Baa! Cluck! Oink! Moo! Conway Had a Farm Party to Celebrate Turning Two!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Conway!

We love you!

Conway Is Two Years Old!

 

Conway at 2 Years

Height/Length: 35.3in (64%)

Weight: 28lb 13oz (56%)

Head Circumference: 48cm (30%)
 

 Yes, Conway is Two Years Old! Is it terrific twos? Or terrible twos? I go back and forth with that on a moment by moment basis. One minute I'm saying, "Seriously, he's just the cutest thing ever!" Which is quickly followed by, "What the *!@# is he doing?! And where did he learn that?!" The answer to that last question is usually Parker, btw. Conway is generally a happy, smiling, laughing kid ... until he's asked to do something he doesn't want to do of course. Then, watch out! :-) He really has turned into such a big boy. Here are some of the memorable moments and quirks that we get to experience with Conway as a two year old.

• He talks A LOT - like all the time - seriously, he never stops talking!!
• Favorite things he says: be back, thank you Papa, teamwork
• Least favorite things he says: no, mine, owee (anytime we try to get him to do anything he doesn't like - it's great in front of strangers who think we're actually hurting him)
• He calls himself Kanye instead of Conway, which is sort of funny/annoying and he calls Parker "Kaka".
• Also on the speech front, whenever he tells us something, a simple acknowledgement from us of "okay" or "yes" won't do. We have to repeat what he said back to him...or he just keeps repeating it... over, and over, and over. I've tried continuing to answer with okay in hopes that he will eventually understand that I heard him or at least give up, but alas he is always able to hold his line on this longer than me. Pretty sure this stubbornness of his is going to take even more fun forms down the road.
• David taught him to sing the ABC song and he can now count to three. When he goes to count objects, though, it goes "one, three, eight", which I kind of love.
• Favorite food: sausage (and most meat really). He's actually a really good eater. Although he loves fruit and meat the best, he's even into eating most veggies these days.
• Least favorite food: leafy greens like spinach.
• He's still taking one nap from about 1pm - 4pm. At night he's asleep by about 8pm, but he has started waking up earlier and earlier in the morning. Currently he's waking sometime between 6:30am and 7am. We're experimenting with waking him up earlier from his nap with the hope that he will instead sleep a little later in the morning. We'll see...
• He still detests having his body slathered with lotion every night before bed, but this still seems to be doing an okay job of keeping the rashes away.
• His walking has turned into running and he prefers a sidewinder approach.
• He seems to be really enjoying Independent Play Time while I make dinner. It's fun to look on the monitor and see him genuinely engrossed in whatever he's chosen to play with on his own in his room.
• He loves accessories - hats, sunglasses, gloves.
• He wants to do anything his big brother is doing (for better or worse).
• He does NOT want his big brother to tell him what to do.
• His favorite thing in the whole wide world is Teddy, who usually even ranks above Mama and Papa.
• Oh, and he's seriously cute!

 

Mid-Winter Break in Chelan

 

We spent Parker and Conway's mid-winter break in Chelan, which of course meant s'mores, warming ourselves by the fire, bike/scooter rides, hot-tubbin' (combined with snowball eating), and general relaxation. New this time around was a trip to the bowling alley, where Parker and Conway both had a blast. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tea Party

 

The boys (with the creative direction led and strictly enforced by Parker) decided to have a tea party on our kitchen floor for us and the important stuffies in our household. Besides Parker, Conway, and myself, in attendance was Brown Dog, Teddy, Mama's Cuddle Dog, Papa's Cuddle Dog, Mama Doggy, and Parker's Teddy. And yes, all of those specific names have been given to specific stuffies and therefore are in fact proper nouns in need of capitalization. :-) 

Be Back

{"Be Back"}

 

One of my favorite things that Conway does right now is that while we're playing he will seemingly out of the blue stop, look right at you, and announce that he'll "Be Back". He then turns around, runs out of the room, and shortly thereafter returns with something new to add to the play. He's actually been doing this for quite some time now and it's just been next to impossible to get the exchange captured on photo. As you can see from these pictures I still wasn't able to get any quality shots, but I just decided to use what I could get in order to document the moment.

 

{Off he goes...}

 

{...with lion happily in his hands as he returns}

And He's Off!

 

Yep, Parker has taken to riding a big kid bike and there's no stopping him now! He can even get going on his own if the ground is relatively level. He's working on using the brakes to stop instead of just putting his feet down like he did with the balance bike, the one downside to the transition, but that's starting to click too. Other than that it's been a seamless transition - one day he was still on the balance bike and the next he was pedaling along without any help. The cutest thing about the day he pedaled on his own a good distance for the first time was when he said, "I can't wait to tell Papa! He's going to be so proud of me!"

 

And a big thank you to cousin Philip for passing along his bike to Parker. I think Parker is just as excited about the bike coming from Philip and the picture of Dusty the airplane on the bike as he is about actually riding it. :-) Check out THIS VIDEO from day two of Parker's adventure in bike riding, if you're interested.

 

And this exciting development means that Conway gets the balance bike, which he was super excited about. At this point he's standing over it and walking S-L-O-W-L-Y, just as Parker did when he first started, but he too is awfully proud of himself.

 

Monster Jam

 

Monster Jam was quite a show! Conway stayed home with a sitter by himself for the first time and Parker got both his Mama and Papa to himself. It was an evening of firsts and learning experiences for all of us. 

 

Takeaway #1: David and I should have brought earplugs too because those trucks are seriously loud.

 

Takeaway #2: Parker was both super excited and incredibly sad when trucks did crazy things and wrecked - a real rollercoaster of emotions for that guy.

 

Takeaway #3 - There are a lot of adults who are just as into monster trucks as Parker.