Almost Two!

We have had such a busy busy summer.... and my sweet little guy is a busy one!  He had his first airplane flight in August to meet his Great Grandma and Grandpa in Washington state!  Two air ports and two time zones, seven hours of traveling, one family reunion and meeting lots of new people, then the same two airports and time zones home.  He was a trooper and his great grandparents LOVED him :)  It was heart warming to see how much they cared about someone they had only seen pictures of, some people live their whole lives in the same area and don't have that much love for each other!  It was an exciting trip and we were amazed and proud of how well Oliver did the entire time!  Not a week later, Aunt Suzanne, mommy and Oliver went down to visit Uncle Danny, Aunt Debbie and cousin Abby for a week.  We went to the zoo, played in the pool and just had a good time with our family that we don't get to see often enough.

Coming home, it was time to get back into the swing of daily life!  We got back on routine.... breakfast, play time, nap, lunch, playtime, nap, dinner play time, bed... you know, the whole parenting drill!  Football season officially started with a monumental LOSS lol but Oliver was ready to go with his new ravens onesies and jersey!  I didn't know it but the jersey was a 2T and was huge on him last year (go figure) but it was a good thing because it fits perfectly this year!

So we skipped straight to saying "He's almost 2".  I remember impatiently waiting to be able to say he is 18 months and we were so busy we just flew straight through that.  "A year and a half" was mouthful and you can see people doing the math when you say "21 months"  So easy fix: "He's almost 2" or "He'll be 2 in December" Much easier!  BUT, in saying that it hits me in a way I haven't been hit before that I have an almost two year old!  What!?!  I've taken care of many other people's two year olds, but nothing compares to when it's your own.  And I love it!  Every second of it!  Even when life is pushing me a little past my comfort level, it feels good to know I can handle it :)  I can handle the up at 3 A.Ms unable to breathe through my nose because that is seemingly the only way that children repay you for all the love and dedication through their stomach bugs and snotty noses; is to spread their germs to you! And still after all the crazy nights I've spent cleaning up, changing lovely messy diapers, refereeing the cats, saying no a million times more than I want to, sick myself etc still after all that, I don't know what on this green Earth I would do without getting up at 7 A.M and feeding the boy his oatmeal!  He is a full fledged toddler now, climbing everything, pushing every button he can find, running around dumping toys (and things he's not supposed to touch) But I can't imagine anything more amazing than watching this little boy grow!

And grow he has!  He would like everyone to know he is finally on the charts!!!!  He had a routine NICU follow up appointment yesterday and for once I didn't come home wanting to pull my hair out because they weren't satisfied with the things he could do, but all too willing to grill me for the things he couldn't do!  Well yesterday they were very pleased with him.  In between 18 months (adjusted age) and 21 months, he needed to have at least 9 words, he has 12 and 4 signs!  He could do all the things for 18 months and half the things for 21 months and they were very pleased with how the gap is closing :)  And he is officially on the growth charts!  He is in the 5th percentile for weight (19 pounds 6oz) and the 10th for height (31 and a half inches).  Doesn't seem like much, and I was never concerned that he wasn't on them before, but it's almost like a little triumph for him after we've been working SO hard to help him gain weight with obstacles of back to back colds and two stomach bugs in the last 6 months.

Anyways, mommy is off to get some reading and diaper washing in during nap time :)  Thanks for reading and I hope to post some of the beautiful pictures from our trip to Washington soon!