October- Two Years Old

warning...looong post!!   October was busy! Austin's birthday and Halloween kept us going and it was a blast.

Two year old Austin is so fun. He is definitely gaining the desire to be independent and do things when he wants to do them, but each day I try to take it with a grain of salt and just laugh. And remember time flies way to fast to waste it being frustrated at my little boy. He is honestly still a good boy. He is our favorite person in the world, and makes us laugh every single day. I look forward to waking up and seeing him every morning and seeing what he will bring to our day.  I am so attached to this little guy, I feel naked without him. Although it is easier to go to run errands alone, I end up missing him and being lonely. I find myself wanting to talk to other mother's who are with their kids...about their kids lol. 

Jake and I have always joked about how I my running record of changing jobs every two years would hopefully not carry into motherhood :) Well I can honestly say the last two years have been the most rewarding, fun, exciting, challenging, triumphant, proud, exhausting, amazing years. I still love being a mom, so Jake- don't worry I am not going to switch careers once again and throw in the towel on being a mom hahaha!!!  Austin is my world and being home with him everyday is something I am incredibly thankful for each day. He is a remarkable little person and he teaches me only to become a better person.

His tantrums range from low (laying quietly on the floor face in his hands for about 10 seconds) to the highest (yelling "aaaaahhh, stop mama stop mama" and will hit me once). Although I am not thrilled with the hitting, he has not thrown himself on the floor kicking and screaming so I can handle what he dishes! Time Out solves it though. 

Austin "helps" us with everything...laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, working outside, everything! He is a silly, good-natured, responsible boy. He loves to make people laugh, and goes to great lengths to entertain us..usually at the dinner table when there is extended family watching.  He apologizes for hurting us, intentional or not. He is extremely determined to do things successfully on his own, sometimes to the point of frustration...but he is learning how to correctly handle those feelings. He is an amazing problem solver...he honestly bewilders me sometimes with the solutions he comes up with. That is for sure a Jake characteristic, and I greatly admire it! He still loves exploring new places, and thrives on playing with other kids. 

 Once he is convinced to do something we want him to do, like lie down for a diaper change, he is completely cooperative. When he goes to bed with whatever it is that night (sometimes puppy, sometimes trucks, etc) we have to lay them down to bed first, then he will lay down. He has to be covered by his big blanket, and have his blanky on top of him, with the corner either in his mouth to suck on, or in his hand to tickle his own face!

His two year check up was a breeze..he's always been great with being "examined" by the doctor. Just in case he would decide he didn't like it this time, I prepped him starting a couple days before, so he would know what to expect. I just told him what the doctor was going to do. And he seemed fine with it all! Good job buddy! Stats:

Height: 34" (50%)

Weight: 29lbs (70%)

At his 18mo appointment he was 20% for weight, so what a big change! The doctor said it's a not a problem at all, and asked me what my secret was for such good growth. I said I had no idea, maybe his milk? He loves milk. Maybe going to 1% will change things who knows!

Some fun things about Austin John:

-He picks flowers for me everywhere we go. Even dandelions :-)

- What an imagination. Sometimes Jake and I are lost when it comes to figuring out what this kid is doing, but it's really cute and fun to watch. Like the other day, we were walking home from the park, and every time a car drove by Austin would hold up this little rock in his hand, aiming for the car, and making a weird noise. Was he shooting it?? I have no clue!

-Absolutely loves to run, jump, crash, and climb. On everything. He is so proud that he can jump with both feet at the same time. He has been jumping, and doing somersaults for about a month and half I think.

- Has been saying sentences and tells stories, using a mixture of words and sounds-in-place of words. Like doggy is "woof woof." He also tells us what to do a lot. Like "sit mama." or "stop dada." He is known as The Director at our house.

- Still loves to dance! Let's see, his latest favorites are any Fun song, anything on aunt Lo Lo's phone, and a few of uncle Ry Ry's rap songs on his phone!

- Has some favorite shows. Loves Elmo dvd's, and Superwhy. Occasionally likes Sesame Street. Not into any real movies yet. He just gets bored and leaves to go play. But the Elmo dvd's are like 45 minutes long and he will at least stay in the room and watch while he plays. 

- LOVES chocolate. Seriously. He will sneak a handful of chocolate chips from the fridge, it drives me nuts! But I just laugh because I will hear rustling, go into the kitchen, and he knows he is caught so he is shoving a handful in before I can get to it. He calls chocolate ga ga. Usually followed by mmmm!!

- Loves his daddy so much. On Jake's days off, Austin usually wakes up before him and will quietly go into our bedroom to give his blanky to sleeping daddy. Jake is so good at playing with Austin, sometimes they get lost in their own world and I think it's cute!

-Most kids by now probably go in the corner when they have to poop. Austin stands on our coffee table and announces "bum!" Once he is finished, he gets back down and continues playing.

- Favorite toys hands down are trucks, cars, construction vehicles, emergency vehicles, trains..anything with wheels. He does love a good shape puzzle. He also likes to color, paint and play with play dough (what kid doesn't).

- He remembers everything we tell him. If we tell him we will walk to the park in the morning, when he wakes up, he reminds us.  Also, if he sees something that sparks his memory from something that happened months ago, he will re-tell the story.

- Says "sees" (please) and thank you (that one is still in his own language). Now we are working on "help" instead of "aaaaaaaaaah!!" lol

-Likes to share things, mostly. I am really proud of how he shares his food, toys, and places to sit with other kids, family members, and strangers.

-Lately when we do the bedtime routine, he will want to do most things on his own..it makes Jake and I so sad! He even climbs into his crib by himself :(

- He really dislikes being half naked. He is fine running around completely naked like after a bath or something...but hates missing pants, or a shirt. 

-Knows the color "bwoo" (blue) and that the "b" says /b/ and the "m" says /m/.

Classic Austin smile!

Birthday morning! Opening his present from mom and dad. His reaction was priceless. We gave hime an excavator.

and of course he had to throw away every piece of wrapping paper as he was ripping it off. It cracked us up..he did this at his other party too.

The rest of his birthday was a perfect 2 year old birthday if you ask me! We went to Wheeler Farm then had dinner at Chic-Fil-A so he could play in the play place (which was a terrible idea..way to chaotic for a 2 year old). On the way to the Farm, we came upon three of his FAVORITE vehicles. He loves anything with wheels, but these are the best of the best for him: 

Fire Truck!

Big truck!

I don't know what this is called..but still cool!

Wheeler Farm is always fun. His favorite thing to do there is to stand next to the creek behind the pigs and throw rocks into the water.

Opening a present from Grandpa Joe and Grandma Tammy

Healthy fast food dinner (haha or at least I'd like to think). Followed by cupcakes

Getting ready for a ride! He disappeared for a few minutes and came out with Jake's helmet on. Then proceeded to tell me he needed to work on daddy's bike.

"pumping the tires" as daddy does

And this is how Austin helps me unload the dishwasher or cook dinner. When he helps with dinner, I really have to keep my eye on him. He will pull a chair up to the stove and stir whatever is cooking. yikes!

Returning to birthday stuff...Later in the week we had a party at mom's with our family. Jake decorated Austin's cake, how cute right?

And, we also had a party with Jake's family! Birthday week was going strong! It was nice to split it up though. That way it wasn't too chaotic and Austin could spend good quality time with the people who love him so much! He really is one lucky kid. His grandparents all love him to pieces. His aunts and uncles adore him. We are so grateful for everyone!!

Yes, Austin still occasionally wears a bib at home...See why!? He all the sudden prefers to eat his apple sauce with his fingers.

This is classic after church, sunday afternoon Austin. We get out of church at 2 and he falls asleep on the short ride home. We lay him in his crib and he will sleep until 5 if we let him. But we wake him up around 4:15 to get ready to get together with family. Nursery is tiring apparently!

Halloween!! Count Dracula graced us with his presence multiple times for the whole week. Seriously. We dressed up like 4 or 5 times I honestly lost track. So many fun parties and get togethers!! I love halloween. First we went to carve pumpkins at Nick and Ashley's...always a good time. Then our ward had our Trunk or Treat, then on Halloween I took Austin to storytime at the library (all the kids were dressed up), then that night we went to party thrown by some friends in the neighborhood..then of course trick or treating.

Austin with his buddy Powell at the Trunk or Treat!

And his other friend Cooper at our friend's Halloween party!

 Jandie, Ashley, and I took the kiddos to Airborne while our husbands went to a Real game. This was probably one of Austin's dreams come true. He could run, jump, and crash without ever getting hurt. They had a blast! What a fun place.

This was too funny.. There was a ball on the other side of the net (in the big kid side). All three boys tried so hard to get it LOL. Logan is looking at one of the kids like "hey, can we have this ball? A little help here!"

At the halloween party, I found Austin doing this....creeeepy

Trick or treating with daddy!

And with uncle Jordan! Glad you guys wanted to come out with us!!

Re-living the magic of the holidays is so fun. It was so cute to watch Austin trick or treat. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and of course Christmas!