at each other and are just like, since when is he a teenager?!

He likes to collect things, like tiny things he finds or random things around the house - to hold in his hand, or to put in a bag and then carry around the bag. It's so fun to watch and hear him play, by himself or with others. Coming up with games, like "I'm the daddy, you're the mommy". He likes to play pretend and makes lots of things "babies". Like a grape, or a tiny pom pom ball he found, or sometimes he'll even just take a burp cloth and wrap it up in a ball and say there's a baby in there. It's so cute. He's getting so much more interested in Oliver, and has really been loving on him lately and always sings to him and calls him cute.

He makes silly voices and has a new silly laugh that he does about 100 times a day. He'll do something he thinks is funny and go "HAHA!" in the funniest way. I wish I could insert the sound into here.

Noah still naps 1.5-2 hours a day. Which I am so grateful for. I have friends with kids the same age and they have stopped napping already. He really really needs his nap. As he always has. He usually wakes up around 7 and goes to bed between 8-9 but we're trying to move it back a bit earlier. During the Summer months, he started going to bed so late and I want to get him back to going to bed around 7:30-8:00.

Some of Noah's favorite foods right now...
Fruit: strawberries, blueberries , oranges
Vegetables: asparagus, green beans and broccoli (cooked), bell peppers raw, tomatoes from the garden
He also LOVES any type of beans - especially garbanzo (like his mommy). He loves quinoa and rice and bread with nut butter. Oh and he LOVES cereal. He does really like plain yogurt and cheese but I haven't been buying those things anymore, since we're trying to cut down on our animal products.

Noah did okay transitioning into his toddler bed. The hardest part was getting him to sleep but he would usually stay in his bed all night once he was actually asleep. But that didn't last long. By the time Oliver was born, he started sneaking into our room some nights. And it quickly became an every night thing. For months Derek would put him back in his bed and have to stay in there until he fell asleep or else he'd cry. But once Oliver started sleeping horribly, we were both exhausted that most nights Derek didn't even realize when Noah would climb into our bed. Lately we've been so focused on getting Oliver to sleep better that we're like, okay fine, we'll tackle Noah's sleep once Oliver is doing better (which he is starting to). I don't necessarily mind Noah sleeping with us as much as I used to, because now he at least sleeps (as opposed to rolling around and keeping us up). But he does wake us up sometimes and I just would like to have our own bed back, haha.

The reason Noah comes into our room at night is because he says he's scared of monsters. I don't know how he became so scared of monsters but it's pretty legit. If he is in a dark room by himself or something he'll start crying and say "there's a monster coming!" It's sad.

I could keep going and going and going but I don't have enough time. How much I love our little Noah. Actually he's becoming more and more of our big boy. We love you bud!