Noah and His Buddies

Noah just loves hanging out with his friends in the neighborhood. We usually see them a few times a week and always has such a good time, especially with his buddies Hannah and Clayton. Here is a picture of the three of them the last time we got together.

If there were little thought bubbles over each of their heads in this picture, here is what they would say.

Hannah: Mom? Why do Noah and Clayton always act so crazy?

Clayton: These crackers are tasty, can I have some more?

Noah: I am totally NUTS!

And, just in case you are wondering, Noah and Clayton are still very tight. They had a week or two of squabbling - Jan and I joked that they sounded like an old married couple fighting with each other - but yesterday they were back to their lovey-dovey selves. See...

The Adventures of Thomas, Lady, and the Evil Diesel 10

Bebe came to see us this weekend and Noah had a great time visiting with her and getting spoiled! She played with his trains and cooked him dinner and brought him presents and gave lots of hugs but I think his most fun part of the weekend was the morning we spent at our neighborhood playground.

Even though it was pretty cold outside, we ventured to the playground in hopes of using up some of Noah's energy. We figured he could run and slide and we could chat while watching him. But Noah had other ideas.

Because there were no other children there, Noah thought we should be his entertainment. He wanted us to chase him under, over, and onto all the playground equipment, which as you can tell from the picture, is hard to do if you are over 36 inches off the ground. Finally he settled for just playing chase around the perimeter of the playground which worked out well and Bebe was perfectly game to run after him. Then he upped the ante...

A little back story. Noah's imagination is taking off! All of the sudden he likes to play pretend and his favorite game of pretend is to pick one of the story lines from a Thomas book and insert himself into the action. So, he decided that Bebe would be the evil train, Diesel 10, who was chasing him with her giant claw. He was of course Thomas, and ran around screaming, "Don't get me Diesel, don't get me!"

Then he decided that I had to be Thomas' friend, the beautiful and elegant Lady Train. (I don't remember if the book describes her as beautiful and elegant but I like the way it sounds so...)

Anyway, so Diesel chased Lady and Thomas around the playground for a LONG time. So long that even Noah - he of unlimited energy - started to get a little tired. But don't worry, he had a solution for that too.

He informed me that it was time for Lady to carry Thomas and save him from Diesel. I cut the game short after that. Lady and Thomas pushed Diesel off the bridge into the sludge (i.e. down the slide into the bark) and the trains were safe at last!

All that running and you would think that a long nap was a given, right? Wrong! That'll teach us to try and "get his energy out".

Crunchy Shoes and Little Theives

So last night Noah and I were getting ready to go to the grocery store and he totally pitched a fit when I tried to put his shoes on him. This was, like, the third time that day and the fourth day in a row that this has been an issue so I flat out asked - kind of screamed - "what is the problem with putting on your shoes?"

"These shoes are too crunchy mama!"

Well, it must be my Mom super abilities, but I was able to figure out that what he meant by that was, my shoes no longer fit and crush my toes. Well, then I felt horrible so I totally let him wear his elephant rain boots (the only non-crunchy shoes, according to him) to the grocery store and then straight to the mall to get some new shoes. Sure enough he was the next size up and I felt even worse for ignoring it as long as I had. Hopefully he won't have terribly deformed feet or anything.

Long story short, Noah loved his new shoes and wanted to run around in them (because they are running shoes like Daddy's) so we ran around the mall and ended up at Target where he got to pick out a new train. He picked a package that had two of Thomas' caboose cars, Annie and Clarabel. He was so excited to get them and in such a good mood that I let him go to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Finally he asked if we could ride the cars (the mall has a grouping of 4 or 5 of those cars that you put a quarter in and ride) and since he had been so good I said, "sure, why not?" He was very excited to take Annie and Clarabel to the cars.

We headed to the cars and he climbed in the pink bus (with BOTH trains, I might add) and pretended to drive - he doesn't realize what putting a quarter in them does and I have no desire to show him! While we were playing a couple stopped with a little girl - probably 4 years old - and as Noah got out of the pink bus she got in. He headed to the red car and as he was climbing in I heard the little girl's parents telling her it was time to leave and they headed down the hall to the exit. Suddenly Noah said, "Oh! I left Annie and Clarabel in the bus, I go get them!" He jumped out of the red car and over to the bus and I waited for it.

"Mama, where is the other one?" Sure enough, only one train was in there. The little girl had walked off with it, I was sure. I was not angry at her, but very angry that her parents had allowed her to walk off with a toy that was obviously not hers, especially since we were standing 2 feet from them and they could have asked if it belonged to us. Of course at this point Noah's lower lip is sticking out to Texas and he is starting to wail for Clarabel. Then I got really angry and grabbed his hand and said, "Come on!"

I took off running towards the exit after that family. We burst into the parking lot and I started looking for where they might have gone. I was going to get that train back and I didn't care if I looked crazy doing it! But, alas, they were gone and I had to hold Noah in the parking lot why he wailed for Clarabel. I tried to explain to him what had happened and why it is so important to keep track of our toys. He nodded, with tears running down his face, and said, "That kid took my Clarabel away and now I am sad."

I think my heart split in half.

I literally almost started crying too. Watching your child face disappointment and heartbreak, um, yeah, it sucks. And Noah is only two. Just think what it will be like when some teenage girl breaks his heart one day. I guess I will have to track her down and attack her in a parking lot too.

The Pirate Park

Today Noah and I joined some friends for an outing to the Pirate Park on Daniel Island. It has a giant pirate ship to play on so I'm sure that's where the name comes from. Noah had so much fun running around with Clayton and Hannah. He did all the "big boy" slides and the three of them had a blast on the tire swing.

A couple funny Noah anecdotes.....

First, I don't think that I have to worry about him sticking up for himself. Today, he was seated at the top of the slide ready to go down when an older boy, who has an impatience problem, pushed him down the slide. Of course I started to step in to scold him for pushing but I didn't have to say anything at all. Noah stood up, brushed the sand off his butt, put his hands on his hips, and yelled, "Hey! You DON'T push me!" I was quite proud.

Afterwards, while we were eating lunch, Clayton's Mom, Jan, was asking the kids what their favorite part of the playground was. The girls both responded with answers like, the slide, the swings. Then she asked Noah what he liked the best.

"I liked the trains."

Umm, there are no trains at the Pirate Park. As usual, off in his own world.

Playgroup

Yesterday we had all the neighborhood kids to our house for playgroup. There is a group of us that have been meeting a few times a month, rotating houses, and it has been really fun. Noah loves seeing all his friends and I love seeing mine!

For this one, because it is one of my personal favorites, I got a cookie cake and we made the playgroup Valentines themed. Poor Noah. From the time we picked that cake up at 2:00, to the time people started coming at 4:30, all I heard was, "Mama is it time for cake?" He even stood guard by the cake once I set it up, to make sure he got the first piece I guess.

Everyone showed up and Noah did indeed get the first piece! We played outside for a little while and then headed in when it started to get cool. Noah was sad to see "the kids" leave - he always has a blast playing with his friends!

Noah's friend Hannah rides bikes in the driveway - she is very good at bike riding - she will have to teach Noah!

Noah really enjoyed playing with bubbles.

Everyone enjoys the cookie cake - and some wine for the mommies!

"I need my glasses!"

Lately, when Noah wakes up in the morning he has a new routine. He doesn't want to open his eyes because the "light hurts them". So he makes Wes close all the blinds and turn off all the lights before he will come out of his room. The only problem is that he likes to watch cartoons while he eats his breakfast and the light from the TV was bothering him. So he came up with the following solution himself.

Now he shouts, "I need my glasses!" and proceeds to watch 5 to 10 minutes of TV in an old pair of Wes' Oakleys. I guess he's good at problem solving!

A Big Girl

Last night Noah and I headed to the gym to meet Daddy so that Wes and I could get in our scheduled run. Noah played in the nursery and Wes and poured out some sweat on the treadmill and then we all headed home. (Rockin' Friday night...don't be too jealous.)

So, we get home and obviously all need to shower but it is almost Noah's bedtime. Wes suggested that instead of doing bath, Noah could just join him in the shower (his new favorite thing is to take a shower). Noah got very excited at that prospect and squealed, "We all takin' a shower!"

I informed him that the shower was too little for all of us to fit. Wes said, "Just Noah and Daddy tonight, little man."

Noah walked down the hallway with a contemplative look on his face. Finally he turned and pointed at me.

"Mama's a big girl."

I started to smile and say, yes a I'm a big girl and will take a shower all by myself. But he wasn't done yet.

"Mama's a big girl, she not fit in the shower."

Gee, thanks man.

Bath Time Fun

I haven't been doing much blogging lately because, quite frankly, we are pretty boring right now. I didn't even have any cute pictures to post...until now!

This past Saturday Noah went over to Clayton's house and spent the evening playing with her and her cousins. He had a blast and did not want to leave at bedtime. Being the nice person that she is, "Ms. Jannie" invited him to stick around for bath time. You would have thought he had died and gone to heaven. Getting to take a bath with all your friends? Noah didn't know such fun existed! Despite that he and Clayton were being their usual crazy selves, they paused long enough for Jan to get some cute pictures.

I can't wait to bust these pictures out when they are teenagers!