March 2013- Rhett 23 months old

As per usual, March gave us some beautiful weather to get outside and enjoy. We spent much of the month outdoors with the boys enjoying the warm sunshine! Justin took a short business trip to Philadelphia and came back with small miniature Liberty bells for the boys. They enjoyed ringing them loudly! :)

Some things the boys enjoyed this month: helping to make pizza for dinner with mommy (although they sneak and take the cheese and pepperonis off and eat them faster than I can keep them on), James Island County Park, Charlestowne Landing, playing at the playground, fingerprinting and painting with paintbrushes, playing dress up (fireman and Iron Patriot), and a special evening with Daddy. I had to work late one day and so Justin had the boys for dinner and afterwards. He took them to downtown Summerville to the playground and then out to dinner and stumbled right upon the Third Thursday event. They had a classic car show, live music, etc and the boys loved it!

We spent some time shopping for and planning Rhett's 2nd birthday party. Speaking of Rhett, at 23 months, he is:

-talking more and more every day. I have been keeping track of his words, and he has 100 + now. I only count a word if he repeats it and uses it the correct way so that I know that he knows the word. I don't count it if he simply repeats after me. Some new words this month: "the end", "no more", Giraffe, rock, floor, Sheep, Girl, shower, window, keys, eight, fox, poo poo (hah), third, frog, etc.

-He knows many body parts to include: toes, knees, feet, shoulders, hair, nails, belly button, elbow, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, mouth, etc.

-We are still waiting on his second molars to come in. No sign of them yet..

-While playing Hi Ho Cherry O, he began sorting the fruit by color into the containers. I had no idea he could do that! We are working on him learning to identify the colors by name. As Justin said, at least we know he isn't colorblind! :)

-He is still such a snuggle bunny. I love how affectionate he is! He gives hugs and kisses freely and unprompted. It reassures me that he is a happy guy and I know that he must feel very loved.

-We work on our ABCs and 123s every night. He has most of the alphabet down. He can almost count to 10. He seems to always want to avoid the numbers 1 and 7. He says "SIX" with such excitement!

-He and Jackson continue to have a close bond, but a lot of jealousy. They love to snuggle together at night before bed. In the mornings, Rhett brings Jackson books to read to him about Superheroes and Dinosaurs. It is adorable to hear Jackson patiently teaching Rhett...if only they could be so nice to each other all of the time! :)

Here are some photos from March 2013:

This a puddle on a side street off our our street. When it fills up with water after a rain, Jackson calls this the "Grand Canyon" and they love to go throw rocks and gravel into it.

 This sweetie always picks me flowers!

 I love rocking my baby to sleep

February 2014 and Rhett at 22 months

February was definitely a wacky month for weather. We had a big ice storm the last week of January and then an even BIGGER ice storm the second week of February that left us without power for awhile. Many places around us got it bad-they were without for a week or more! We lost power at about 1 PM and lasted until about 5 pm before we threw in the towel and got a hotel room closer to the coast. It was just getting way too cold to stay in our home that night. We made it fun and rented "Frozen" (how appropriate!) for the boys to watch and ordered takeout. Thankfully we got our power back within 24 hours. A few days later, we were playing outside in tshirts...crazy!

 In other news, the boys are really enjoying finger painting and doing arts and crafts lately. I have accumulated quite the craft collection for them...buttons, feathers, construction paper, googly eyes, Popsicle sticks, felt stickers, etc.

 I won an award at work involving surgical volume growth for a local hospital.

In April, it will be a year since I started the new j-o-b! Woohoo!

 Jackson got his first pair of laced shoes and we are working on teaching him how to tie them. Rhett picked out his new shoes for the first time and got some Spiderman shoes that light up when he walks. He loves them!

 In Rhett news-At 22 months, he:

-His vocabulary is quickly exploding! He has had so many new words this month. It's like something has "clicked" and he is talking more and more everyday. Whew! Its wonderful to hear that sweet voice all of the time now! My personal favorite phrase that he says nightly is "I love you!". Music to my ears...

-His sleep is slowly but surely getting a little better. I know age 2 was the magic age where Jackson began finally sleeping through the night. I have faith that we will get there soon with Rhett!

-Rhett had his 2nd haircut and did great...no tears this time either! He really doesn't have that much hair, but he just needed a trim around his ears.

-He is spending more time in timeout. He is a great listener, but is beginning to throw little mini fits when he doesn't get his way. I don't put him in timeout unless he tries to hit or kick something. He usually stands patiently in timeout until I tell him he can get out and say "sorry".

-I have reintroduced yogurt into his diet and basically had to bribe him to get him to try it again. I am not sure why but he wouldn't touch it for the last few months. One day I made him eat one of those squeeze yogurts with fruit and veggies in it before getting a piece of cookie. He reluctantly ate it, but now will eat one every day. Score! Since he doesn't like to eat fruit or veggies, I am glad that I can sneak them in some way.

-Jackson still has a lot of jealousy over the attention that Rhett receives. He competes with him for everything! I do hope it gets better. We are constantly telling Jackson that "it is not a competition" between he and his brother. We try to do special things with the boys individually and constantly reassure them that they are both equally special to us, but Jackson still tries to be the best at everything. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I hope it is just a phase! :)

-Rhett continue to idolize his brother and follows him around/imitates him daily. They are like yin an yang together...pretty opposite in almost every way but of course in a few ways they are similar. They are both well behaved and such sweet baby boys...We couldn't ask for more! Here are some more photos from Feb:

I hope to get better at these updates...we just got a new MacBook Pro which makes blogging SO much easier!