Noah's Favorites

I recently had to write a page about Noah for his speech therapist at school, so she would know what he is talking about and his interests. Miss Libby has commented that she keeps reading it, for she found it so entertaining. I wanted to put this in a place I could find it and with the original day I wrote it. The pic was taken on Sept 25, the same day I wrote this. Kersten had gotten home from the hosital after his surgery and Noah wanted to help Daddy feel better. I took a picture. He has been so cute and as helpful as he can be. I love my boys

September 25, 2007

Favorite Foods:
I asked him his favorite food and he said “Eeese”- Cheese, Grapes are number 2, Root Beer, he calls any soda, “Coke” so it is Root Beer Coke and sprite is green coke, orange coke, red coke etc, Fish crackers, Green Juice (apple), Cookies, Chocolate milk (he can say this so you can understand), Fruit snacks, Peanut butter sandwiches, Watermelon, cantaloupe, Strawberries and of course Cheetos. Fav candy: Swedish fish, M&M’s peanut, Skittles

Favorite Toys:
Absolutely obsessed with Star Wars, He can play Star Wars related play all day,
His blue light saber is his favorite, he calls it his “mo haw”, and his green light saber is
“Eee haw” although he can say Green better than that, He has some Star Wars figures and vehicles that he will talk about for hours in his way, Ex: Yoda, X-wing fighter plane (ee-ween), Obiwan Kenobi, Darth Vader, Luke, Anakin, Stormtroopers, Battle Droids, etc. He will pretend he has the force with automatic doors or in his pretend play.

Random fact about Star Wars: He calls his baby sister who will be born in January,
Shak –T pronounced Shock T, She is a Jedi fighter that is in the cartoon Clone Wars and first 2 movies. She is a great fighter and very powerful with the force.

He has a favorite stuffed dog named, Pal, that goes on all adventures with him. He is a grey dog. He has a high-pitched bark and we recently discovered he could fly. This is his comfort object. They are the best of friends. He tells him all his secrets and he loves to give people big lick kisses. Noah has even been known to put Pal in time out for misbehavior.

He also has always loved Trucks, especially scoop and dump trucks, He loves garbage day for a truck comes to our house. He can watch trucks work forever. He will say “Scoop and Dump” as he plays with sand and water

He loves Tools (all kinds), dinosaurs, loves to read books, Buzz Lightyear-Zurg (bad guy in Buzz), loves Trains (says choo choo), Donald Duck (thinks all ducks are hilarious), airplanes, all weapons and guns and he loves to play cooking or help make food.

Favorite Animals:
Loves dogs, because of Pal and all his grandparents have dogs,
ducks (a Donald Duck stuffed animal was his fav before Pal and they both have to sleep with him and Donald rides Pal like a horse), Fish ( has a blue beta fish that he named Ernie Fish, ask him about him), elephants, alligators, any baby animals

Favorite Games:
Pat a Cake (at the end you take it out of the oven and eat it like cookie monster), Candy Land, Rescuing mom from evil villains with dad, they go around and point at things and shoot them with lasers or guns (we never shoot at people or animals), walkie talkies, “What’s that” and describe it, He is imagining fixing things, putting them together and explosions all day long. He is playing Star wars, army, Buzz or something in his head all the time. He also like Pirates, They say "Arrgh"

Finish the Sentence

My roommate and I once: taught the boys that lived downstairs how to crochet.

Never in my life have I: changed a tire by myself. I can do it and I have, but I always had someone like my little bro or sis or a friend with me to help out a bit.

High School was: up and down. The highs and good were way up there but I also made some of the stupidest choices and mistakes in life. The best part of high school was that I found Carrie and my husband Kersten there.

When I am nervous: I pull out my hair, literally.

My hair: needs help. It is a curly, frizzy mess right now.

When I was 5: life was spent running around the neighborhood in barefeet. I was also in Nancy Hobbs preschool with all the kids in my neighborhood and had decided by then we could keep Nik, He was already 1.

When I turn my head left: I see our old kitchen table with the scatterings and makings of Shak-T baby announcements

I should be: sitting with my feet up on the couch. I do have my feet on the chair next to me if that counts.

By this time next year: Kersten will almost be graduated and we will have a 4 year old and a 9 month old, (strange)

My favorite Aunt is: This is not a fair question for I cannot chose. I love them all.

I have a hard time: with inconsiderate people. I find it so sad that everyone is so self absorbed and contained that they don't notice what is going on around them. "Yes, I am a big fat pregnant lady that should not be at the store anyway and my 3 year old is throwing a fit and I can't pick him up, could you please help me out to my car."

My ideal breakfast is: Texas toast french toast, , bacon with syrup, strawberries in milk, scrambled eggs & cranberry juice.

If you visit my home town: you would still see me. Sadly I have not moved that far from where I grew up.

If you spend the night at my house: My husband would not rest until you had eaten at least enough to fill you up. We would spend the night talking, playing games and laughing until late. In the morning Kersten would have to make a big yummy breakfast.

I shouldn't have been: so stressed out in college. I wish I would have enjoyed the learning a bit more instead of worrying about tests etc. I probably would have gotten better grades and I would not have taken the fastest way out.

Last night I: did flashcards with Noah, went and bought pink paper, watched Heroes with Kersten and had a tickle war and then read my book Scorpia (An Alex Rider Adventure) until midnight.

I've been told I look like: my mother, especially lately. It has kinda been freakin me out a bit to look in the mirror, I have even noticed this resemblence. I look a lot like my mom did when I was little. I also have been told I look like my Grandma Blanche, we have the same face shape. She is my hero and totally beautiful so I like that.

(painting is "Monarch" by William Whitaker)

What kind of Flower are you?

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."

One more thing

I woke up this morning feeling like total crap. My back hurt,my body ached, I had a migraine and my throat killed, I felt like a walking zombie. Kristin and Spencer had slept over and so I tried to stay away. We are lucky enough to have a weekend clinic and I have strep throat. What more can we handle.

Potty Training 1.2..3...

Warning, this post has the words Pee and Poo in it frequently. So if for any reason those words offend, STOP reading right now.

Noah should have been potty trained forever ago, according to me and Kersten. After all he is 3 1/2 in a bit over a week, he has started preschool and we have a new diaper bum to change in 3 months. We have talked about it, encouraged, celebrated, bribed, begged and anything else you can imagine to get him to think the potty was cool. His teacher at preschool even commented about how violent he gets when you ask him if he wants to go. Only Aunt Ginny could get hime to go on the potty on a regular basis. We asked her to move in for awhile to help out. Luckily for her, but not for us, she is right now in Europe on a month long vacation. Ginny even bought him Star Wars Galactic Heroes to earn as he goes potty. For example: he would earn Count Dooku if he made a poo on the toilet (We laughed Dooku if he made a dook)and Anakin if he made a pee. And we chose this by what ones were more desirable to him. And that stinker would stare longingly at toys in our bathroom and sigh that it was to hard. He did go about 4 months ago for 2 days to earn his Spiderman and Dr Octopus guys and after that decided he was done and never would sit on the toilet after this.

Well, we have had a breakthrough and hopefully now there is an end in sight. He saw this Rescue Helicopter at Costco and Dad talked to him about earning it for going to the Potty for 4 days. He promised he would. We made a chart when we got home and hung it on the bathroom door to put a sticker on at the end of the day. The first day went really well, we also had an egg timer in the bathroom that we set for him to go every 1/2 to hour. And when that bell went off he ran to the potty. And for more bribes, even if he did not go we would give him 3, M&M's just for trying. I mean what else can we do here people. So day number 2 arrives and Noah throws a huge fit, first thing in the morning as I escort him to the potty. He even told me to take the helicopter back and it was too hard. So Kersten figured out a compromise, he could have the helicopter pilot. He named him Hank the helicopter man. So for the next three days, in the haze of M&M's, timer bells, wet pants, two 45 minute events trying to go poo to only have a tiny lump come out and Hank the helicopter man escorting Noah to the toilet. Noah earned his helicopter yesterday. Oh it was a proud moment. This is a picture of him on the potty first thing in the morning with his helicopter. He is very aware that if he stops trying to go potty all the time, the helicopter will go in Mommy's closet untiil he is going again. Oh my, this is such a headache and he is not even close to being completely potty trained. We are trying and will continue this event. There probably could have been a better time to go hard core about this, but as I read everything it would say, "do not potty train during first trimester of pregnancy, or when big changes are going on" etc and blah blah blah and it would just frustrate me further. I totally agree with what Carrie wrote about how the mom need to be ready and commited to this also. I am clear now until the 16th of Oct to be on moderate bed rest so I figure better now than later.

Name Game

Kersten and I have been talking a lot since his surgery and we both agree that we have not found our favorite girl name for this little one yet. We have a couple we both like but neither of us love them. And I admit that I am a bit funny about names. First of all I know I am not going to have a lot of children so I want to absolutely LOVE their name.

Now, I personally LOVE, adore, cherish my sweet Noah Lawrence. I think his name is fantastic. It is a name that will help him become a man of integrity, strength, hard working with a bit of a sense of humor. Kersten also loves it, but it mostly came from me. For you see, with my sweet boy, a couple of months after we were married I had very vivid dreams about a baby boy that would be ours. In each of these dreams I would call him Noah. I knew without a doubt that someday that baby boy would be ours. Kersten worried a bit that he would not come. I would assure him that even if it was in the millineum that we would have this boy. His middle name is my Grandpa's name and he is an amazing legacy to have as part of his life.

Also with a girl, I want it to be very feminine. I love my name because it sounded like a princess, Laurie Elizabeth. I want it to be pretty and not to out there but not really plain either. I don't need her to be just a princess but I want her to be well rounded. She can play dolls and climb trees. We both don't like names that could be either a girl or a boy, for example, Kelly, Taylor, Riley etc. We also don't like names that could also be last names, Bailey, Jackson, Madison etc. We have a middle name we like that we could also use as a first name. We don't care if it is a family name but we want it to have a great meaning.

So I am sending out a plea to the blog world to give us ideas for beautiful girl names. Thanks for playing you guys

October

October gave a party,
The leaves by hundreds came -
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

- George Cooper, "October's Party"

Okay, I saw this on Kristi's blog and fell absolutely in love with it. It sang to me and made me smile and forget everything I have to do. For you see October is my favorite month and October 1st is my favorite day. For starters it actually feels like fall by now. I get all tingly thinking about the crisp air, sharpened pencils, jumping in leaves and the beauty of the mountains that surround me. Kersten and my first kiss was on October 1st and now my niece Allie has a birthday today. She is 1 years old already. So here is a little tribute to my favorite month and day. Happy October everyone. Enjoy!