and you thought halloween was over

Guess again. You think Ahser's costume is pretty awesome and have been rockin' it daily. You spend a good part of the day following me, crawling on all fours and roaring.

buzz it-ear

You rocked a Buzz Lightyear, or "buzz it-ear" as you would say it, for Halloween. We first tried out your costume at Grandma's school carnival. Your costume must have been a hit because you won all of the best toys, including two Buzz Lightyear action figures. Although you didn't quite understand that you were at a carnival, you sure did love wearing your costume. So much so, you wore it every day after until Halloween night. 

Since the dress rehearsal was such a hit, we headed to the cousin's for the real thing. You happily trick-or-treated and took handfuls of candy from every house, even the scary ones. The next morning when you found your bag of candy it could have possibly been the best day of your life.

You also carved your first pumpkin. And by "you carved" I mean "dad carved," and you proudly supervised and took all the credit.

Halloween was a total success!

potty training

 A month ago your parents did the unthinkable, we starting potty training you. I guess you could say it was because we got fed up buying diapers for both you and your brother, or changing a two year old is not a fun experience, whatever the case, it was one loooong day. 

First, you picked out a sweet "Cars 2" potty that came suped up with a gear shifter for your entertainment.

 Next, we loaded you up with all of your favorite drinks, determined to get you to pee every 15 minutes

Last we made sure your bud George kept you company while we waited for you to do your thing.

Fourteen accidents on day 1, two accidents on day 2, and no accidents on day 3! I am pretty impressed you got most of this potty training thing down. I say "most" becuase you have yet to poop successfully on the potty. Fortunately, bed wetting is not a thing we need to worry about, you have always been pretty good at holding it while you sleep. So thankful to be beyond diapers!

mt. timp

Dad wants to get mom fit post baby brother, and he thinks you are five years older than you actually are, so we spend a lot of time at skate parks, soccer fields, and around monkey bars. You can imagine how excited he was when Nana came to visit and suggested we go hiking. So hiking we went.

Strapped you to the back and Asher to the front and trudged along Mt. Timp for several hours. A funny thing happened on that hike, momma realized maybe dad need to get fit post baby brother, and you are still a two year old that gets tired and needs a daddy's should to sleep on.

happy zipper day

I cried today. Not my usual blubbering crying where the words I am saying don't make a lot of sense.  It was a lot like two years ago today. Two years ago when I brought you home from the hospital after your big surgery. Then, I was relieved to have you in my arms again, ready for you to thrive for the first time. Now, its because I don't know that I could have imagined what I was going to miss out on had you not come home with me that day. Now its that you are not only thriving, you are a little person.

You are my toddler that spends all labor day snuggling up to a fake deer. You are  my toddler that is caught shaving his legs with my razor. You live in this world where the only food worth eating is bananas and chicken nuggets, where the hardest part of your day is when you reluctantly put every single juice box away when you are told "no more." You are my toddler that wakes up from naps naked. My toddler that cant resist a dog pile. You cry when I cry, and yell when I yell. You are my toddler that is afraid of the vacuum, my toddler that can't resist sweeping. You spend most of the day in a world where toy whales fly, and toy elephants give kisses. The thought of missing any of these moments makes me even more grateful for today, the day i got to bring you home again.

Little mister, I am looking forward to the many zipper days to come.

Love, momma

bear lake

You lucked out when the friends that invited momma and daddy to Bear Lake insisted that you tag along too. So not only did you get to come, you got to do everything the adults did. You went tubing and four wheeling, and you even got to stay up late to make s'mores.

The first day on the lake you were so anxious to get on the tube that you and daddy toppled in the lake, head first, missing the tube entirely. The cold water caught you off guard, but you were a champ, toughed it out with not a single tear, just a lot of heavy breathing. In no time you were used to the water and loving the tube, so much so we couldnt get you off it. You would say "whoa!" and "Aw shoot!" with every bump. When you weren't being tossed around you talked a lot about the "wayer" and the "beeds," in other words, the water and the birds.

Believe it or not, we made it home with no sun burns!

the zoo

Only a week after leaving St. George and your cousin Sofi, you were able to re-unite and hang at the zoo. The zoo is something we do every summer, but this year was by far the best, after all, your vocab mainly consists of animals. You thoroughly enjoyed all the animals your recognized, and wanted nothing to do with the ones you didn't. To finish the day off you and Sofi rode the merry-go-round, and I hate to break it to you, your younger smaller girl cousin was WAY less scared than you!