They're Growing Up

Every now and again, Hugh will wake up in the middle of the night crying. If I'm still awake and on my computer, I usually go up to see what's going on. If I'm asleep, Steve wakes and goes up. It's not very often that this happens, but when it does and I'm the one that goes up, I get very emotional.

In the still of the darkness, I hold my baby and he snuggles into me and rests his head on my left shoulder. The crying stops immediately and he is instantly comforted by my presence. The enormity of this never fails me, and as I sway back and forth rocking him, my mind always goes back to when he was just a tiny little baby.

While rocking and remembering, I am always brought to tears. I wish I could freeze time. I can't even put to words how painful it is to know that time is fleeting and soon, my boys will be big kids and then teens and then on their own. The thought scares me and makes me incredibly sad. While yes, a part of me loves seeing them grow and develop into their own unique people, it's hard; incredibly, terribly hard.

Gus starts school on August 11th. Less than a month from now, he'll be in school five days a week and gone from 7am-3pm (if not more, due to the bus schedule). The thought of only seeing him for three-four hours a day KILLS me inside. Like, there's part of me that physically hurts when I think about the separation from him.

Yesterday, we took the baby lock off Gus's door. Up until now, since he's in a big boy bed and can get in and out of it freely (meaning, not in a crib anymore). We put a child lock on his inside door so that he couldn't open the door and go exploring, and to keep him safe, since we do have stairs that he could fall down in the dark.

Steve and I talked about it and decided that he was ready for a bit more freedom and responsibility. We explained to him that he is not to go into Hugh's room unless the door is open (we always leave it closed when he's in there). He is not to come downstairs unless it's light outside. We told him he could open it to go potty if he needed.

So far, he's gone in and stayed there. He did wake up dry this morning, so I suspect he went to the potty in the middle of the night, but I'm not 100% sure of this.

To top everything off, today I went through Hugh's closet and his baby clothes. I was okay until some of my favorite outfits of Gus's that Hugh also wore were staring me in the face. Seeing some of these clothes, brought back memories of each boy wearing them, and caused a flood of emotions and ugly crying. 

Seriously. I am not ready for these two boys to grow up and I feel this nagging inside me for another baby. Steve is so not in favor of more kids, as he doesn't feel like he has the patience for a baby. I just can't shake it, and it makes me very emotional and upset to think that there won't be another baby in my house. 

I know some people get to a point and they feel content and happy and satisfied with the number of children in their home, and they come to terms with it and enjoy watching their kids grow up. I'm not at that point. In my mind, I feel like there's one more that's missing. It's a feeling that I can't shake, and while it doesn't make any sense, it's there.

To keep me humble and give me a big fat reality check about the stage of parenting that we're in right now, God helped me realize that my boys ARE still young. We went to see Planes Fire & Rescue and Gus was SUPER excited to go. 

We arrived for the 12:45 show and got some popcorn and got settled into our seats. 

We made it to about 1:45 before Hugh got REALLY restless and started screaming during the movie. Not screams like he was upset... I mean shrieks... and every 30 seconds or so, just enough to be SUPER annoying and obnoxious.

I tried to let him walk around a bit, but the, Gus wanted in on the "fun" and the two of them were chasing each other in the dark. I could feel all the eyes from the people in the seats watching and judging me, so I told Steve I was going to take Hugh to the car. At this, Gus decided he wanted to come with me. 

So we ended up leaving the movie before it was even 1/2 way over. 

BOO.

Not even 10 minutes in the car, and I looked back and saw this sight:

So, we're not ready for movies yet. While part of me was annoyed that we spent a bunch of money for a movie, I feel a little happy to know that I DO still have two small boys that are not quite ready for the big movie theater.

I'm okay with that.

 

A Little Dab Will Do Ya!

 

Dracula Gus and his many daubers

This afternoon, just after having lunch, I decided to check online and see what dauber sheets I could find for Gus. While at the Dollar Tree yesterday, I picked up all the colored daubers that they had (they only had five different colors) for this specific purpose.

Gus was super excited to come to the table and create some pictures with the daubers. We started with an apple picture and he was very careful when using the dauber.

He really enjoyed the daubers and so we decided to work on another picture. This one was a pumpkin.

After the pumpkin, we decided to do some counting. This took longer than I had anticipated, because Gus couldn't decide on which colors he wanted to use for his different number pictures, and he didn't want to go in number order.

The last picture that we did was of a tree. Gus had started yawning while we were working on this one (WHOO HOO!!!) and so I knew he was due for a nap soon. He did a great job with the tree picture and then was very excited when I hung his pictures on the pantry door for display.

 

All done and ready for a nap!

I realized four things during and after this activity.

1) The bingo daubers are great, but there are specific ones made for this kind of activity. It's worth the money to get some (so I did). We'll have ten different colors, they won't bleed as much, and should dry faster.

2) I need to set up an area to display Gus's art work. He's getting an easel for Christmas and we'll have more and more items to be shown. I need to talk to Steve about some ideas/options for this.

3) I need to start doing more of these structured activities with Gus. He's almost 2.5 and that's when I said I'd start doing more. I'm planning on actually planning out daily things for us to work on (things like what we did today). I'm glad I've got a ton of things pinned on Pinterest for me to look back upon and start getting prepared!

4) Time has passed too quickly. I was looking through some older pictures and I just can't remember Gus being so tiny. Seriously. I'm not just saying that I can't remember, I really cannot remember what it was like to have a tiny baby, a boy who was not walking, running, and climbing, and a toddler with his own opinions and the love for expressing them. 

I'm vowing that when there's a second baby in this house, I will be 10000% present and I will cherish each moment with them. I feel like with Gus, I was so excited for him to reach milestones and to keep getting older... and now I want to freeze time. I would love to go back in time and tell myself to savor each minute because they pass too quickly.

Sigh.

I used the following websites for their free printables!
3 Dinosaurs- Fall Pack  
Teaching Heart
THANK YOU!!!

A Few of Gus's Favorite Things...

 

Sheer Delight

Gus is a very funny little man. We call him "baby man" actually, and tell him that he's a silly boy all the time. He does things that absolutely crack us up and make us laugh. He enjoys making us happy and likes to make us laugh. He has a unique laugh and it's contagious. 

There are definitely some things that bring more joy to Gus's life than others. He has a list of favorite things and I thought I'd share just a few with my readers. In no particular order, here we go!

Balloons

I don't know too many toddlers who don't love balloons. I'm not sure what it is about them, but Gus just loves them and is totally excited when he sees one and gets to take it home with him.

 

 

Trains

I vowed that we would not get into the whole Thomas craze. That went out the window the first time we had a play date at a friend's house and they had Thomas and Chuggington trains. Gus was in love and so the obsession began. He loves watching the Thomas movies on Netflix and loves to watch Chuggington on Disney Jr. He also loves anything train-related and his favorite iPad apps are all train apps. Funny enough, he is scared to death of trains in real life. We went to the train museum (they have train rides) and he freaked out. Go figure.

Mickey Mouse

Gus has loved Mickey Mouse since he was a baby. I think it has something to do with Mickey's high-pitched voice. While he loves Mickey, he also really, really enjoys Chip and Dale. They make him laugh all the time and he will watch old cartoons over and over and laugh like it's the first time he's seen it.

 

A Mickey that he designed on my iPhone

 

Watching Mickey Mouse Club House with his good friend Aubree

 

Enjoying an episode of MMCH on his iPad

Slides and Swings

Gus is happiest when he's either in a swing or sliding down a slide. He prefers a swing over a slide, but he really enjoys both. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to climb up to the top of where a slide is. Some days he's brave, and others he shakes like a leaf and gets clammy. He always has fun on a swing though!!

His iPad

I never thought my two-year-old would have an iPad. Seriously. It's a bit on the ridiculous side. However, I wanted to get him a Leap Pad for Christmas and they're like $200. When Steve and I decided to get ourselves the new iPads (my first), we decided to give Gus Steve's old one (that I bought him two years ago). We love the iPad for so many reasons, but mainly because of all the wonderful educational apps that we can put on it. We have some fun apps too, but many of Gus's favorites include things that he loves (trains) and learning in some way. I'm able to put some awesome videos on there too and Steve uploaded a few of Gus's favorite cartoons and movies. 

 

Putting together a puzzle while on the potty (he didn't potty in it)

 

Watching a movie on our 12+ hour drive north

 

Counting with "The Number Train" video

 

Enjoying his iPad

Jumping and Galloping

Most kids start to jump at around 18 months (that's about when Gus finally mastered it) and galloping between 36-48 months. Gus has already mastered galloping. He gallops around the living room all the time when he's dancing and enjoying music. He's going up and down the stairs without assistance (not even holding the wall or railing) and is now jumping off the bottom step and curbs. He's amazing.

GoGo Squeeze

You'd think he'd get sick of eating the same stuff, but Gus has a few favorite foods in his arsenal. One of his absolute favorites is GoGo Squeeze. It's so liked that I have a subscribe and save subscription that sends me 48 pouches every month. He usually eats one to three pouches of applesauce a day. He loves it.

Charlie C. Horse (get it... like seahorse???)

When we moved Gus to his big boy bedroom, we found that he kept taking the nightlight off the wall and sleeping with it. He was taking his iPod off the dock and sleeping with it. We were confused about why they kept appearing in his bed, and then it dawned on us that he was probably comforted by the light and the music. 

So I looked around and found this awesome glow seahorse on Amazon and decided to get him one for his 1/2 birthday (in November). Well, I found one at a consignment sale and it was $3!!! STEAL!! We named it Charlie C. Horse and Gus loves him. He has him with him all the time and won't leave his room without Charlie.

I found a similar thing called a Dream Light (it's a pillow pet with a light) and we got it for him for his 1/2 birthday. It's a dinosaur and will match his room and I know he's going to just LOVE it!!

Helping

Gus loves to help others. His favorite thing to do is to push the stroller or grocery cart while out. He also likes to help with grabbing items while we grocery shop. He doesn't understand that throwing the cans on top of the bread is a bad thing, but we're working on it.

 

Pushing Aubree at the park

 

Helping Daddy at Home Depot

 

Grabbing cans while grocery shopping

 Babies

Gus LOVES babies!!! He loves to look at them and help with them. Any time he sees a baby he immediately wants to go near it and help it.

 

Helping with the paci (like with his CPK Frankie Steve)

 

Gus and Frankie Steve

 

Gus and June

 Pets

Gus loves animals and is lucky enough to have many pets here at our house. He has his favorites though... he adores Ned (our dog) and his favorite cat is Purry Como. He loves to feed Ned and loves to give both Ned and Purry, hugs and kisses.

 

Feeding Ned his dinner

 

Giving Purry a hug

 

He climbed into Ned's crate to keep him company  :-)

 

Giving Ned a kiss

Water

Gus loves water. He likes to play in the sink, at his water table, in the bath, in the yard in a sprinkler, and his all-time favorite is to swim.

 Popsicles

 'Nuf said.

His Daddy

I'm sure Steve would argue this, but Gus absolutely ADORES his daddy. While he says "mama" all the time and loves me, he just adores Steve. They have a very special bond and always have. I'm so fortunate to have a husband who is an equal when it comes to parenting. Steve is most definitely a hands-on dad, and will do anything for Gus. He plays with him and tickles him and they have a different relationship than Gus and I do and it's just how it should be.

While I'm sure that some of the above things will change as Gus gets older, I'm certain that many things will remain. I pray that Gus will always be helpful, that he always love babies and animals, and that he will always know how special he is and how much his daddy and I love him.