Easton at 2 1/2

Easton turned 2 ½ today. It is so crazy how fast time goes. I feel like Easton has grown up so much in the last ½ year. I was looking at pictures in Blair’s baby book the other day of Easton holding her when she was first born and he looks so little. A lot has happened since then and I really feel like I have a “big boy” now.

He is talking like a champ. We still have some difficulties with some words but for the most part we can communicate pretty well.
He is playing really nice with his friends these days and is even sharing his toys!
He's not being as stubborn as he has been (thank goodness!) and I feel like he is trying really hard to listen and obey.
He is praying a lot better now (he even reminds me every once in a while when I forget) and he is really starting to love to read the scriptures.
His potty training is really starting to take off. I think he is finally giving in and is pretty excited about it now. I would say more times than not he is the one to tell us that he has to go. I think he has only had one accident in the last week.

He went to the dentist today and got his first cleaning done. He did so good. He just sat there opened his mouth real wide and did exactly what the hygienist asked him to do. He was such a big boy!

I finally feel like I have my Easton back. We had a couple of hard months (basically the last 1/2 year) but I feel like my sweet little guy is back. He has his moments don't get me wrong but for the most part he is back. Just the other day he came up to me sat in my lap, gave me a big hug, kissed both sides of my checks, and said, “love you, Mommy.” I won’t lie. It brought tears to my eyes. I love this little guy and him expressing his love to me definitely made the last ½ year worth it. I think being a mom is the best thing in the world.

Other new and fun things about Easton

Nathan has taught him the game “I got your nose”. He loves it but isn’t very gentle. We are working on that. When he first learned it he would basically stick his finger up Nathan’s nose (like a hook) and yank his nose off. He is doing better these days but lets be honest it still hurts. He also likes to eat your nose once he rips it off.

He likes to sword fight. I think he got really excited about this after he watched Star Wars with Nathan. For some strange reason he has to stab you on your left arm. He will run you and him around and around in circles until you give up and let me stab you in the left arm. Nathan and I generally will fall down once he stabs us but Easton will just randomly fall down like he got stabbed even though we haven’t even touched him. He has to get kissed in order to come back alive.

He likes to feed his stuffed animals real food and drinks. He has ruined a couple of them because of this. He also likes to have his animals pretend to go potty on his made up potty chair. “Good job, Ape! You went potty!”

He is all about taking turns. “It’s mommy’s turn.” “It’s daddy’s turn.”

Along with “why” are now “huh” and “what”. He uses these when he doesn’t want to do what we ask him to do. He hears us loud and clear but likes to pretend like he doesn't. We usually come back with, “you heard me.” and then he will go and do what we asked him to do.

Luckily for us his whys aren’t dragged on and too annoying. He will usually say why about three times and after the third explanation he will just yell, “NO!” I don’t know why but at least the whys stop there (for a while anyways).
Me: “Look EE you have a football on your PJs. Remember we watched daddy play football .”
EE: “Why?”
Me: “Because he likes to play football.”
EE: “Why mommy?”
Me: “Because he plays football every Thanksgiving.”
EE: “Why?”
Me: “Because it is a tradition.”
EE: “NO!” shakes his head and walks away.

We love you EE. Thanks for bringing such joy in our family. We are definitely lucky to have you.

Blair sitting up and Easton's latests

Blair is finally sitting up! I knew she could do it but she was just so stiff that if you sat her up she would just fall over backwards. I finally figured out the trick yesterday while she was in the bath tub. If I put something in front of her between her legs, she has to bend over to reach it so then she can sit up all by herself. She sat up for a good 2 minutes in the tub before she got distracted and stiffed up and fell backwards. It's funny how kids are so different. Easton was the opposite. In the beginning he would basically fold himself in half and have to use his hands to hold himself up. I guess Blair just has abs of steel or a very strong back. She really doesn't need her hands to hold herself up (maybe for balancing).

Short video of Blair sitting up.

If she wouldn't have moved the phone she probably could have sat up for a few minutes.

Easton has wanted to feed Blair her solid foods so I let him help me the other day. He actually does pretty well. What's better is Blair loves Easton so much that she can't help but smile so big when he is around. That definitely makes it easier to get the food in her mouth. She is still having a hard time with solids and will spit it out. We started sweet potatoes this week. She definitely likes them better than the other veggies she has had previously, but she still has a hard time not spitting them out. She is definitely a messy eater. Easton was so cute the day when he helped me feed her. Blair's face was covered with sweet potatoes so Easton made his way to the table, grabbed a napkin, and came back to wipe up her face. Even though he's not the gentlest little guy he is definitely a very sweet and thoughtful little guy.

On Monday Nathan was in charge of the lesson for FHE. He taught about holding on to the iron rod. Easton thought it was the best thing to semi close his eyes and use the rod to get to the fruit (pear). He did it a couple of times that night and insisted that we all take turns. I figured that was the end of it but then last night (Tuesday) he randomly found the rod and actually closed his eyes and started at one end of the rod and pulled his way to the other end. Object lessons are so important for kids. They may not fully understand the topic that you are trying to teach them but they always remember the fun activity that goes along with the topic. I guess it all starts there and eventually they catch on and learn the lesson.

Video of Easton "holding on to the iron rod".

Plus you get an extra added bonus at the end. Enjoy!

Now that I think about it Easton has been doing this with a few of the FHE lessons we have been teaching him. I taught him about Jonah and the whale and used a big square bucket to represent the boat. I put Easton in it and moved it back and forth to represent the storm. The next day he got the bucket out and moved it back and forth himself to represent the storm. Unfortunately he moved himself back and forth too vigorously that he tipped the bucket over and it hit him in the face causing a bruise. Oops! I also taught him about fishers of men and got that same bucket out, filled it with water and play fish, and had Easton use his fishing net to catch fish. He brought me all the supplies the next night and fished while I cooked dinner.

I've been trying to do some pre-school/fun activities with Easton this last week. Now that I'm starting to figure out Blair's nap schedule and we are staying home more because of the colder weather I figured we need to have some fun activities/things to do to keep ourselves busy. Right now I'm trying to teach Easton his letters. Easton knows the ABC song pretty well so I figured he could start to recognize which letter shape goes with the letter name. We have done A-D so far. I wouldn't say that it is connecting right now but we are still having fun coloring and spending time together. Unfortunately for Easton I'm not that great of an artist. I ask him if my pictures look like what I'm trying to draw and he says, "No, Mommy." I must not be that bad though because he can tell me what the things are the following day(s) (maybe he is just like his daddy and has a good memory of what they are "supposed" to be).

Easton's tree.

I wanted to do more of a fall tree with red, yellow, and orange but I only had these two colors on hand.

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures done at JCPenny yesterday. If you care to look at them here's the link and info. http://www.smilesbywire.com Name: ASHLEY KELSEY Access Code: LTPP0285105779JCP. For those of you who wanted B&W sepia vertical we went with #E5. Those who wanted color horizontal we went with #p4. Hopefully you would have picked the same. We get to pick them up on the 30th.

Family Time

Making cake balls! I forgot to take a picture of our finished product but I think the real reason why there wasn't a finished product picture was because they were so good that they didn't last long enough for me to take a picture. Thanks Sue for the cake ball idea! It was a lot of fun.

Not that great of a video but I thought Easton did a pretty good job of crumbling up the cake. I think he did a better job of not making a mess than Nathan.



Blair chilling out while we make cake balls.


Easton ready for church in his new pea coat. Nathan got a new one as well so we are all sporting the gray pea coat (minus Blair-she has a black one).



Blair after church in one of her Christmas dresses Jana sent her. I had to put it on her now because I was worried it wouldn't fit her in a few weeks.

Dad and Easton watching Star Wars (Easton's new favorite). They watched the 4th one (first one made) on Monday night and then they watched the 5th and 6th last night. Easton was very worried about Luke falling in the 5th one that they stayed up past Easton's bed time to watch the 6th one. They HAD to watch the 6th one so Easton knew that everything was fine with Luke.

While the boys had their guy time, Blair and I had girl time in Mom and Dad's bed until we fell asleep. I know we're party animals.

Blair claws and grabs onto everything. She got a hold of Easton's hair yesterday and actually managed to pull some of it out. Easton is still bringing it up today that Blair hurt his hair/head. I would have thought he would have forgotten about it over night but apparently not.

Dad and Easton wrestling. You got to love Easton's evil laugh.




I like how he thinks it is so funny when Dad goes flying.

Easton singing B-I-N-G-O. His big dog's name is now Bingo. Nathan's worried that if we ever get a real dog that Easton's going to want to name it Bingo.

Why?

My sanity just flew out the window. The whys moved in the Kelsey household a couple of days ago and it doesn't look like they will be leaving anytime soon. Why?

Easton funnies

Easton is really enjoying his building blocks so much these days. They seem to be taking over my living room. Anytime I clean them up he comes right behind me and dumps them out again. His latest is to build airplanes. He came up with this design all by himself (pretty good huh?). He loves it when Daddy builds with him and his favorite is the animals that daddy makes for him. If I build something for him he usually takes it apart the second I hand it to him. I guess I'm not as good as Daddy. Easton is funny though. After he makes something he throws his hands up in the air and shouts, "TA DA!"

Easton sticks his tongue out when he concentrates really hard on something just like his daddy.

Video of Easton building blocks. Notice the "Ta Da!" and the tongue sticking out. Also, you can hear Blair in the background just talking away.

Easton does help clean up every once in a while. In fact just recently he will sing the clean up song while he cleans up his blocks. "Clean up, clean up. Everybody clean up." That's as far as he gets but he will sing it over and over until all the blocks are cleaned up. It is so cute.

For some reason I forgot to post this a while ago but one of Easton's now past time favorite things to do was play horsey ride. Most kids get the most joy getting rides from adults, but not Easton. You have seen him give his bear a horsey ride but his new favorite was to give daddy a horsey ride. He would get on his hands and knees, tap his back, and say, "get on daddy." Then he would crawl around the house with daddy on his back. And if daddy's really lucky he'd get a buckaroo. It was definitely a sight to see.

Easton calls everything dinner these days. "I want dinner". I'm not sure if he thinks that every meal is called dinner and he wants something to eat or if he wants a treat and knows that most nights he gets candy or a cookie after dinner. My guess is he wants a treat. Silly boy!

One of his newest sentences that he says when he doesn't get his own way is, "That's not funny, Mommy!" I honestly don't think I laugh at his misfortunes but maybe I do. I will admit that I do laugh after he says that sentence though. I mean who says that?

So Easton is stubborn and as I have said before when he has his mind set on something it is really hard to change his mind. In one of his books it clearly has a field full of sheep in the background but to Easton they are cows. He'll point to them and declare, "cow!" "No, Easton they are sheep." "No, cow!" There is no way of changing his mind. He has done this with other things as well.

Easton is getting into reading his stories to others now. He'll have you read it to him first and then he will read it back to you.

It's kind of hard to hear him but he says, "I helping Dad. I helping Mom. I helping Baby. I helping Grandma. I helping Grandpa. I helping friends."

The real story says, "I like to help my mommy, when she tidies up our home. And I like to help my daddy, if the garden's being mown." It goes on saying different things for different people. I think it is funny because it says sister but to Easton his sister is baby so he says baby. And it has a brother but he just skips over it (I guess its because it doesn't relate to him). Funny kid.

Nathan and I were able to go and hear Elder Nelson speak to the medical students and their spouses at the temple visitors center. My friend Diana was nice enough to watch Easton so that we could go. When we went to pick him up she told me that she was giving her girls a bath before bed time and that Easton was very persistent in getting into the bath too. So he took a bath with two little ladies. Can we say ladies man? Oh, and did I mention that this was his third bath/shower that day? He insisted on getting into the shower with me earlier that morning and right before we left he drew all over his legs with markers so I threw him in the bath quickly before we left. If I would have known that he was going to get a bath over at the Caffee's then I might not have bothered. Boy does this kid love baths.

The joys of potty training...

If you don't like to hear stories about potty training then this post is not for you. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

We definitely have our ups and downs when it comes to potty training. There have been a few very successful and amazing days where there were no accidents and Easton actually told us a couple of times that he had to go (#2 included). If only every day could be like this (someday right?) Then there are other days where he has accident after accident after accident. I know this is supposed to happen and I know this is how they learn, but I often times feel he knows and he is just being plain stubborn.

I mean the other day he was in the bath tub (I was out in the hallway changing Blair) and he poops in the tub. I know he knows this isn't okay and what bothers me is #1 he didn't tell me (I was right there) and #2 he knows how to get in and out of the tub and the toilet is almost touching the bath tub it is that close. WHY WHY WHY? And then today he's supposed to be taking a nap. He knocks on the door (this is never a good thing) and I open it to a room smelling of poop, a toddler without underwear on, and him holding his poopy underwear. I guess the one good thing that came from all this was all the poop was still in his underwear (it definitely could have been worse-right Aleese?).

I really want to know where Easton thinks that he has to conserve toilet paper. I definitely don't believe in wasting toilet paper but if I had to lean towards using too much over too little I will stick with using too much. For some strange reason Easton must be out for the world record of using the least amount of toilet paper as you can. He'll take the very corner off of one square of toilet paper (imagine pinching off a piece of toilet paper) and try to wipe himself. Okay did he not just realize that he got more on his hands then on the teeny tiny piece of toilet paper? We have tried to teach him but I think once he has his mind set on how he thinks things are supposed to be it is really hard to change his mind (have I mentioned stubborn before?) He does this to wipe his nose too.

I really do love Easton. He is a lot of fun and a really funny kid to be around. My life is definitely never boring with this little guy around.

Blair at 5 months

Blair turned 5 months a few days ago but we (excluding Nathan) have been sick and I just haven't gotten around to taking any pictures of her until yesterday but then I was too tired to post.

Blair is such a funny little girl. We really have a hard time getting this little girl to laugh (most of her laughs seem almost fake or forced)but randomly the other night Easton kept holding up different sea shells in front of her and asking her, "What's this?" and she was just laughing up a storm. It was past her bedtime so maybe she had what my family refers to as the "winkies". In any case it was the best laughs we have ever heard from her and she hasn't done it since. It is just too bad that we didn't get it on tape.

Blair definitely has the little sister thing down. Just these last few weeks anytime Easton starts crying she just gets the biggest grin on her face. Apparently she thinks it is the best thing in the world for her big brother to get hurt or get in trouble. On the other hand though she absolutely adores Easton. She just watches him all day long. It is kind of nice to have free entertainment for Blair.

So I thought Blair would be sitting up and possibly creeping here shortly but that must have been a fake out. She seems very content now to just lay on her back and move her body from one place to another (very slowly of course). She is back to hating tummy time and will roll over as soon as you put her on her tummy. When we practice sitting up she will arch her back and kick her feet so that she doesn't have to be sitting up anymore. Silly girl!

She still absolutely hates rice cereal. I gave up trying after about 2 weeks thinking she just wasn't ready for solids. I tried again a week later and it was the same thing. I would put it in her mouth and she would spit it right back out. I figured I would try peas out instead and see how that turned out. She at least tolerates them but I wouldn't say she likes them. I have come to the conclusion that this little girl is just picky. She won't drink from a bottle and she tries really hard not to eat solid foods either. She just prefers her mommy (every two hours almost to the dot-that is when she isn't sleeping of course). If she's this picky now I really don't want to see how she will be in 2 years...

Video of eating peas for the first time. She's tired and was already tortured with rice cereal before this video was taken.

If there was an award for the baby with the most blowouts it would be Blair hands down. We have tried a few different brands and different sizes but nothing seems to work. Most of the time there isn't much but for some reason that little bit always finds its way out of her diaper and up her back. At this point I'm not sure who I do more laundry for Easton and his potty training accidents or Blair and her blowouts. Its probably about the same. The main reason I bring this up is (if you didn't notice) she is wearing two different outfits. This is because she had a blowout while taking these pictures.

Blair is sleeping way better at night these days. The last couple of weeks she's been sleeping anywhere between 9-10 hours at night and it is wonderful!

We just love this little girl and can't get enough of her.

Personal Prayer

Nathan was helping Easton with his personal prayers this evening. Half way through...
Nathan: Thank you for Blair.
Easton: Thank you piggy piggy piggy.
Someone please explain to me what is going through this little boy's mind.

Stitches?

Nathan and Easton are off to the ER right now to see if Easton needs stitches. He was on the arm of the couch and fell off hitting the back of his head on the TV stand. Why don't kids listen to you when you tell them not to sit on the couch that way? I mean mom's always knows best. Of course there was blood and it looks kind of deep. Hopefully I will get an update here shortly.

If you remember last November Easton got stitches as well. I guess Easton and the month of November don't get along. I'm just hoping this won't be an on going tradition for this little Frankenstein of mine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It it now 12:30 am and Nathan just texted me saying that they cleaned Easton up and he will for sure need stitches. I can't believe how long they have been waiting in the ER. They left our house at 5:30 pm. Poor Easton. I bet he is so tired and it is only the beginning. I feel really bad for Nathan too because he has to get up at 4 am to be at the hospital by 6 am. Maybe he can call in and take the day off for a family emergency.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nathan and Easton got home at 3:40 am (10 hours later). I seriously can't believe that it took them so long to see and treat Easton in the ER. Easton ended up with 6 stitches. When they got home Easton let me put pj bottoms on him but he then walked straight to his bed and fell asleep. It was definitely a long night for them. Nathan called in asking if he could take the day off and the lady said, "Do what you think you need to do?" Okay cranky lady who obviously doesn't have any children what is that supposed to mean? Do you need him or not? (Yes, I admit I am cranky myself). In any case Nathan is in bed asleep. I'm glad because I was a little worried about him driving to and from the hospital on only 2 hours of sleep (he luckily got a nap yesterday afternoon).

Halloween parties and awards ceremony

On Friday we had a busy day. We started it off by going to our wards play group Halloween Party. Nathan surprised us by showing up (which is always nice but was especially nice since Blair was tired and fussy so one of us held Blair while the other one got to help Easton out with crafts). Easton surprisingly wanted to wear his costume into the church but once he got inside and realized he couldn't pick anything up and couldn't run around with the other kids he wanted it off. I made him put it back on when everyone was getting a group shot. I'm not sure this was the best idea now. Easton had his hands inside his box and buzz lightyear decided he was going to fly into Easton and take him down. Easton looked like a falling tree. He couldn't get himself back up once he fell down. He was flaring his legs and crying/screaming. It was pretty sad. I even had a hard time trying to get him back on his feet. I guess next year we will have to let Easton decide what he is going to be.

It is hard to see in this picture but Easton is Roaring (apparently he is a killer Lego?) We really should have made him a lion or tiger. It would have been a little more fitting since he wouldn't stop roaring.

Buzz lightyear going in for the kill.

We didn't stay for the entire time at the party because we had to leave to make it to Nathan's school for his awards ceremony. We were late for Nathan to practice but made it there just in time for the ceremony itself. Nathan got an award for his surgery rotation last year.

Later that night we had our ward's trunk or treat. It was a tri ward trunk or treat. The Spanish ward had a couple pinatas for the kids to hit. It was a little dangerous because the sticks kept breaking. The first one that broke went straight for Nathan's head. Good thing Nathan has mad reflexes otherwise I probably would have had a decapitated husband. Easton was first in line to hit the second pinata. He took the stick and swung like a champ at the pinata (too bad the pinata was about 3 feet above his head). Nathan tried to help him with his second swing but Easton wouldn't have it. He threw the stick down and ran the other direction crying (I have no idea what that was about). When we left to go home we went to pack up our pumpkins and realized we had won scariest pumpkin. We're still not sure if it was Frankenstein or Elmo that was the scariest (they really should have specified).

On Saturday we went to a birthday party and then later that night we went over to the Presley's house to hang out. We were going to take Easton trick or treating around their neighborhood but Easton refused to but his costume on. I think he had more fun playing with the kids in the basement.

Buddies?

Easton is really enjoying Blair these days. I think he has finally figured out that he can kind of interact with her and have fun. He plays peak a boo with her, will every once in a while give her a toy to play with (this is big since he doesn't share his toys with anyone), hold her, hug and kiss her, and his newest is to try and wrestle or body slam her. Luckily he isn't too rough with her and most of the time she just smiles and thinks it is funny or at least tolerates it. I still get worried though.

Sharing his cars.

Trying to wrestle with Blair.

Video of Easton body slamming Blair.