It is finally here!

The final post before I get to print Graham’s second blog book! 
I planned on printing the blog book after posting about Graham’s second birthday party but by the time I got around to writing Graham’s second birthday party post, so many other things had happened that I just decided I’d get fully caught up and then print his second book. 
So, here it is!  The final catch up post before I get to print Graham’s book.  I absolutely love having a printed book of the blog posts from Graham’s first year and I have been dreaming about the second book pretty much since the first book arrived. 
So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the many miscellaneous pictures, videos, cute antics, and noteworthy tidbits that have occurred in the life of Graham over the past few months.

• I caught Graham playing in his bib basket the other day.  He put on as many bibs as he could fit around his neck (all at the same time).  I thought it was too cute not to take some pictures (2 years, 2 months, 6 days old):

• Some food-related updates – 1. Graham has learned how to dip things.  He loves dipping chips in salsa and just about anything in ketchup.  2. He impressed us by ordering apple juice by name at a restaurant.  The waiter came by and I asked Graham to say what he wanted and Graham said “apple juice.”  Voila, the apple juice appeared.  I think it blew Graham’s mind.  3. We had our first mommy/son baking activity.  We made chocolate chip cookies together!  I was so excited for the project but it didn’t work out as beautifully as it does in those Pillsbury commercials.  I bought pre-made cookies so all we needed to do was transfer them onto a baking sheet.  Graham was in hysterics because he got to touch the cookies but couldn’t eat them.  We watched them bake (with Graham in tears) but all was forgiven when he ate his first gooey cookie right out of the oven.  4. After several months of boycotting, Graham can now eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich all by himself.  He even requests the sandwich sometimes.  Graham also ate a full bagel all by himself.  He has always been a good chewer but I still break up a lot of his food into bite size pieces so he always seems so grown up to me when he eats something without any modifications from me.  5. He also looks quite grown up eating a full bowl of oatmeal all by himself out of his very own bowl with his own spoon.
• Here are some pictures from months ago at Kenzie’s 2nd birthday party.  Graham especially loved riding in the wagon (23 months, 17 days old):

• Our little talker is still at it with new words and phrases (and songs) almost every day.  Here are some of the cute ones that I have jotted down – 1. When he is about to throw a ball or jump or do something that he wants us to notice, he will say “are you ready?”  2. He has learned the word “today” to indicate urgency.  “I want it, today,” “play right now, today.”  3. He noticed a bug crawling on the wall and said “kill bug!”  4. He picked up on a phrase I use a lot and now when he wants me to say “yes” to something, he will ask the question and then following it by saying “why certainly my young son, I’m happy to do that.”  5. While reading books, we usually prompt him by asking “what is that” and “do you see anything else?” so Graham has started saying “I see… (anything and everything on the page)” whenever we turn to a new page in a book.  6.  Graham is all about mimicking our terms of endearment.  He now says “hello my love” when he sees us, “oh honey” in a concerned voice when he notices that we have discovered that he hurt himself, and “hello dear” as a greeting to his Granddaddy and Grandma each morning.  7. Graham knows that I am constantly calling out to him and making sure he is safe, so now when I say “Graham” and he is in another room, he responds by saying “are you safe?”  8. I came into Graham’s room after getting dressed up for a mommies’ night out and Graham said “you are looking good.”  9. When Graham gets any type of present or gift to open, he makes it so fun to watch because he has started saying “thank you, I LOVE IT!”  10. Every once in a while, Graham just makes up a word and uses it religiously.  His latest word is “phi-joe.”  When asked if he wants something (like to go take a nap) he will say “no phi-joe” so we are guessing it may mean “no thank you.”  11. “Yah” and “Yes” are now a part of Graham’s vocabulary.  He has moved beyond just saying “no.”  12. Graham very much enjoys giving commands and his latest is requesting that we tickle certain things.  “Tickle Daddy head,” “Tickle Graham arm,” “Huge tickle ceiling.”   13. In the middle of playing, Graham sometimes gets up and walks out of the room with a distinct look of purpose on his face and says “I’ll be right back.”  I haven’t figured out what he goes off to do, but it is something.  14. My little boy has started to call me Tammy sometimes.  “Should I throw this out Tammy?”  “Tammy, can you hear me?”  15. When I’m lucky enough to be called Mommy, some of the phrases I get are “watch this Mommy!” or “Mommy, come save me” when he is ready to be rescued from his room after a nap.  16. We are working on safety and Graham can now recite his address and when asked what to do in an emergency he says "call 911!"  
• Some fun pictures of Graham showing off his legs (2 years, 2 months, 10 days old and 2 years, 17 days old):

• Graham and Daddy having fun out on the deck with Graham getting lifted high into the air (2 years, 16 days old):

• Graham continues to refuse to answer the questions, “what is your name?” and “how old are you?”, which is so frustrating because those are the two most common questions asked of him and he leaves the impression with people that he is not very verbal because he just won’t answer them.  So, Daddy and Mommy keep trying and trying to get Graham to answer those questions.  Here is a rare video of Graham successfully saying his name (2 years, 24 days old):

• Leading up to Graham’s transition into his big boy bed, I took some pictures of some of the interim steps including Graham’s first time using a big boy pillow and blanket and his now beloved stuffed animals (hippo and Lowly Worm) who sleep with him during every nap and bedtime without fail (2 years, 1 month, 17 days old and 2 years, 1 months, 2 days old):

• One of my favorite new things to watch is when Graham has full conversations with himself or his stuffed animals.  I watched over the baby monitor as he woke up and chatted with his hippo.  He said “hi hippo, nice to see you, how was your day?, how are you hippo?, I'm good.”  He also loves picking up his toy phone and saying “hello?, hi!, goodbye.”
• My dear friend Elizabeth and Graham’s buddy since birth (Zane) moved to Virginia.  We had one last visit a few days before they moved.  Bye, bye Zane and Eliz:

• Graham loves requesting to be held upside down, but Daddy is the only one that will indulge his requests (2 years, 30 days old):

• Graham’s latest piece of artwork to make the interchangeable frame.  I love it!  My favorite thing about this piece is that I actually let him do the entire thing by himself, and he has the paint stains on his shirt to prove it (2 years, 1 month, 7 days old):

• Since Graham has never been much of a snuggler and never slept in our bed with us, I always think it is cute when I can get pictures of him spending a little time in our bed after waking up (23 months, 16 days old):

• Graham was perplexed the other day when he saw a moving patch of light and exclaimed “what’s that???”
• Graham’s favorite grocery store is Trader Joe's because every time we go to Trader Joe's, we also stop in at the pet store for Graham to visit all the animals.  The other day, Trader Joe's increased its stock even more in Graham’s eyes when not only did they give Graham a sticker at the checkout counter but they gave him a huge strip of stickers and made them into a crown.  Graham felt so special he was about to burst (2 years, 13 days old):

• I love when Graham corrects me because I’m always so pleased by how smart he is.  I pointed out a roller coaster in a book that we were reading and Graham said “I ride roller coaster.”  I told him that he had never ridden a roller coaster and he said, “yes, I ride roller coaster.”  I asked him when he had ridden a roller coaster and he said “at Growing Times.”  Wow!  I totally forgot but they have a toy roller coaster at Growing Times that he has ridden many times.  Well Mr. Smarty, you were right and mommy was wrong :)  Also, Graham was playing with his toy truck.  He showed me the wheels and then started humming the tune to The Wheels on the Bus.  I started singing the lyrics and Graham said “no Mommy, not bus, the wheels on the truck go round and round.”
• Daddy having some fun with Graham and the camera (23 months, 26 days old; 2 years, 1 month, 27 days old; and 2 years, 1 month, 29 days old):

• Graham and I visited a new park and Graham had a blast running along the wobbly bridge, exploring the surrounding area, going down the slides, and getting very dirty (2 years, 1 month, 29 days old):

• One of my very favorite things is seeing Graham when he gets back from an outing at the park with Daddy.  He comes running into the house at full speed and then breathlessly tells me about his day, stumbling over his words because he is so excited and trying to talk so fast.  Every time he says the same thing “had fun with Daddy, went on run with Daddy, went to park with Daddy, played ball with Daddy, went down slide, played rocket with Daddy.”  
• I’m behind on giving Graham arts and crafts opportunities because I don’t love the mess that comes along with such activities.  Graham and I have discovered magic pens and now he loves drawing in his coloring books with pens that draw clear on everything except the magic paper.  I also let him play with sidewalk chalk outside.  What a budding little artist (2 years, 2 months, 10 days old):

• The latest update on Graham’s transition to the big boy bed – I can say with confidence that Graham has officially made a full transition to his big boy bed.  Night time continues to be easy and Graham even went to bed successfully with a babysitter.  After struggling the first 3 days with Graham’s naps, we found success on our 4th try.  Basically, as long as Graham is lying down and is tucked into his blanket when I leave his room then he will stay put until he falls asleep.  When he wakes up, he usually sits on the bed for a while and will then get up but won’t leave his room until I come and get him.  His big boy bed naps have been shorter (2-3 hours instead of 3-4 hours) but as long as he continues to go right down instead of the hour struggle to get him to sleep, I am one happy mama.  Nap time and bedtime are always really sweet because Graham gives the cutest hugs and kisses before going to his room and usually finishes off with a sweet “bye bye, goodnight, I love you.”
• I’m finishing off this MAJOR catch up blog with a video of Graham solving a puzzle.  He was given the block puzzle for his second birthday and I loved it but thought it would be months before he could use the toy, but Mr. Smarty figured it out and loves showing off that he can get the puzzle to make noise when he correctly matches the two blocks (2 years, 1 month, 26 days old):