Big Changes, Mixed Feelings

"Momma, take a picture of me in my Sponge Bob jammies, please."
 
Hollis had his last serving of "milkies" the day before Thanksgiving, the night we tried putting on some size 3 two-piece jammies instead of his go to zip-up onsies.  He was so excited to fit into jammies just like Georgie wears. 

I didn't have a plan for breastfeeding.  I knew I wanted to let him call the shots for as long as I could handle, and for the first 2 years or so it was going fine.  Recently Hollis became really demanding about feeding, and wanted milk sometimes 5 times a day.  I felt like we were going backward.  He started to eat less at meal times, and sometimes would skip dinner.  I started to think it was time wean.  I still have mixed feelings.  I loved holding him close and watching him fall asleep in my arms.  I love that he can be nourished by me, but it has to happen sometime, and well I decided to go for it.

With how tough it was to lessen his feedings, I thought a cold turkey wean would have been much more difficult of a transition.  He has surprised me.  On Wednesday morning, I told him that he was a big ninja now, wearing big boy jammies just like Georgie, just like Ayla and that he doesn't need "Momma milkies" anymore.  He seemed a little sad but mostly proud to a be a growing up. 

Also since Thanksgiving Hollis has kept his underwear clean.  He has being making both 1s and 2s on the potty.  The times they are a changing! 

27 Month Observations

Time is flying and ever day Hollis seems to be growing and changing more and more.  Each day begins with a lot of love.  He either calls for me when he wakes and usually requests a "ton-ton" ride to the kitchen to see Dad.  If Dad gets to him first, he and Dad love to wake me up with a hot cup of coffee.  Hollis calls "Momma, your coffee is ready." 

Before long he is starting to eat some of his favorite breakfast meals: peanut butter toast, oatmeal, yogurt with blueberries or cold banna (banana).  Mid-eating he escapes the table to engage Mom or Dad in sword battles, ninja training or basketball.  

He talks a lot and loves to role play.  He is usually a soldier or knight all decorated with armor or a ninja from the lego ninjago series.  He is always game for helping out, whether that is giving Mom some vitamins or helping Ayla put her shoes on.

He has is fair share of tantrums.  They usually occur when we are trying to get him to wear pants or a jacket or at dinner time when he would rather play then sit at the table with the family.  They are pretty intense, loud and physical but he comes around usually withing 5 minutes.

Every night at the dinner table we light a peace candle and join in a conversation we call "high-low" where we all share are high part of the day and our low.  Hollis now reminds the family of "high-low" when we sit at the table and almost always shares.  He usually high is usually "Ayla's house" and his low has been peeing or pooping in his pants.

He is starting to identify letters, he know H,L and O.  He knows all his colors and count 1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10.

On the rare occasion he says really awesome things like "Momma, I really love you!"  "Sing to me like when I was born"  Totally the best.  He loves to cuddle up to me while I read him some books, and sometimes he will read them with me.    

Gearing up for Winter hikes again.

I was just sifting through some old photos.  This one here is from April 2012, out at Peavy.  It got me excited to think of all the hikes with Joelene, Adrianna, Alicia and Finley again. 

Terrible Two is here.

Is Hollis terrible?  Is he terrible for me to deal with?  Is he just experiencing something terrible inside so he falls a part and into a fit of rage without and ration or sanity? On Thursday I set to leave the house at 8:15am to drop Hollis off at his friends.  I left the house with Hollis half naked and we still didn't get there until 9:45am and I didn't get to see my dear friend defend her Phd. I was so mad.  I was so mad I could get on my schedule, Hollis just didn't want to do anything I wanted him to do.  When I went to pick up Hollis up from his friends he had the best day ever.  Ate all of his food, had a second helping, took a 2+ hour nap and was well behaved.  I was super happy that he had a good day but totally jealous to not have had some good time with with my buddy.  Each day is different, but gawd damn this kid with try me and I don't even think he is trying. 

OOO Momma look a red tree...

While driving with my little bub, he started getting excited and said "Ooo Momma look!  A red tree!"  It is amazing to think that this is the first Fall that he can communicate his excitement about nature.  He was really impressed with the red trees.  Then he said, "Momma lets see if we can find more."  We spend the entire drive home looking for red trees.  It was a special moment.

Year 3 begins!

Hollis turned 2 a month ago.  Where does the time go?  No, really, tell me.  I feel like I have less and less time each week, each day.  When Hollis was just 2 months old I spent several days canning plums and apples with a dear friend and her infant.  We took shifts over the stove and over mill while the other tended to the little ones.  At times I would prepare the fruit with Hollis asleep on my lap.  Last year I canned much less and this year I have no time to can at all.  We barely have time to socialize outside of playdates.  The only two events we have hosted have been Hollis summer birthday bashes.  This year we threw a big party at the Thompson Shelter in Avery Park.  It was cool day with clear skies.  Hollis ate several cupcakes and played in the sandbox like a wild dragon. 

Hollis and I try to get out and about as much as possible but still there are days where we would rather play at home inside building lego castles and elaborate train routes taking over both the living room and dining room.  Hollis like to construct and maybe even more deconstruct.  He enjoys his time in imaginary play that includes knights and ninjas and well I do to so it works out well for both of us.
Hollis remains very verbal and enjoys recounting the events of the day, letting me know what color everything is, and sending greetings and salutations to friends and neighbors. 

This spring and summer I am proud to say we have gotten out on several camping trips.  I am proud because this is a goal I have set for our family and we are making progress.  We purchased a 6 person family tent to provide us liveable shelter in any weather, so far  the weather has been good to us.  We got out to the coast and camped at Washburne State Park in June, Skull Hollow for the Sunrise Classic Half Marathon in July, and here we are camping out at Marys Peak in August.  The boys thrive in open nature, so hard to come by in our day to day activities. 

Hollis is a high energy little man, he is passionate about doing what he wants when he wants and now he has the words for his demands.  He is hard to distract and not much of negotiator, I wonder if this a typical 2 year old behavior or if he is just that stubborn. He is very kind and gentle at the same time.   He often says "no thank you" when he doesn't want to play what you want him to play, and "I sorry" when he accidently hurts someone or hurt their feelings. 

The Baby Swap was one of the best things I ever joined.  Hollis's buddies Ayla and Anni have become more like family than friends.  Watch their love grow has been a true treasure.  The teach and excite each other, they share and sometimes they don't.  They look forward to their time together often screeching in sheer joy when they first get together.  I love them all so dearly and couldn't ask for a better crew to parent with. 

All in all life is great and we all doing so very well.

Back Home and Back Again

Auntie K sent us to PA in July for 2 weeks.  Following are some picture highlights.

Showing Aunti K all the toys.

Wineberries

It was so hot it was hard to be outside even for 15 minutes.

Auntie K was super good to us.

Meeting baby Frannie for the first time.

Uncle Frankie!

Cheesesteaks Oh the cheesesteaks!

Playing ball everywhere with everyone!

At Mimi's house a favorite destination!

Aunt Brenda!

Uncle Nate at Tamatos Deli!

Playing with Poppa Guido!

Making your own crayon at the Crayola factory!

Yeah!

The time of our lives...

Hollis is a little man.  Talking in sentences, identifying colors, using adjectives... he is just blowing my mind everyday.  I feel like the luckiest mother in the world to get to spend every day and nearly every minute with the love of my life. He slows me down to observe the wonder of nature and speeds me up to keep me by his side.  He never stops always exploring, always playing.  He loves to spend time with friends young and old, real and imaginary.  My favorite days are those with now obligations where we just get to play inside, outside and explore this world together.  He is almost two, and we are planning our big family camping trip to the Strawberry Mountains, Hollis says he likes it.

21 Months

I wish I had time to post everyday.  Everyday Hollis does something, says somethings and I think to myself I should blog about that and the day slips by.  They all do.   Hollis is still very into balls.  Now, it is baseball and everything included from gloves to bats to baseball tees to home runs.  Every morning, before or after breakfast he will give me a bat and he will grab a bat for himself.  Then we practice pitching and hitting together.  The other night he when I pitched the ball to him, he swung, dropped the bat and ran in a circle screaming "home run" "home run" and I didn't even know that he knew what home run was.   He likes to watch videos on mlb.com and hoot and holler when someone makes a good hit.  He spend literally hours outside hitting the ball off the tee over and over again.  He is so young yet so dedicated to the sport, the sport of balls. 

He is speaking a lot lately.  I catch myself listening to him babble only to realize he was saying something like "momma mango" "mango treat" "momma mango treat" or "outside"  "shoe outside"  "shoe outside momma tee" Today I couldn't even guess what he was saying.  He was very angry that I took the toothpaste container from him and replaced it with an empty one.  He kept saying something as he cried.  I finally realized he was saying "brush" so I gave him a tooth brush put some toothpaste on it, he brushed his teeth happily and walked about the house. It must be so tough for him sometimes! 

He loves his baby swap family.  Moms, dads, but especially the girls Ayla and Anni.  He talks about them all the time.  When he gets to their houses on Monday or Thursday he screams with pleasure and runs to play with them.  Today we went to the park to play with friends and he had a blast climbing up ladders, chasing friends, and just being outdoors.  He seems to run away less, and l like that. 

He loves art.  He asks to paint regularly.  He will paint anything he can get his hands on, my old drawings, himself.  I can't leave him alone with the paints or markers very long before he is covered. 

He laughs a lot.  He loves to play on the bed right after he wakes up.  I want to cuddle, but he would rather pretend we are trapped under pillows and need help.  He will scream out "Georgie Help!"  "Daddy Help" even if no one is home.  He laughs the whole time. 

He is starting to understand space, desires and his own strength.  This is problematic when I find that he has pulled a dining room chair to the freezer, and he standing on it trying to get into the freezer say "pop" "pop" "pop"

When he doesn't want to do something, there is no way to get it to happen.  I just walk away and wait for him to return and try again hoping he may have forgotten that he didn't want to put his jacket on.  He is so strong and stubborn at times, and then so agreeable and helpful at others.  He is really exploring all that he can do and be, it wares on me as much as it is a delight to watch. 

He likes to talk on the phone, especially to his friend Jo.  When he is having a tough time in the car I just call Jo and hand him the phone.  He just says hi over and over again and listens to Jo talk.  Sometimes when we are at home he will take the phone over to places and try and show Jo things.  I narrate.