Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

Oh, it's been a busy couple of weeks around the Keatts household. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly my kids grow up and how much they change; sometimes from one day to the next. Grayson's been testing his "twoness" with the word "no" and a pointed finger. Strangely enough, I really don't do that to him so I'm not really sure where he got it. There's been lots of redirection, time outs, sippy cups taken away, and even a firm hand on occasion. Okay, one occasion. The one where he bit Audrey like a half vampire/half canibal. It was followed by a 10 minute timeout that he didn't even ask to get up from. He now says "No bite" and makes a frightening "I'm going to gobble you up" noise and has luckily yet to do it again. There's always next week though...He has been talking more and more every day which again, never ceases to amaze me. He has done what a large percentage of boys do...hold it in, hold it in, speak. He has mastered many a three or four word sentence. So much fun! He's still as curious and crazy as ever but even on my most frazzled of days, I wouldn't change anything (except his inability to watch tv!). He had his 2 year appt. two weeks ago and was healthy as can be. Dr. Bergstrom is amazed at how mechanical he is! He weighs 26 lbs and is almost 35 inches. He's jumped greatly on the growth charts and is doing great!



Today was quite the day in Grayson's world. He woke up this morning and told us his paci had broke. Andy took a look at it and sure enough, he had bit through it pretty badly. Probably comes from him using it as a teether on his molars more than actually sucking on it. Anyways as Andy's getting ready (I'm almost sure of it) to offer him another one, I quickly seize the opportunity and tell him that it's broke and he's going to have to throw it away in the big garbage can outside. Now this scenario is perfect for my all-boy first born. Grayson has many loves, two of which being broken things and taking the garbage out. He will go on and on about something that has broke. The lamp shade that never would stay connected to the base, Andy's motorcycle, the Christmas tree half disassembled after he woke up from his nap, you name it. Broken things are something he understands. It probbly stems from his intense desire to fix things. He's always on the look out for things needing his services. So anyways, we came home from church, he and I went to the store, came home, ate lunch and I put him down for his nap. After maybe 30 seconds of mild fussing he was out. He didn't cry for his paci specifically and his fussing wasn't more than he would have done on a different day that he wasn't wanting to submit to sleep :) Could it be? I just know in my heart of hearts that this is the experience Grayson needed in order to be done with it. He is completely content because he KNOWS his paci broke. He didn't throw it away just because, he did it because it wasn't able to be used anymore. There's a lot of creative ways to take a paci away from a child but I knew Grayson would look at me like I was crazy if I told him squirels took them for new babies. He might just start hunting squirels after that too :) This is what my boy needed. Truly thanking God for this little thing. Oh the life of this mom, spending such a large portion of this post on pacis!

Yea! No more paci!!!

{The paci pics are from a night last week, but they were so fitting!}

Grayson also went to his new Sunday School class today! [It was WAY too big a day for mama!] Although it's been over a month since he turned two, he hasn't been to his new class except for the one time Andy and I subbed. He of course loved it that day! Today. Not. So. Much! He cried and I just had to hand him over to the teacher. He settled down until it was storytime. He didn't want to come over and it apparently got ugly from there. Needless to say, he was delivered to us in service :) Andy took him back and sat with him to show him it wasn't a big scary class after all. Grayson and I went back to get his sweatshirt and he didn't want to leave! He kept saying that he wanted to to play! Really! Now you want to?!?! Maybe next week :) He brought home papers that he "colored" (another activity G doesn't enjoy) and I ran to put them on the fridge. I know some day these papers will plague me, but for now they are too fun! I may have even took a picture, hehe. My baby is growing up!

So you may ask what Miss Avery's been up to...

Well, she's been getting up on her knees, her toes and crawling (backwards) of course!

All this momentum has lead to her trying to pull up in the crib too. She was hanging out in G's crib while I was changing him and before I knew it she was up on her knees and trying to pull up. She quickly started doing it in her crib too...time to lower the mattress.

She's EVERYWHERE! She can scootch around on her tush while sitting. I'm not really sure how, but man on man, she never stays put anymore. With this freedom comes trying to put everything in her mouth too. It's been a challenge making sure Grayson's toys that are smaller are kept out of harms way. Last night she went from her belly to sitting up! It's all happening so fast! Slow down baby, slow down! She's such a love. She's very happy most of the time. She has quite the dramatic streak and will scream shrilly when you take something away from her. She's going through a rough time sleeping. She wakes up at least once a night. She slept better at 6 weeks than she does now :( It's really hard because she wakes up Grayson and then he has a very rough time going back down. Ideally we'd be settling her back in with her paci and leaving her to cry and fall back asleep, going back in as needed. Doing this leads to two screaming kids, neither of which returning to sleep very easily. So, we keep trying our best to do what we can. I suppose that's all one can do. She's loving food and eats quite a bit for breakfast and dinner. She's nursing well and was a little over 15 lbs when I weighed her at Grayson's 2 year appt. She's gained perfectly from her last weigh in.

Well, that's what's been going on around here. As the song says, just another day in paradise :)