Dear Nolan,

This is the last month I will ever refer to the age of one of my children in months. And honestly, I’ve jumped ahead and in my mind, you are already two. Your independence, silliness, and tantrums, along with your constant talking, put you solidly in the “two year old” category. And lets talk about your talking for a minute. I know over the past few months, I’ve mentioned that you have been talking more and more, but holy cow, these last couple weeks have been a language explosion for you. You basically can say anything now, and you know the words for everything. I can understand most words you say, and you are starting to string two and three together. My favorites are asking you to say all the animal sounds, the people in our family, “thank you” and of course, “I love you”.

Nolan, at 23 months you:

• Weigh 28 pounds 5 ounces.
• Wear size 24 month and 2T clothing, size 5 diapers, and size 6 shoes
• Have 11 teeth, including the 3 molars you are working on!
• Still love your bottles of milk, and I’m stressing about how we are going to wean you from them.
• Love to watch Trolls and Fireman Sam, and ask for them by pointing to the TV and saying “Poppy?” and “Sam?”
• Have very recently developed a fascination for big trucks and construction machinery, which is a bond you share with your daddy. Whenever you see a digger or firetruck you scream “DADDY! DADDY!” at the top of your lungs. You also love to carry around and play with little Hotwheels cars.
• Are an independent little guy. Anywhere we go, you just kind of want to do your own thing. We have to constantly watch you wherever we go because you tend to wander off to climb, run, or eat food off strangers’ tables at restaurants (yes, really).
• Start school next month, 3 days a week, and I can’t wait to see how you blossom. I know you are ready; you are social, and I think you will thrive in a structured classroom and schedule.

Nolan, I hope this coming month is your best yet. You just keep getting cuter and funnier and I can’t wait to jump into your third year next month. Happy 23 months Noly Poly. I love you so much.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Nolan,

I honestly barely remember a time when you weren’t here, the littlest bookend of our family. I watched you this weekend, trying to keep up with the big kids, idolizing your cousin and sister. You wanted to do anything and everything they did, and the phrase “Me too” was on constant repeat from your mouth. Your babyhood is gone, and you are speeding towards two faster than I can believe. But we are both ready. I’m with you…big kid stuff is fun!

Nolan at 22 months you:

• Weigh 27 pounds, 1 ounce
• Wear size 18-24 month and 24 month clothes, size 6 shoes and size 5 diapers
• Have 8 teeth, but constantly have your fists in your mouth, so I think some more are coming soon
• Have started talking in 2 and 3 word sentences. “Me too” and “I don’t know” are your favorite
• Have started saying (asking?) “potty” but we haven’t tried letting you go yet. I guess I need to break out the little potty soon since you are terrified of the real one. Sigh.
• Are finally (mostly) sleeping through the night. Two times now you’ve slept a solid 12 hours straight- hooray!
• Are really starting to enjoy books and being read to
• Love the movie “Trolls” and point to the TV and say “Poppy, Poppy” when you want to watch it.
• Show so much compassion for Grayson, and love to sit by him and try and make him laugh
• Ask for Charlotte as soon as you wake up, and want to be with her every second of the day.

Nolan, I love you so much, and am loving watching you grow into a busy, funny little boy. Happy 22 months!

Love,

Mommy

Dear Nolan,

Sweet summertime is here! And you, my sweet little boy, are soaking it up. As in, you are soaking wet more often than not these days. Your favorite activity right now is playing with the hose in the backyard. You stand at the back door and say, “Outside! Wet!” begging to go soak yourself. Yesterday, we went to the neighborhood pool for the first time and you fearlessly went down that water slide about 20 times in a row. However, the one time I looked away for 3 seconds while you were supposed to be climbing the steps of the slide, you were running straight for the ladder of the big pool. You are a runner and a limit-tester, and I literally cannot take my eyes off you.

Nolan, at 21 months you:

• Weigh 26 pounds, 13 ounces
• Wear size 18-24 month clothing (some 2T shirts), size 6 shoes, and size 5 diapers
• Cut several teeth this month! You now have 8!
• Are sleeping better at night- most days you stay in bed until at least 6:30- Hallelujah! You are also napping fairly consistently- about 2-3 hours a day.
• Still love your bottles. I know I should be weaning you from them, but they really are the last “baby” thing left about you, and you are so, so sweet when you drink them and play with your hair at the same time.
• Are a fairly good eater, and have started asking for “snacks” a million times a day like your sister. Arg!
• Your vocabulary continues to grow. You shout “Charlotte!” more than any other word, and the cutest is when we ask you something and you say, “Ummmm…yeah!”
• You also sing! You can sing the ABC song, some of the songs Charlotte learned at school this year, and some non-sensical songs you belt out while dancing.
• Have a security object! Since Charlotte is so attached to her beanie baby dog Milton, we decided to try a beanie baby dog with you too. You now have Bo, and he sleeps with you and you get excited when we give him to you. “Bo! Bo!”
• Have been very sweet with your big brother lately. You will find his rings or iPad and say “GG” and give them to Grayson.

Dear Nolan,

The main thing I have to say about you being 20 months is you are cute. You’re wild and naughty, but you’re cute while you’re giving me more and more grey hairs every day. I will say, though, there is definitely more purpose in your naughtiness these days. Instead of pulling things off the counter just to destroy them, you see what you want and do whatever it takes to get that item to play with (nevermind that sometimes it’s a knife or permanent marker). I spend much of my day chasing you as you run away from me, giggling with your blue eyes twinkling.

Can we talk about your sleep for a minute? It’s horrendous. Actually, you are napping like a champ, but I think that’s only because you REFUSE to sleep past 5:30 am. And you still wake up 2-3 times a night before then. Whhhhyyyyy??? Whatever the reason, I need to find a way to reset your internal clock because that alarm goes off way too early.

Nolan, at 20 months you:

• Weigh 25 pounds
• Wear size 18 month and 18-24 month clothing, size 5 diapers and size 6 shoes
• Have 6 teeth
• Talk all the time and have more words than I can count now. I love your little voice. You just recently started saying “Charlotte” really clearly and it’s about the cutest thing ever.
• Hate having your diaper changed (and I hate changing it). There are more important things in this world to throw fits about, dude.
• Run really fast
• Bite people when you are mad. So far, you haven’t bitten anyone that isn’t in our family, but geez, stop it.
• Love to be naked
• Get SO excited when your daddy gets home from work

Dear Nolan,

You are now more than halfway through your second year! You’re 19 months old, but you think you’re 12, the way you try to do so many “big kid” things. You so badly want to ride a bike, climb to the top of the playground structure without me hovering over you, and do whatever the older kids are doing. To be honest, this is causing you a lot of frustration and me a lot of anxiety. You and I are having a tough time with each other these days. I tell you “NO!” about 100 times a day and you’ve started saying it right back to me, before you burst into tears. You really aren’t interested in anything that’s not destructive or dangerous, and the tension this causes is overwhelming. However, just when I think you are going to finally send me right over the edge, you crawl into my lap and lay your head on my shoulder, and I’m reminded that you’re still my baby and this stage is just as hard on you as it is on me.

Nolan at 19 months you:

• Weigh 25 pounds, 1 ounce
• Wear size 12-18 and 18 month clothing, size 5 diapers and size 5 or 6 shoes
• Still only have 5 teeth
• Are napping really well these days, although most days you don’t sleep past 5:30 in the morning, no matter what time we put you to bed
• Still drink milk from a bottle, and I’ve lost motivation to wean you from it right now. We’ve switched you to almond milk from cows milk (cows milk was making you constipated- no fun) and you LOVE it. And you play with your hair when you drink your milk which is the cutest.
• Talk, talk, talk. Every day you are adding new words. You aren’t as articulate as your sister was at this age, but I can usually decipher what you’re trying to say, even if no one else can. The words you use the most are Mama and Dada, Char (Charlotte), G (Grayson), My Show (when you want to watch TV), Banana, Shoe, Ba (Bottle), Sna (Snack), Outside, and NO (with a whip of your head).
• You love to be outside more than anything else and you scream when it’s time to come back in.
• You hate getting into the car. You now have a big boy carseat which you liked for a few days, and now you are back to hysterics every time we put you in it.
• Have lots of nicknames. I keep forgetting to write about this, but our very favorite one is “CoCo Jane”, given to you by your quirky big sister. We have no idea where it came from, but it’s stuck. Charlotte calls you “Jane” about half the time and “Noley” the other half. I know when you’re a teenager you’ll love knowing that we called you “CoCo Jane” when  you were a toddler- ha ha!

 

 

Mommy

 

Dear Nolan,

Happy 18 months, just a few days late! We’ve had a rough few weeks of sickness in our house and I’m a little behind on real life stuff right now. You, Charlotte and I all had flu-like symptoms for a few days, and you were diagnosed with your very first ear infection.Your doctor said it was remarkable that you hadn’t had one until now, but it didn’t make life any easier. Thankfully, we are all feeling much better now and  you are back to your energetic, crazy toddler self.

There’s just something about having a child turn 18 months old (and especially when that child is my last baby). It feels like we are slowly but surely putting all things “baby” behind us and adapting to full-fledged toddler life. Of course, you are still very much attached to your bottles and we have no plans to move you out of your crib anytime soon, but the way you play rough and tumble, climb, and voice your VERY LOUD opinions is miles and miles from the sleepy newborn we brought home a year and a half ago.

Nolan, at 18 months you:

• Weigh 24 pounds 8 ounces
• Wear size 18 month and 18-24 month clothing, size 5 shoes and size 5 diapers
• Got a tooth this past month, so now you have a whopping 5 teeth
• Are doing better, but still aren’t sleeping through the night. But at least you aren’t waking up before 6:00 am anymore, so I’ll take it, for now
• Are mimicking us a lot and saying a lot of individual words, although not consistently. But you are constantly “talking”, so I know verbal communication is coming
• Finally have a “big boy” carseat after almost 18 months in the infant carrier. You are much happier sitting up tall beside your sister.
• Love to give Grayson hugs. You’ll snuggle up next to him, lay your head on him and say “Aaaaaa” and it’s pretty much the sweetest thing ever
• Adore Charlotte but also think it’s hilarious to torture her by pulling off her headband, taking her toys or pushing down her block towers. Sigh.
• Are loving being outside more and more and will go to the backdoor and whine to go out.

Dear Nolan,

Wow, January really flew by! The first snuck up on me today, and I didn’t realize until late afternoon that you turned 17 months old today. We did some quick photos on the couch; thankfully you were in a great mood and giggled as I tried to make you sit still for more than half a second at a time. These days, I can hardly keep up with you. You are constantly moving, either running, climbing, or flipping your body away from me as I try to get you dressed. Your mouth moves as fast as your body; I think  you may rival your sister in talking as soon as you learn how to string words together.

Nolan, at 17 months you:

• Weigh 24 pounds, 13 ounces
•  Wear size 18 month clothing, size 5 shoe and size 4 diaper
• Still have only 4 teeth, but I think one of the top ones may be about to poke through
• Are starting to say a few more actual words, and you constantly babble, grunt, and point.
• Have a really quick temper and have started hitting, pulling hair, and biting when you don’t get your way. We are going to have to nip this in the bud, bud.
• Have no separation anxiety and love going to the church nursery, MOPS, and are fine being left with babysitters
• Had your first ER visit last week. You were in respiratory distress at urgent care and they sent us to the hospital. You were diagnosed with Hand, Foot Mouth, given a breathing treatment and a steroid, and 24 hours later you were good as new.
• Love to torment your sister by taking her things and running away, but you also adore her and always want to be near her.
• Love your brother and will give him hugs and kisses when you see him
• Are still a pretty terrible sleeper, but I guess we are just used to it by now. Sigh.

Mommy