Boots

This silly boy LOVES his boots and will randomly go put them on and prance around the house.

Climbing trees (again)

Its almost like Where's Waldo?  I heard them calling me to come and see and I honestly cound't find them for a minute.  They both got really high.

Mark's Birthday

Our little Mark turned 2 years old today!  AJ and Ty were so excited to make him a birthday cake.  They were so sweet.  Jeff and Mark went to go run an errand so we could surprise Mark.  I asked the boys what we should put on the cake and they suggested Mark's motorcycles that he loves, so we did along with 2 candles.  The boys wanted to hide behind the furniture and have a "surprise party" for Mark when he got home.  I explained that it wasn't a surprise because they live in our house, but that didn't stop them.  Mark's reaction wasn't anything exciting and he didn't understand why his toys were in the cake.  Jeff and I laughed at the situation and then we had cake and ice cream.  It was a fun day for all the boys!  

Mark 2 years old

My little baby boy is two years old today!  He is such a joy and our family wouldn't be complete without him.

Mark . . .

normally has a serious look on his face especially around strangers.

loves cars, trucks, motorcycles, trains; pretty much anything with wheels.

talks all the time and know numerous words, more than either of his brothers at this age.

is so big!  Many people think he is 3 and he towers over other kids his age.  He is getting very heavy for me to hold!

takes a nap every day whenever the schedule allows.  He's pretty flexible about the timing.

loves to be outside and recently figured out how to open the front door and will often "escape".  I usually have to bribe him with food to get him to come back in.

loves to close doors.  If he sees one open, he'll quickly go close it.

loves to show off his belly by lifting up his shirt.  I'll ask him if I can have some belly, and he'll come up to me so I can kiss it.  Then he'll go up to his brother's with his shirt lifted up and say, "Ty Ty, have some belly"

loves to dance in the car and will tell his brother's to dance too.

wears size 3T shirts, 3T pants and size 9 shoe.

Lost a Tooth

AJ finally lost his first tooth.  It seemed like last year in Kindergarten someone from his class was loosing a tooth every week.  It's been loose for a while now and we knew it would happen soon.  AJ had been anticipating what the tooth fairy would bring him; he even thought she might bring him an iPad- we explained that the tooth fairy had a lot of children to give to and that would probably not happen.  We had some friends over (Emmy, Mario & Mia) and the kids were taking a break from playing and asked for a snack.  I suggested apples and half was through, AJ's tooth stuck in the apple.  He was so excited and so was his friend Emmy who had lost a tooth about a month ago while we were playing at her house.  What a coincidence!  They were both excited.  AJ put his tooth under his pillow and got $5 from the tooth fairy and a note.  He said, "She knows that sometimes we don't floss" and now wants to floss every night. :-) 

Painting Pumpkins

I had promised the boys we could paint pumpkins over fall break and they were looking forward to it for a while.  We went to Lowe's, picked up supplies to make a scarecrow, and I let them pick out their own pumpkins.  At first they went for the biggest ones and once they realized they couldn't pick them up, they settled for a smaller size.  The older boys painted while Mark took his nap.  I had planned to let Mark paint when he woke up, but he was fine just holding his pumpkin, so I avoided the mess he would have made.  We also made a scarecrow out of Mark's old clothes; he was a kid scarecrow, the boys loved it!  

The "pass"

Getting rid of the pacifier is something we had to go through for 2 out of 3 of our children.  AJ took one and we called it a "nuk", Ty never liked pacifiers and I pretty much made Mark like them; whenever we were on the go (which was often) I'd put it in his mouth to keep him quiet- it worked.  He started calling it a "pass" when he could talk- so that stuck.  We had a pacifier everywhere we went and if we didn't have one, we paniced.  I remember one time I lost one in a parking lot; Mark was so fussy I ended up letting him suck on my finger (after I washed my hands). I went back and looked everywhere for it.  I never found it, but we survived.

The pass has been limited to nap and bed time for a while now (probably 6 months).  When Mark wakes up he knows that we put it on the shelf and it stays there until bedtime.  About a month ago, I thought it was about time to give it up.  I tried the same method we used with Aiden; cut the pacifier gradually.  We did this for a few days; Mark called it "boken" (broken) and then when I thought he was ready, he threw the pacifier in the trash after much encouragement from me.  He actually did great the first couple nights; on night 3 he was up a few times, night 4 it was 4 or 5 times and night 5 he was up every hour and around 4 am, I dug out a pacifier from the cabinet (we had many) and shoved it in his mouth!  And everyone slept again.  Jeff and I agreed, it wasn't the right time, we'll try again in a few months.  The older boys knew what was going on and we have been talking a lot about Mark being a "big boy" and not a baby anymore.  The boys were out of school on last Monday (Labor Day) and Mark went down for his usual morning nap with his pass, he woke up and I forgot to have him put it on the shelf.  He was sitting with me cuddling (pacifier still in his mouth) and Ty looks at him and says, "Mark, you're a big boy, you should put your pass in the trash".  Mark wiggled his way out of my lap, walked to the trash can and threw it in.  And that was the last we saw of the pass!  He's been sleeping fine without it for a week now.  Who knew?  I just had to have a big brother encourage him.  Now on to potty training. :-)