TWO!

When did we get a two-year-old? I know I say it all the time, but time goes by so fast. Asher is getting so big and truly turning into a little boy. He is the life of our family most of the time (when he isn't having tantrums :) and we love him so much.

Asher understands almost anything you say to him and says a whole lot too, although some of it isn't understandable to most people. I have provided a table of common words translated from Asher-ese to English:
Nook- Milk
Hone-Water
Shiwwy- Silly
Yafe- Leif
Gamp- Grandpa
Gam- Grandma
Doctor- either doctor or tractor
Ope- Open
Boinken- Broken
Sometimes Asher will get a word down perfectly, then he will mutate it to something else that is not understandable. For example, once upon a time, Asher said "milk" pretty clearly. Then he started saying "no" then "nook". He used to say "Abbey" very clearly, but lately he has been saying "Ibbey". One word that is as clear as can be and that I'm getting a little tired of hearing is "Mine". But I guess that just comes along with being two. 

Asher is a man of routine. Once you get a routine formed for him, he will stick to it! He hated hats, but we found one with bikes on it and convinced him that he needs to wear it outside. Most the time I completely forget about it, especially if we are just running a quick errand, but the minute we step out the door, Asher will say "hat" and insist that we go find it. He is really into his bedtime routine too and that helped so much in his transition into a big kid bed in a new house. He transitioned over better than I ever could have hoped. The first night he was a little unsure about a big bed in a new house, but by keeping his bedtime routine, he was adjusted by the second night. What a relief! The only little problem is that Asher doesn't really sleep in his big boy bed. There is a book shelf built into the wall right next to his bed and the bottom shelf is at the exact same level as his bed, so once his story and prayers are over, Asher shoves his pillow into the shelf, grabs his stuffed bunny, and snuggles into the shelf for a nice sleep. I'm not sure if he likes it so much because it feels more secure in a small space or if he just thinks its fun. I have found his legs hanging out onto the mattress occasionally, but he usually stays on the shelf. Its hilarious.

Asher is obsessed with trains and bikes. Grandma Kate gave him a train calendar which was our bedtime story until I found a book to replace it with. We had to "read" the calendar before every nap and bedtime, sometimes more than once, which was getting a little old, so I found "The Little Engine That Could" and we have been reading that now too. One of the highlights of my day is to read the part that says "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" and have Asher look back and grin at me like I'm the silliest mommy he knows.

Asher is becoming more and more interested in dressing himself. If I try to put something on him that he didn't either choose or approve, he will throw a fit and try to get it off. We only have 3 pairs of socks with trains, but he insists on wearing them everyday. A few times when all three pairs were dirty, Austin or I had to convince him that dinosaurs or spaceships say "choo choo" so that he would wear his socks. We should just get him sandals and do away with the socks all together since its so hot, but since he loves his routines so much, socks are a necessary part of getting dressed.

One of our favorite things about Asher is when he eats something he likes, watches someone else eat something he likes, or does something he is pleased with, he will nod his head. Another fun thing he does is push and pull people around if they don't do what he wants fast enough. He is very insistent that you do what he asks and if you don't he will try to force you to do it. 

For Asher's birthday we started a new birthday tradition- Chocolate waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. He loved them! and we did too :) Asher's Nonna, Aunt Abbey, and Uncle Travis came to visit in the afternoon, so we all went swimming and hung out. Asher had a very exciting and fun birthday to be followed the next day by a birthday party . . . which will be the next post.

We love Asher so much and can't believe he is now two. Its a delight to watch him grow and learn each day. He is a great big brother and a busy little man. With all the excitement, here are the only descent photos I got of his birthday.

7 Months

Our little "Yafe" (we have all started calling him this since that's what Asher calls him :) is now 7 months old! He is a chubby little guy that is starting to get a little independent. He can sit up if I put a pillow around him to help with support a little and a few times he has sat up all by himself with no support for quite awhile. Austin say that he is all hands- he grabs anything that gets within his reach. Its kind of funny to watch because he looks like he is clumsy and slow so it seems like he won't be able to get something, but he is actually really fast and pretty accurate. I have ended up with milk and cereal all over my lap several times because I underestimated him being able to grab the bowl I was eating out of. He loves stacking cups and stays entertained by them for a long time. The other day I was able to do a little sewing project during Asher's nap because Leif was content to sit on his own and play with the stacking cups. It was quite enjoyable! Asher has started sharing with Leif more too- he brings him toys to play with and if he drops them, Asher picks them up and puts them right into his hands for him. (Of course that only lasts so long before Asher steals them back and says "mine"). I'm not sure if Asher is sharing more because he is getting older or if its because he recognizes that Leif is getting more interested in toys and becoming more of a little person that Asher can play with. Maybe its a mix of both.
Leif is getting better at eating his mush and seems to like it most days. I've been lazy, but I need to introduce him to more solid foods like fruits and veggies. He has had a few samples of ice cream and he seems to like that. The other day Austin, Asher, and I were having some ice cream and Austin gave Leif a little taste. It was hilarious to watch Asher watching Leif eat the ice cream then nodding his head at him like he way saying "hey, this is good, right?"
Leif is also getting back into a good sleeping schedule. He now sleeps for exactly four hours at a time during the night. I would like it to go back to longer stretches without waking up to eat, but for now, I feel like I'm getting enough sleep most nights, so it works.
Leif is a giggly boy who loves to get tossed around by dad and loves to eat his foot (especially during diaper changes.) He is very talkative and babbles a lot. Actually, his babbling might be better described as yelling than talking. He's pretty loud- he has to be to be heard over his brother :) When he does babble, he moves his mouth really funny, sticking his lips out and moving his mouth all around. He must really be trying to enunciate whatever it is he's saying. Here are Leif's 7 month photos:

23 Months

Only one more month until we have a two year old! We've definitely already seen some terrible two's behavior, but in general Asher is a really good little boy and sweet most of the time. Asher has two obsessions lately- bikes and trains and he talks about both of them quite a bit. If anything looks remotely like a bike or a train, Asher will let you know it's there. His language has started exploding, it seems like he comes up with several new words a day and out of nowhere he will start repeating things you say. One funny thing that he does is say "beep, beep" when someone is in his way. Austin and I say this to each other to be funny, I think its something I picked up from my mom, so now Asher says it all the time. Sometimes he talks in short sentences, and often he talks in long sentences that don't mean anything to anyone but him :) Asher is getting great at knowing everyone's name and saying it, but he won't say his own name. Last week when we were trying to get him to say it, we pointed to him and asked "who is this" and he proudly answered "Me!". He is really into having me kiss him whenever he is hurt or thinks he is hurt and does the same service for his brother when he cries. Its so cute to see Asher running over to Leif making smacking kissy noises trying to comfort his brother.As always Asher was difficult to get to sit still for photos and this is the best we could do.

My 30th Birthday

My 30th birthdays has been one of my best so far, despite my fear of turning 30. I was spoiled to death by everyone in the family, so that made it a little easier ;) It's good to have such nice family members. We had a great day yesterday going to the temple early in the morning. My mom came with us to watch Leif while we were in the temple since I am still nursing him and can't be away from him for too long. We went to Ikea and lunch afterward then came home to see my Asher Bug. I made cookies and tried to take a nap then Austin and I went out to dinner at a restaurant we have never been to and had a nice meal out on the patio. Afterward I had an ice cream cone and we walked around downtown. We came home and took care of Leif (Asher was long ago in bed) then went for a walk in the lightning storm which turned to a hail storm then a pouring rain storm. It was really fun to run home in the rain together. Today we celebrated both my birthday and Father's Day with the family at Renee's house. Here are some pictures of the event. Renee just got a sandbox, so the boys were engrossed with that.

Asher insisted that he was "dirty" after playing in the sandbox (check out those feet) and wanted to be washed off immediately

I had a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake :)

Which Asher thoroughly enjoyed!

Here is Asher & Leif's cousin, Amanda getting cleaned up after the sandbox

Abbey and Asher eating cake together

Leif with Nonna wishing he was old enough to eat cake too

Leif hanging out with Uncle Brent and trying to keep all of his bare skin off the grass

6 Months

 

Its hard to believe that its been half a year already that Leif has been a real part of our family. Its so fun to watch him grow and interact more with us, but as ever, I'm sad to see my baby getting so big. He's definitely not an infant anymore. He has chunked right up (even though he still weighs less than Asher did at this age) and loves to be involved in everything. He would be as happy as could be if I would just sit him up on my left hip so that he is facing out and walk all over with him too see everything all day long. We spend quite a bit of time this way most days, but I can only carry him around so much and he is not happy when he has to be set down. Leif loves to roll over onto his belly and will do it almost immediately if you lay him somewhere. He's not a huge fan of staying on his belly though and usually ends up fussing because he isn't as good at rolling back the other way. He has ventured into the world of eating solid foods (if you can call rice cereal mush a solid food) but he's not very good at eating it yet. So far, each time he eats Asher has been insistent that he too should have some bites. Its kind of annoying, but hopefully the novelty will wear off soon and Asher will lose interest. Leif still loves blowing bubbles and raspberries and loves to be sung to. The other night he went almost 7 hours without eating and slept for most of that time. It was nice to get to get some sleep for me and Austin. He hasn't done it since that night, but we are hopeful that he will start to do it more often soon. Leif has become incredibly distractable! Half the time I can't get him to nurse because he would rather look around and see what's going on (especially if Asher is in the room) even though he was starving 5 minutes before that.

We are so glad that Leif is part of our family and are excited to see him keep growing and developing. 

Asher's Antics

Twenty Two Months

 

Asher is 22 months old- old enough that I've stopped actually saying the number of months when people ask how old he is and now I just say that he's almost 2. Where did my baby go? The trait that most marks Asher's personality right now is his streak of independence. He has always been somewhat independent, but in the past few weeks he has been very assertive about wanting to do things himself. He has to pick out his own clothes and if I try he has a fit. He also wants to put his own socks on, but he doesn't know how to, so it turns into a wrestling match because he doesn't want me to do it, but he can't do it himself. He likes to get into everything and explore all the time. Just recently he has started to not like nursery. He is fine in there and loves playing with the other kids as long as either Austin and I are sitting there, but does not want to be left. Its the first time he has ever really shown any separation anxiety- he didn't do it when most babies do around 10 months or so. We aren't too worried- its probably just a phase and will pass. Above are the pictures we were able to get of him- he never wants to look at the camera or hold still. Below are the pictures of Asher's first fathers/sons campout from this weekend. Austin and his brother Brent took Asher for a one night camp out and he came back the next day exhausted and filthy dirty. Austin said he had lots of fun, spent most of his time exploring and loved sleeping in the tent. I missed him like crazy while they were gone, but it was nice for Leif to experience what its like to be the only child and not have an older brother pestering him constantly ;)