N's Special Day

Today was N's Special Day!  He was born a minute after C, so he is number 2. 

N is our charmer...but don't let those looks deceive you!  Most people fall head over heels for him first, he is so cute.  He loves puzzles, and is AMAZING at doing them.  (He put together a 60 piece puzzle on his own the first time he saw it a few weeks ago).  He loves to color, and will color for 15 minutes on end, and makes small, neat little marks and keeps it all in the lines.  He has an unbelievable focus, if it is something he wants to do.  He can be a bit of a stinker, and tends to spend a bit more time in time out.  He can be stubborn when he wants his way and often refuses to cave to Mom (or brothers, for that matter).  He is outgoing.  He does not like to be outside if it is the least bit cold...in fact I find him often standing on the heating vents :)  He has this sweet little voice that he can use if he wants to love on us.  Otherwise, his voice is crazy loud and shrill, but man, can he use that voice.  HEY MOM!!!!!  HEY DAAAAAD!!!!   He tends to be the second one (birth order, even) to do whatever we're doing.  Even though he is smallest, he is not intimidated by any of his brothers!  He is a picky eater (but a quick learner...only once did I have to send him to bed for not eating his 2 bites...and when I let him get up 10 minutes later, he ate them right down).   

This morning he woke up to balloons!  Blue is still his color, and we got him a Toy Story (Woody Buzz) Balloon. 

 Get over that grin! 

 He is still the littlest.  He is probably a solid 10 pounds and 4 inches shorter than C.  This does make it easy for clothes though...he just gets all the "big boys" clothes from the previous year. 

 Still working on fine motor skills here, too! 

 His special cereal was Trix.  This box included a spoon.  I had to wrangle it away from them because even though it was N's special day, I didn't want a fight. 

Today we didn't do much either.  I had to make a ton of copies for a project I'm doing at church, and it took way longer than I expected, so we actually got to eat McD's for lunch.  I guess that counts for something. 

He chose waffles for dinner.  N is NOT an eater, but he does love breakfast food (as long as it is carbs). 

 His cake of choice was a yellow cake with yellow icing and animals...specifically a kangaroo.  I have NO CLUE where the obsession came recently over a kangaroo, but Nate managed to find one at Michael's.  N was thrilled! 

 Love this sweet boy!

 "My ANIMALS!!!!"

 He got a Cars coloring book...

 and more Cars toys. 

We love you No-no!!!

Escape

Today when we got home from picking up Z from school, I pulled into the garage and got into the back of the van to start pulling the little boys out.  I got L's shoes off and pulled him out, plopped him in the house, shut the door behind me.  Got N's shoes off, pulled him out, plopped him in the house, shut the door behind me.  Went back to repeat for C. 

When I came inside with C, I hit the garage door to shut it, shut the inside door, and latched it.

I turned around to see where all the kids had taken off to.  L was playing happily in the family room, and I watched C dart down the hall.  Ooops, our bedroom door was still open, and he had gotten into our bathroom and was heading for the trash.  Z had climbed into our bed (brand new clean sheets on it) with muddy shoes. 

I got both of them out of there, and kind of heard N crying, but couldn't find him.  I realized he must have gone into the garage when I was getting C, so I opened up the door.  Oh no, he was not in the garage....I had actually shut him OUT of the garage.  He had opened up the inside door and bolted into the garage and was headed down the driveway in the 10 seconds it took for me to get C's shoes off and get him out.  And since he went on the far side of the car, I didn't even see him (and normally I hear them when they do that), I shut the garage door, locking him out. 

So I opened the garage and he was standing there screaming like crazy.  Thankful the garage door didn't get him, thankful he wasn't hurt, thankful the men working on the water pipes in my front yard were actually at the corner at that exact moment.

Lesson learned:  shut the garage door before you get any kids out of the van, unless you want them outside. 

And pray for us, that we all survive!  :)

Swing?

Uh, uh, uh?!  (Translated:  Mom, we want up!  Get us up!  We want to swing!  Now!)

N on left, C on right

16 months-N

A few notes on N:  

•  He is our worst eater (and the smallest!). He will turn up his nose at foods he doesn't want at a certain time, but will eat them later. Other times, though, he chows (he can take down an entire PB&J...actually all of them can, but N does it the fastest).
• He has a very strong opinion about stuff, and he will let you know it. When he wants down, he will scream like a crazy child.
• He tends to be the most extroverted of the boys, and will happily talk to anyone.
• He is the jabber-er. He holds entire converstaions of mumbo-jumbo with himself, Z, or anyone who will listen.
• Currently he plays best with Z. They will wrestle around and N will laugh and laugh as I say "Z! GENTLE!!!"
• He tends to preemptively do stuff. If he sees a brother coming his way (possibly for a toy), he takes off to the corner. He also will scream/yell or hit preemptively.

 Here are a few older pictures...

And here are the more recent ones: 

Man alive, does this kid like PB&J.