James is Two!

James has started saying a lot of words the last couple of weeks. He knows some colors but can't say them. He hurts Levi all the time but he's starting to share. Instead of just a closed mouth lip press to kiss, he makes kissing noises now.
His birthday was fun. We had a pinata, he loved that. It was kind of jungle themed. Aunt Jeni made a cake with a tiger on it, it was so cute! I wish her family could have come but they were home bound near the beach.
Piper and Hunter were the other toddlers who attended, and of course all his cousins and aunts and uncles (minus Jeni and Elliot and Matt). He had a lot of fun. He took his clothes off to run around in his diaper.
James is enjoying drawing now. He loves playing in our bedroom with Levi and running in and out of the curtains and jumping on the bed and he sleeps, for the most part, in his big boy bed by himself. He's starting to sleep through the night, but he wakes up a lot, still.
He loves to pee in the toilet, but he hates not having a diaper on, so I'm scared to force him to potty train cause right now it's just a fun activity. I don't want to take that away form him. Plus he pees a lot at night so we couldn't let him sleep without a diaper or pullups anyhow.
He loves Sponge Bob, Thomas the Train (first and foremost), and Blues Clues. Not so much Dora anymore.
He loves being read to. One day I actually got him to sit on my lap and listen to me read A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. And he would whinny whenever I said the word "horse."
He prays with Jason now, sometimes initiating the bedtime prayers. Jason will thank God for all the things James likes, and James will start talking with Jason and say words and makes sounds of more things he likes. I know he doesn't understand who God is yet, but it won't be long before he does and he'll understand that all good things come from Him.
He loves dancing. And he's choreographed the weirdest style of dancing. It looks like it's interpretive ballet.
And he likes going places and seeing other people. I think he has a lot of fun at church cause Grandma and grandpa are there. And he gets to run around and jump off stuff and see everyone.
He's a little cutie. He got his first hair cut last month, right after his birthday. He did really good, too.

22 months

James is somewhere between 18 months and 2t clothes. I started buying 2t this summer, no more 18 months stuff. The 2t fits well enough, the shirts are barely too big. The pants have to be rolled up a bit, but they fit good in the waist.
James shakes his head yes and no when I ask him questions. My heart sings when he obeys me when I tell him to do something. Usually it doesn't happen.
He still loves motorcycles, but he has expanded his love of animals to include big cats (he roars when he sees a monster, a bear, or a wild cat). And this week we were looking at pictures in our new childrens story bible, and the snake was on Eve and I said "That's a snake, and it goes ssssssssss." So anytime he sees a snake he says "sssssss."
We realized that some of the words he says are just backwards. Like food, he says dooofd (with a tongue roll between the f and d).
He loves Gaga. I'm trying to now steer him from that cause he could pick out the Bad Romace video on the youtube clip pictures. He also likes the "worst worship Ever" video where this worship leader took "You Spin me Right round" and replaced baby with "Jesus" and has everyone jumping up and down and swinging socks over their head and all that. James jumps in circles to that video.
He knows to point to the youtube videos he wants to see. We watched sheep, cows, lions and tiger and bears and pigs today, and then ended up with the Crocodile Hunter and James LOVES that show. James also attempted to mimic the sheep after I showed him what they said. He pressed his lips real tight to make the "b" sound and then croaked out the "aaaaa."

James 21 months (almost)

James has discovered a love for some things. Like motorcycles, quads, trucks, and airplanes. And pushing his little brother over and taking away his toys.
He started opening the fridge. He doesn't just play in the fridge anymore, he just gets into it when he wants something, now. Usually cheese and milk.
He also learned to pick his nose and wipe it on us. He hates getting his hands dirty. He will sometimes get hurt and not cry at all but just stare at where he got hurt for a few seconds and then continue doing whatever it is he was doing. He loves waking up Uncle Tommy

James the big Brother

James is now almost 15 months old. He has 4 molars, a fang or two coming in, and he sleeps on a bed made up of a stack of blankets on the floor at the foot of our bed. He tosses and turns all night long, but has slept pretty soundly the last few nights. When I wake up to take care of Little Brother, James is some odd feet away from his original starting position and I have to move him back.
He likes cheese, bananas, meat loaf, swedish meatballs, pork chop in rice-a-roni, and sushi and other fish items (like salmon). He does not like steak. Anything else is a pain to get him to eat. And he usually will fight the food if he's had it at all in the last week.
He gives hsi little brother lots of kisses, and when I put Levi in the swing, James will go over and make sure the music is on for him.
When we hear Levi cry or make any noise and he is somewhere else int he house I ask James 'Where's little brother?" and James will start to "call" for him and turn to me and put his hands up like "I don't know!" and then go and look for him.
I think he's talking, but his words are so mashed up together I can't tell what he's saying. Yesterday, he said what sounded very clearly like "Hi Dad" when Jason came home. I didn't even register it at first cause I was doing dishes, but it kept playing back in my head and I turned to Jason and said "Did he say Hi dad?" And Jason agrees, it sure sounded very much like Hi dad.
I think he more copies the tone of things than actual words. He and Levi were at mom's house and he called Levi "Little Brother" to mom. I didn't say anything just cause I don't like seeing things that aren't there, but mom caught it. She asked me if we call Levi little brother a lot, and we do. James thinks it's Levi's name.
He tries to hold Levi, too. Not unless I'm holding Levi first, though. He takes Levi from me and just sits there patting him. He's a good big brother.
He is in size 4 diapers now, steals the dog's bed to sit in front of the heater, and can be pretty mean to her in the name of fun. He gets yelled at for grabbing her feet or tail, or pulling her fur. But he's getting nicer where he'll pat her and hug her, and he's stopped trying to give her kisses. HE also gives her food when he's eating. He teases her with goldfish crackers, and chases her around laughing hysterically as she walks quickly away from him.
James still like bigger kids than babies his age. Last week we were at the Pennington's for homegroup and their 4 year old daughter came into the room and James stopped what he was doing and stared ta her for a moment, then broke into a big smile andwalked up to her ever so confidently and took her hand. He then followed her around for quite awhile, never taking his eyes off her. James has already had his first crush! He's growing up so fast!
Alien people give him nightmares.
He likes hot things, like horseradish mustard and wasabi. Makes the funniest faces, and then eats some more.
He loves being outside, even in the cold. I let him go out one in his diaper to see how long it took for him to come back. He took the cold too well so I had to go and get him before he got hypothermia. Silly little guy.
He loves going places, but doesn't care for being in the car for very long. He likes church cause grandpa throws him around. I keep thinking James is going to use up Jim's back before Levi gets a turn.
James ignores the possibilty of getting burned, and actually has a mark from one of the heaters. This is the second time he's gotten a mark from something hot, but when we tell hit something is hot, he thinks it's a game, so trying to open the oven becomes challenging when I'm cooking. He wants to grab the oven door and open it for me.

10 and a half months

Two Sundays ago James walked a few steps. Since then it's been a real pain to encourage him to walk. He'll stand there forever and then sit down. So I tricked him. He has a little bike meant for toddlers that Kristin gave us, an old looking radio flyer, and James loves it--he uses it as a walker, by holding onto the front of side and walking it around everywhere, and he screams when he runs into a small obstacle that he can't get the bike over. He found that chasing Pepper down with it is really fun, he laughs so hard.
Anyways, knowing he can walk and just lacks the confidence to do it by himself, we had him in the toy isle at Fred Meyer, and you know those push toys for toddlers with wheels and they pop when you push them on the ground, or the ones with bells in them? Well they have no support of their own you have to hold them up. I showed James what it did when it was pushed across the ground and set him down with it. He walked a few feet before Jason had to dive because James put too much confidence in the toy and tried to lean forward on it. Probably would have ended up with a broken nose if Jason hadn't caught him.
James really likes animals, he wants to touch them all, I can't wait to get him around a horse to see how he reacts.
He's eating more solid foods, it's a fight to get him to eat baby food. He really likes meat. Chicken and beef, not so much pork. He loves mac and cheese, especially kid cuisine mac and cheese. He drinks whole milk now, doesn't seem to bother him at all, except he gets more thirsty. Drinks from his sippy cup, we had to get a soft tip and spill proof so he'll actually swallow all the water he puts in his mouth.
The past two days he's been trying to climb over the barrier of boxes in the kitchen, and he's found one box that he can climb in and try to get around it, but ends up just sitting in the box and screaming cause he can't climb out. LOL!
Sleeping ritual is now this; try to put to bed, but he runs around the bed, so he goes in his playpen for a few minutes, take him out and he has the idea it's actually bed time and nurse him for about ten minutes so he can sleep.
He can do patty cake all by himself. He tries to get Pepper's toys that roll under the couch, but he has a big head and stubby little arms and it's really funny to watch him try until he gets mad and screams.
He gets spankins or a slap on the hand when he touches things he can't. He likes to watch me or Jason while tying to reach the keyboard and mouse or sockets, or the lamps. It takes a few tries and he gets so mad at being punished. He doesn't like being told what he can't do. He also gets spanked when he's trying to get away while I'm changing his diaper. That stops him after the spank.
He loves strumming the guitar, we've taught him not to grab the strings, so he's figured out that it makes better sound with the strumming. He's not too bad at it.

8 and a half months

James is drinking goats milk, has been for awhile. He eats like a pig, and loves saltine crackers. He's started enjoying bites of my dinners as well. His first check up was a few days ago, where he measure an 18 inch head, 28 inches long, 19 pounds. He was only army-crawling then, but right after that he started crawling on all fours a bit.
He is pulling himself up on stuff and walking around it all by himself, which leads to falling on his head.
He's taken some dives off the couch, the last time he did face plant on a key-board cord, and got a black eye.
I think the only time he sits still in when he's eating or sleeping.
He sleeps mostly in his own bed, at the moment in the living room cause his room gets too hot during the day and doesn't cool off till really late.
He drinks water from a water bottle, loves drinking from cups, and enjoys swimming on hot days. Somewhat. He makes swimming motions when I put him in the water and gasp for breath cause the water is cold, and I take him out and he starts laughing. He loves trying to grab the water.

We moved James out of the room last night. He was not a happy baby about this. He fell asleep for a couple of hours at a time, but we didn't give in when he would wake up crying. I felt bad when he was crying normal, but as with all children, I no longer pity them when they start to scream. I didn't think it would happen with James, but it did. I did not feel sorry for him because he became a demanding brat. I am relieved by this fact. I will not spoil brats.
Of course, I was awake a lot of last night, too. Even when he would fall to sleep, I was worried that maybe he had put his face into the bed and was smothering himself, or his sleeper was wrapping around his neck and choking him. I resisted every temptation to check on him except one, at 3, after he had fallen back to sleep. He was sleeping on his belly and I resisted the urge to turn him over. But he was fine.
Finally he woke up at 5:30, crying a little,and i went and got him to feed him. He has never gone all night without nursing. I put him to bed with us and fed him, and you could hear the emptiness filling up. He seemed so happy to be in bed with us, he just stared at me. I asked Jason to change his diaper while I nursed him, and he couldn't get enough of watching dad. When dad left the room, he would strain to watch the door over me. He finally fell asleep at about 6, and stopped nursing on his own then.
He just now woke up, it's 9. So ep. That was poor Jamesy's all alone night.