Holden Jay @ 2 years

I have been wanting to do a post for awhile just focusing on Holden at age 2. I feel like he is growing soooo very quickly right in front of our eyes, and I want to capture the essence of him and bottle it up forever before he is all grown up and doesn't want me to kiss his boo boos and help him dig in the dirt. So here is a little peek into 2-year-old Holden.

Oh, do I love that grin! He flashes it quite a bit these days, as he is catching onto humor and loves to label something as "silly," including himself. He will trip over something and say, "Silly Holden!" He is starting to attempt to crack jokes, which are pretty lame at this point but also hysterical because he knows he is teasing you. The ultimate put-down in Holden language is for him to call you some type of tree. (?!) He'll giggle and say, "Mommy, you are a banana tree!" (or substitute apple tree, big tree, etc.) Or he'll call you a dinosaur or something. He loves when I yell, "No I'm NOT!" and put my hands on my hips. He dissolves into laughter and often rolls on the floor.

In typical boy fashion, he has boundless energy. I am sometimes amazed at it. If I just had an ounce! He loves the "great outdoors" and exploring. He collects rocks, sticks, coins, and other objects of interest. We frequent the many local parks, swim at the pool, walk on the trail, head to the Fransen Nature Trail down the road, and spend lots of time in our backyard as well as the neighbors' yards. He is getting SO FAST! When he takes off running, you'd better hope you have your running shoes on or something pretty good to entice him back with! I don't know how I'm not in better shape tagging along.

Holden is developing interests (aka obsessions at times! Ha!) that he is passionate about. He loves all things trucks, construction vehicles, motorcycles, and other motor vehicles, as well as pointing out airplanes, helicopters, and even hot air balloons in the sky. (We saw one landing near our home one night and now every time we pass Wild Berries restaurant with the big grounded balloon as an advertisement, he has to point it out to us.) This has been a great summer for him with all of the construction going on all around town. He's probably the only person THRILLED to be stopped on Main St., in Uptown Normal, etc. because he can sit and watch all the action. His major obsession is specifically with diggers, bulldozers, and "rollers" (the things that roll the pavement on the road) and he will yell their names at the top of his lungs if he spots them. It keeps him very busy on our drives! As you can see from the above collage, he is infatuated with the garbage truck. We sit and watch for it every Friday morning. The garbage man now knows us by sight and will smile and wave as he approaches. Besides vehicles, Holden also loves sports even though we are still working on hand-eye coordination! Ha! He has a little tennis racket and loves to have a ball thrown to him to attempt to hit. He enjoys using his tee-ball set, kicking his soccer ball, and we joke he will be a hockey player or a golfer because he can turn ANY household object into a stick to whack a ball on the ground with! He is taking swim lessons, which he loves except for going under the water. Something he'll have to get over! He adores his instructor, Lacy, and will talk about her even when we're not there. ("Is Lacy going nigh night? Does Lacy go to Holden's park?") He is very proud of kicking his legs in the water and blowing bubbles.

He is becoming a little mimic, which can be scary at times when we forget to watch what we say in front of him! He picks up on everything he sees and hears. The picture below is from a few days ago. He started lining up all of his garage toys very meticulously, then stood at the back and started saying, "beep! beep! beep!" I asked what he was doing and he said, "I'm the cart guy!" You know, the guy at the stores with the flashing light on his cart that hooks to the other carts to return them to the store. Great future goal, buddy! Ha! I thought it was pretty creative though. He is so serious in the picture!

One of the neatest experiences about watching Holden grow has been to see him cultivate relationships. He has several close friends that he talks about constantly and loves to get together with for play dates. Colin and Cade Cunningham (below) have been his fast friends since birth. (Well, Holden's birth when Colin was 2, and Cade's birth when Holden was 9 months old.) They shared the same babysitters for the past 2 years and act like Holden is their brother, too. Annie and I realized how much they are growing up when I was able to snap a picture of ALL THREE of them: in the same shot, smiling, and facing the same direction!! Ha! We seriously have 100's of pictures of the three of them without meeting all of that criteria.

Corinne and Natalie (or "Atalie" as he refers to her) are his best girl buddies, and he adores them. He is usually very gentle with them and loves to give them "huggies" and kisses. Now that he and Natalie are both in the toddler stage, they get into things together and sometimes spat over toys (mainly on Holden's end!) but they love playing together and he is the first one to be concerned if she is upset. I don't think he'd tolerate anyone else pushing her around!

We are so blessed to be in a neighborhood full of kids and friendly families. Holden's buddy, Brady, (on the swing with him) lives four doors down and they are like brothers. They are three months apart. We are very excited to have Brady's mom, Kam, watching Holden this fall! He also hangs out quite a bit with our new neighbor, Isabelle (top left with the lime green cast; she is wonderful with the younger kids and such a sweet girl), and Hannah and Gabe (top right), who keep him entertained and challenge him to do new things the "big kids" can do. He thinks he is hot stuff when they come over. I couldn't leave out Aunt Allie and cousin Chelsey. Allie is watching Chelsey Mon. and Tues. this summer, and Holden just loves them both so much. He is so excited on those mornings to wake up and go do something with them! They are wonderfully patient with him, and teach him lots of new things. (Mostly good! The vote is still out on Allie's rap music and dancing! Ha!)

Eating remains a challenge with my little buddy at this age. He is trying new things more readily than a year ago, but still has a lot of texture issues. I am proud of him for trying, although it is exasperating at times to attempt to cook healthy meals for him with such limited choices. It's not that he's being defiant; he has such a strong gag reflex and just really has a hard time with a lot of foods. Things he loves to eat right now are: mac n' cheese, chicken fingers, french fries (too bad they're not healthy; he'd eat them all day long!), corn dogs, popcorn chicken from Walmart, big pretzels (the kind you cook in the microwave; salt less so they're not too bad for him), waffles, and pancakes. He seems to like things that are firm (as opposed to squishy, like Jello) and that he can hold to eat. He also likes Gogurts because he can eat the yogurt out of them himself, and watermelon and apple slices are his fruit of choice. I have a very hard time getting any veggies in him. The kid loves his milk and juice; I think he'd go on a liquid diet if we let him! And of course cake and candy are not a problem for him, so he is a normal child! :) I still put liquid multi-vitamins that the Dr. recommended in his drink once a day. He is generally a very healthy child, albeit a string bean, so we don't worry too much. Below is one of his favorite treats that he does not get very often: a Gloria Jean's caramel chill WITHOUT the coffee, of course! Please! Like he needs any caffeine!

While he is mostly all boy, Holden does appear to be in touch with his feminine side! Ha! I have been able to capture several great future blackmail pictures of his antics. As I mentioned, he loves to mimic, and he is around me more than anyone else, hence the below collage. I did not put him up to any of these acts. What looks like a skirt is one of my long-sleeved pajama shirts that he tried to put on but couldn't get past his waist! Yes, those are bras around his neck, hung like medals, and he is using a Clorox wipe!!! Hahahahaha!!! Oh, and a little purse/sunglasses shopping at Shoe Karnival never hurt anyone, right?

Some cute or funny things he says and does right now are:

"dat" for that, and "duh" for the

"I wanna go see the fish and hee-haws!" when he wants to go to the nature park, which has a pond and donkeys

"Odor creecles!" for motorcycles. Not sure why the r got placed in there?

"I want to DOOT it!" when using his fork, from the time he was a baby, I'd help him put the food on it and I unknowingly made a little "doot! doot!" sound as I stabbed the food with it. For the longest time, he thought a fork was a "doot." Now when wanting to use the fork himself, this is what he says.

"Holden do it/Holden likes dat/Holden is a big boy/Dat's Holden's toy!" etc. Everything is in third person right now.

"I yuv you!" melts my heart every time.

"Dat is so CUTE!" which he says about animals and babies. Obviously I say this phrase a lot! Ha! He recently told me my eyes and hair were cute, and told Jay's dad, "Pepaw, dat shirt is cute!" Too funny.

"Holden is scared." when he hears thunder, sees a bug, or has to go to bed. It is cute and sad at the same time. He is finally able to verbalize that feeling. We are big suckers when he says it, too!

"Dere's a 'ODOZER!" translate: "There's a bulldozer!"

"I don't yike it!" Usually to new foods, but once to a scary tattooed guy at the store who thankfully didn't hear him say it! Ha!

"I DID IT!" said very proudly when he does something by himself, like take his shirt off, tackle a new climber at the playground, color a picture, put his crocs on, etc. He is getting very independent which is a good thing, but often slows us down since he wants to do EVERYTHING by himself.

He has a large vocabulary and picks up on new words daily. He is speaking in full sentences now and also likes to pretend to "read" his favorite books that he has memorized. It is just so neat to see him become a little person with feelings, thoughts, and ideas.

A couple of phrases we are not so proud of are "CRAP!" and "DANG IT!" :) Better than other words, I suppose, but still embarrassing when he announces them and uses them in context. Oops! We of course tell him these are not nice word choices but sometimes they slip out anyway. His first cuss word was the "s" word, and I don't mean "stupid!" It slipped out of both of our mouths in front of him when a deer ran in front of our car. Fortunately, I was able to explain to him that it is a "mean word" and we shouldn't have said it. But if you ask him, "What's the bad word we don't say?" he can tell you. It is pretty funny coming out of his little mouth but I am SO thankful that he has never once used it around others since repeating it that first time. Man, are they little parrots!

One item that he holds dear is his blue blankie that is satin on one side and fleece on the other; he calls it his "nigh night" and HAS to have it to sleep with. We have a backup on hand for when it needs washing. We call him our little Linus. Thankfully, he keeps it in his crib and hasn't been one of those kids that needs to carry it around everywhere, although he will go pull it out if he is hurt, sad, or scared, and cuddle with it. So sweet.

I love my little boy SO very much, and cherish these precious days while he is little. There are days he throws temper tantrums, comes in covered head to toe in dirt and sand, and tears apart the house, when I want to pull my hair out, but I know they are fleeting moments. He is such a blessing and I am so thankful that God trusted us to be his parents.