The Magic of a 15 Month Old

The first year of Nolan's life was definitely measured in milestones (as you do with any baby). His development was obvious when he would finally flip from tummy to back...or took those first glorious steps. However I'm learning the magic of the second year! My darling child has the cutest little personality...he's like a person now!!! I do realize that this was bound to happen, as it happens with all children, but it is oh-so fun to experience.

Just a few weeks ago, his only words were "Mama", "Dada", and another word that sounded kinda like "Bubba" but didn't really have a definition. Now, the child is a chatter box, everyday adding a new word to his repertoire. The most recent additions are "Hi", "Bye" (which includes the cutest wave), "Bubble", "Up", "Uh-Oh", "Ouch", "Hot" and a few other words that are close...but not quite there yet. Today he said "Hat" when they said it on a show. He then walked around saying "At" "At". He repeats words when I say them, but not using them regularly or in context. I'm quite thrilled that "No" is not part of his vocabulary yet. I know it will come (it's inevitable, especially since it is in his name!) but I don't look forward to that day.

The best part of all these words is the increased communication. He walks to his highschair when he is hungry and says "Up, Up". Another aide to our communication is a little bit of sign language. He learned "All Done" awhile ago, which is nice when he is stuffed and can't eat another bite. He recently learned "More", although he sometimes waves his hand towards him as if to say "Bring on the food". Both are cute and get the point across! He picked up the sign for "Milk" all on his own, although his wave goodbye and the sign for milk are pretty much the same, so it's hard to know if he 100% understands how to use that sign! I would really like for him to learn "Thank You", but I'm horrid at remembering to use it...so that might take a bit more work!

It's fun to watch Nolan play. He is experiencing his toys in a whole new way. Instead of just pushing his toys around, he's understanding that they make noises if you press in a certain part. He also knows which button to press on my keychain to make the car go HONK. His favorite pasttime is to steal my keys and sit next to the windown and watch the lights flash on my car and hear the horn honk! He also enjoys running around the house and turning on all the fans, then running away when they blow on him. He is slightly obsessed with brooms and today I caught him getting a rag off the kitchen table and cleaning the fridge door. Someone in this house needs to be a clean freak...and we know that both Brian & I don't fit that description! Today Nolan was playing in our room and picked up a dirty shirt I left on the floor. He walked over and put it in the correct dirty clothes bin!! Brian doesn't even do that!!!! I was so proud I almost cried!

I could not be luckier. Nolan is such an amazing kid and I love watching the world through his eyes.

Father's Day Picnic with Friends

Today was Zoe's babyshower and afterwards there was a Father's Day picnic. We had a ball and I had to share some photos of our fun day. Nolan was in the best mood ever and ran around a lot. He enjoyed playing with a plastic egg. He will pretend like he is going to throw it, but as he pulls his arm back the egg would fly behind him. It was super cute!



Nolan & Portia hug/collide






Nolan made a friend.



Brian and Nolan running & screaming like crazy men



Mommy redirecting Nolan





mommy

Canada Trip

My friend Zoe has family up in Canada. She wanted to go visit before she has her second baby...and I just couldn't have her going alone...so I invited myself along for the ride. Her family was so welcoming, we had TONS of fun and the kids were SO amazing! The fact that they were in the car for 12 hours straight, TWICE...is just crazy! And they didn't even drive us insane!!! Here are some highlights from the trip (although I didn't take enough!!!)

Here are pics from the water park inside the West Edmonton Mall (the LARGEST mall in North America). We didn't see the whole mall, but the water park was so amazing we didn't really care!!! (I'll have more pics when I download from Zoe...she did MUCH better at taking pictures here!)



Arriving at the Waterpark


After (I look like a drown rat)


Putt putt golf place


We went to Old Spaghetti Factory (my FAV!!!)
Nolan being silly


Portia


Shelly, Xander & Xavier


The ice rink inside the mall


We went to a sushi restaurant the next day. If we had that here, I would eat it EVERY day! It was a TON of food for only $9 canadian. Nolan really enjoyed the chopsticks!







Nolan enjoyed "playing" video games with Xavier...are we surprised??


Portia being so cute!


Nolan learned how to go down the stairs...Portia showed him the ropes because she is a pro!


Close your eyes!!! Naked babies!!!



We visited Zoe's family at the campsite her aunt runs (we had the yummiest hotdogs EVER!). Nolan enjoyed the dustpan & broom...of course!



How cute is that little puppy?



I call this, the many faces of Nolan...he has so many expressions...these pics were taken back to back.







Portia was loving on Nolan



Nolan playing in the sand. He ate lots of sand!



Playing on the slide with Portia's Grandpa





I've never seen this in person, but they were EVERYWHERE! They suck up oil...I think they look like mosquitoes! :)



I just think these two pics are cute. We are eating dinner at Tim Horton's. There was a LOT of Tim's on this trip!





I'll have more on Wednesday...Zoe took a ton of pictures!!

More Randomness

These pictures are from a really fun park in Lynden







I call this "running like t-rex"








Fun in a hammock




This morning he was playing very quietly in his room...I come in and find this:


New sand box (filled with pea gravel)

Tip toe through the tulips

Zoe, Portia, Nolan and I went to the Tulip Festival this year. It was fun!