Time warp

Darling, I'm sorry. You grew so big so fast, and I haven't written about it. Here's a bunch of snapshots of what you've been up to:

Over Labor Day weekend, we took you to Omaha to help celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. We stayed in the corner room of the element hotel. It juts out over a street corner. You spent a lot of time standing on the couch, watching the cars and trucks go by. Trucks were your favorite!

The next day we went to the Omaha Zoo and wheeled you through the apes and aquariums. I think we liked it more than you did. You took a nap through part of it. When you were awake,  you were eating string cheese. Boy, do you love string cheese.

You sprouted several more teeth, including your first molars. This was very hard on you. You missed a lot of sleep and cried a lot in the day. We learned to alternate the baby Tylenol with the baby Advil so you could always be on some pain relief. Molars are mean. You now have three out of four of your first-year molars, with the fourth one bulging on your lower left.

You know what your teeth are. You also know tongue, ears, toes, knees, bum, feet, hair, and head, in addition to all your earlier body parts (eyes, nose, etc.). You're really smart. Today you saw a plane go by and you tried to tell your 22-month-old friend... you tapped him and pointed at the sky and said "Ah! Ah! Ah!" But he didn't notice.

At this point, you weigh 24 pounds. You're pretty tall, but I need to measure you. Your feet have grown and you wear size 6 shoes. We put you in squeaky shoes for church. :)

We took you to the Feast in Vail, Colorado. Before we got there, we stopped and visited Mommy's college friend. Her boys have about 150 Hot Wheels, and you were almost always clutching one or more. So Daddy and I bought you 10 Hot Wheels at the Feast. We also gave you a big die cast Ford F150 truck, which you carry around all the time now.

At the Feast, you kissed Makayla. A couple days later you kissed Elaine. A couple days after that, Makayla two-arm shoved you onto the ground. You poor thing. You're a lover, not a fighter!

Now we are at home again, and you are happy. You're getting back into a groove with sleeping. You've slept through the night three times since we got home. You also get to go outside more now, since it is cooler. You love to play in the leaves and to pull our green Roma tomatoes off the vine. You think they are "ball-ball".

Speaking of "ball-ball", you say more words now. Today you said, "No, mama!" when I was picking you up. No, mama?! No picking you up? No kisses? I know you don't mean that. You love kisses, and you almost always prefer to be in someone's arms than down on the ground. I think you still love being in my arms more, but Daddy is really growing on you. He's home a lot more lately, since he lost his job in September. Actually, two days ago when I was trying to get you to take a nap, I sang you a song that had the word "Daddy" in it. That made it impossible for you to sleep! "Dada?" you said, raising your head. "Dada?" Sigh. Naptime ended, promptly. No more mention of Daddy at naptime from now on. Momma learns a little every day.


I love you, Noodle! You are my favorite little thing, and the cutest little boy there ever was.