Happy Holidays everyone,
I decided to get Grants journal written before Christmas stress sets in. Here's the past month . . .
Wow! Nearly a month has gone by since I last wrote. Grant is growing faster than ever. He had his 2 year well check a couple of weeks ago and he is 37" tall and 33.8 lbs. I guess he is in the 50th percentile for a three year old. He is so big that sometimes I forget how young he is and expect him to understand as much as a three year old. For example, he has been throwing his food on the floor lately. This drives me crazy. Paul thinks he does it to get a rise out of me, but I think he just really likes throwing (or in Grant's terms, 'Hy-aw-ing') things on the floor. I am very consistent with time-outs and making him pick it all up - even if that means I hold his hand, but perhaps he's just not old enough to figure it out yet, because he keeps doing it. But he is smart about other things.
We've been reading an ABC book from the library for the last week and he has every page memorized. And yesterday we sat in back of Olivia at church and he remembered that we try to share toys with Olivia. In fact, he made me open the diaper bag, took out the first toy he saw, and gave it to Olivia saying, "Share toys Olivia". However, as the hour progressed he decided that sharing wasn't so fun and refused to share any other toys.
I still cuddle with him when he first wakes up. One morning after drinking his milk, he put one arm under my neck and started tickle scratching my back. It was so cute.
A few weeks ago Jessi and Matthew came up and brought their little puppy Harley. Grant loved this little puppy, it made me wish that we had a dog. He found Harleys food and water and proceeded to take out one piece of food at a time, dip it into the water and put in front of Harley to eat. This continued until the water got knocked over and the food spilt on the floor. But it sure was fun to watch Grant play with little Harley.
The next weekend we had a football party at our house and Paul decided to start a new tradition that after watching football, he and Grant would go play football (with the nerf football). So, I dropped them off at the park, did some shopping and came back an hour and a half later. I guess they went on the swings and Paul not only pushed Grant on the swing but he would swing right next to him until Grant stopped swinging, then Paul would jump out of his swing and push Grant again. They also went down the slides, but not just down the slides, they would first throw Paul's hat down the slide, then the football and then Grant would slide down. And last but not least, they would throw the football. But of course they couldn't just throw the football, Paul would throw it up as high as he could and then Grant would go get it. Luckily, it never hit Grant on the head, but I think it came close a few times.
The next week it snowed and we quickly discovered that playing in the snow is one of Grants favorite things to do. So, we bundled him up the best we could and Paul played with him in the snow. I think they ran a lot because after about 20 minutes Paul brought him in without any shoes on and cold wet little feet. I guess at some point, Grant's shoe came off and Paul didn't notice until the other shoe finally fell off. Needless to say, his runny nose turned into a full-fledged cold. The next day I bought him little snow boots, with lights. He wore them all day long even though we stayed in for most of it.
A few days later we were getting ready to leave over Thanksgiving when Grant began throwing up. Our plans were to drive 12 hours to California, see his cousins, go to Disneyland, eat turkey dinner and pie, and then drive 12 hours back. So, we decided that the drive, seeing his cousins, and going to Disneyland with a sick baby became not such a good idea and bagged the trip. I was disappointed, however, Paul got sick the next day, and I got sick on Thanksgiving day; and we decided that we made a very wise decision. So, Grant ate his first Thanksgiving meal two days after Thanksgiving Day and only ate part of a roll and some turkey. We are all feeling better now.
In fact, last night I even got down some Christmas boxes. Grant found several large bells (thanks to Marti's donation last Christmas). He shook, threw and jumped with those bells. So, to keep the bells from shattering anything, I taught him to sing 'Jingle Bells'. That was the loudest Jingle Bells I have ever heard. It even succeeded in waking Paul up from his hour and a half nap on the couch. Then we all jingled bells and sang together. Well, that's all for now.
TTFN,
Paul, Kate and Grant