Merry Christmas to Blog, and to Blog a Goodnight

Keeping up on this blog is always so much work but I love looking back on it. You know who doesn't? Adam. So Merry Christmas to the guy who has commented to me a number of times this year how blogs are dead. Well baby, your wife still writes on hers!

Anders and Oliver

I think I've mentioned on here before that I was watching another little boy (Adam's co-resident's son) during the day. He started coming last May when he was two months and Anders was four months. Before the job started I told myself that it would be hard at the beginning but if I just powered through the payoff would be when they were both toddlers and could pal around together. And that's basically exactly what happened. The first six months were rough to brutal and I thought about throwing in the towel a few times but I stuck with it and magically, about a year ago things just started to get easier. And since we've been home from Idaho its been a dream. Despite having completely opposite personalities, they've been the best of friends and it has been so fun to watch them chase each other around the house and crack up at their inside jokes. Oliver's last day was Friday and it already feels weird not to have him around. Like, how does one entertain a toddler by themselves? Especially at 32 weeks pregnant. I just don't have the energy for it. Come back and watch my kid for me, Oliver!

 Tiny babes. I hardly remember them being this small, probably because I've blocked these early months from my memory.

 I was trying to take periodic pictures of them sitting in this chair but that kind of died out after a while. But here's a good comparison shot. Anders is really looking like The Donald in this one.

Notice one keeps growing up and the other is growing out  

 

 First trip to the (dirty, dirty) sandbox. Back when I was knocking fistfuls of sand away from their mouths every 10 seconds.

 Dental check-up

 

 

Tried to have a little photo shoot on their last day. Trust me that this was the best shot. Toddlers...

Luckily for Anders, I'm making him another playmate right now! T-minus 8 weeks until delivery, and then only another oh....year and a half until they'll be friends?

Copa-hagen

In September we had the chance to visit Adam's parents who are serving a mission in Copenhagen. We wavered for months about if/when this trip was going to happen but when we found out we'd be having another baby during residency I knew we had to bite the bullet and go while we just had one kid. I would've loved to go with no kid (sorry Anders!) but there was just no getting around that one and actually I'm not sure we would have been all that welcome by ourselves anyway. The sad truth of being a parent. As it turned out, Anders did amazingly well on all SIX plane rides and handled the time changed like a champ, the two things I was most worried about. He wasn't really fond of visiting all those palaces/museums but who can blame the kid? The trip must have really left an impression on him because anytime we ask him where he's going, even if he's just walking into another room, he tells us he's going to Copenhagen (on a "big big airplane, flying in the sky", of course).

I can't not post these pictures of Anders looking like a little man on the plane. 
Catching up on the safety features of the plane and enjoying limitless screen time. 

 This only lasted about 2.5 hours so.....

juuuust a little jet-lagged

The only thing his parents would pay for in Tivoli

Copenhagen is amazingly pedestrian/stroller friendly but we still had a few of these experiences during the week. Not pictured: me, laughing maniacally behind the camera.

The menfolk figuring out how to play some Danish lawn game.

Either sniffing flowers or ready for lunch

Descending from the Round Tower with Gampa

Traveling with a toddler means pausing to climb on benches in museums

Visiting the Lego store; the highlight of his trip for sure. 
Ok, tied for first with Belgian waffles.

Adam didn't hate it either

 One terrible picture to represent our pretty terrible side trip to Amsterdam. Lost stroller, lost travelers, and 2 hours waiting in line for the the Anne Frank museum in the cold and rain. Still can't decide if it was worth it. We might need to give Amsterdam another shot some day.

Back to Copenhagen and reunited with our stroller after its fun adventure in Berlin!

My two best guys. This picture makes my heart go pitter-patter

We all had such a good time on this trip and the more time that passes, the less I remember the hard or stressful things about it- sore feet, cranky kid, one tiny shared bathroom, etc. Although the memory of the time we got separated in the Frankfurt airport and missed our connection to Copenhagen is still very fresh. BUT we were able to check off about 95% of the things on our to-do list and Adam's parents took the whole week off work, which meant we had great company and we didn't have to figure out the transportation system. Hallelujah! We had a home cooked meal every night (thanks Charlene!), pretty spectacular weather, and Anders got his first stamps in his passport. Overall a very successful trip!

Life has slowed down quite a bit for us since we got home. After taking 19 plane rides (not including layovers, of course) in his first 20 months of life, we probably won't be going anywhere until spring or summer. I can't tell you how happy this makes me (#fearofflying) but I'm glad we were able to squeeze in this last hoorah before our family of three becomes four in a couple of months. (gulp)

Anders in October

Anders has been a fun little buddy this past month. I think he can sense that fall is the best season. I feel bad that Adam has been missing out on so many of our adventures (usually seeing him for 15-20 minutes at night....whomp, whomp), but we've taken advantage of the days he has had off to get out and do all the fall things and I think that deserves a blog post. Plus I would just feel really bad for you if you never saw these pumpkin patch comparison pictures.

  At the "punky patch". Which has been his response to the question "what did you do today?" for the last 3 weeks. And yes, he posed himself for these.

Mr. Independent picking out a punkin. 
 He'll probably be petitioning for emancipation by next fall.

Comparison shot #1: My little squish one year later. 
Still squishy, still handsome, still just a little dazed.

Comparison shot #2: Mom and baby side-by-side to demonstrate how we've both done a little growing this past year. And despite what the sign says that pumpkin is NOT FOR SALE!

We're all looking miraculously semi-decent in this hastily snapped hay ride picture

If it's fall and it's not raining we're at the park. 

 

This little face kills me.

 

 Props to Dad for this amazing fire truck. He loved it and so did his buddies who spent a good portion of the night fighting over who got the next ride.

Happy little "fighter-fighter" on the best night of his life.

"just take us to the candy"

Trick-or-treat tutorial from Dad at the first house

A few houses later he had it down...
and by the end of the night he was really laying it on thick

All holidays are better with kids but Halloween has set the bar pretty high this year. Let's see what Thanksgiving and Christmas can do.

PS...If you just can't get enough of Anders (it's perfectly natural) you're gonna want to check out the Baa Baa Black Sheep video on Vimeo. Anders seems to have inherited his mother's perfect tone.

Anders at....he'll be 2 in January

Anders is coming up on 21 months now, though I never really know what to say when people ask me how old he is. I feel like he's getting a little old for the months answer and besides, it doesn't really capture the essence of Anders. What I'd like to say is "he's 21 months old, but as tall as a 15 month old, as heavy as a 3 year old, and with the emotional maturity of a 16 year old girl". Instead I usually settle for "he'll be 2 in January". TWO! Can't believe it's coming up on us so quickly. Thankfully he has been preparing us for this season of life for the past 9 months so there's no way we're going to be blind sided by the terrible twos. #blessed

Despite the tantrums and defiance this has to be my favorite age so far. He's developing such a personality and we love hearing him talk in his adorable, mixed up sentences. He's starting to be a little social butterfly. He has always loved kids. As soon as he catches sight of kids when we're out in public he zones in on them, starts laughing at their jokes, and thinks he can hang with them no matter their age. But lately he has started striking up conversations with adults too. We were at the zoo the other day and he had a stream of dialogue going with this random woman at the otter exhibit. As the otter would swim back and forth he would say, "where''d he go? otter go? oh! there he is! find him!" for like seriously 15 minutes. It wasn't getting old to me or him, but I can't speak for this poor woman.

More Andersisms of 21 months that I don't want to forget

• "Come on Mama/Daddy/Oliver! Pay yegos!" (while beckoning us with his hand)
• "Here go, Mama" (when handing me something I almost never want)
• "Hurt your finger" -what he says anytime he hurts anything
• "Bonk your head"- any time he gets in trouble he says he bonked his head to get sympathy
• Gives himself pep talks- "Good dump it out!" "Good helping Anders!" "Careful Anders" (when doing something dangerous like jumping on the bed)
• When we tell him it's time to say prayers he folds his arms and says "Heavenly Father, thank you day" Maybe his mother and father need to work on their vain repetitions...
• Thinks everything is funny. "funny dog" "funny yogurt" "funny trash truck". It's really not all that funny
• Counting. I can't do it justice so I'll have to post it a video. Adam thinks he has disparnumerophobia. #notarealdisease

Other than that he's pretty much your typical toddler. He loves animals and is getting really brave around dogs, even letting them lick his face and smack him with their tails. He loves construction and we check in on the two construction sites on our street every day. He's getting interested in dinosaurs and calls them all "big T-Rex" no matter how many times I correct him. And I know my dinosaurs. He gets so frustrated when things don't go his way and throws himself down on the ground in true toddler fashion. He's a great eater one day and the next won't touch anything we give him. He loves Oliver and they freak out every morning they see each other (which is like 5 mornings a week) but then I hear "Anders' turn" all day in reference to anything that Oliver has, so we're still working on sharing. Loves books and has lots of words and phrases memorized. Always wants to be as naked as we'll let him be (as evidenced by the below pictures). He'll ask for "shirt off, pants off, socks off" then try for "diaper off" but we stop him there. He's interested in babies and holding his baby doll but can't understand why he can't find the baby in Mama's tummy. I mean, I could go on forever but I'll probably just leave you with an onslaught of pictures. 

 

washing machine maintenance

always happy to pet your dog at the park

"here go, mama"

mid-week breakfast date with the big D

crazy times at the park with his two best buds Oliver and Audrey 

(also, all toddler girls are named Audrey)

always requesting "buddles" in the bath

sitting on this fake hippo is always, always better than seeing the live hippos

you can never be too safe while puzzling

 Adam requested a picture of Anders while at work and I sent him the first one I took. 

Beggars can't be choosers!

And in closing, here's the video I promised. Not sure how to make it not look so funky and huge? For those who don't speak Anders he's trying to count but keeps getting distracted by fire trucks and trash trucks. He finally settles on "1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14! 16, 16, 16, 16!"

He's my best little buddy and I love him to pieces.