Holden's world.

Here is what is going on in the life of Holden at 2 years + 3 months.

Even at 2 years he can still be quite the cuddle bug. A couple of times a week, during Paxton's morning nap, Holden and I will watch a cartoon together. He will sit in my lap, snuggled close and covered in a blanket (even if it's 104 outside!). He thinks he NEEDS the cubbers (he calls the blanket covers or cubbers). I think physical affection might be one of his love languages. We shall see as he gets older. He also loves to sit in a lap and have you read book after book to him. The boy LOVES to be read to and will sit for a good 30 minutes listening to story books.

This was a particular day that he wasn't feeling well. Notice the sock monkey.

I know I've mentioned how much he loves his sock monkey. And it's extra special in my mind since that was his Adoption Day gift from Jeremy and I. (I have Paxton's saved in the top of my closet just waiting for his special day!) But Holden sometimes does with monkey whatever we do with he or Pax. Sometimes he feeds the sock monkey from his sippy cup. Sometimes he lift his tail to check and see if he's poopy.

And on this particular day he decided to play airplane with the sock monkey. He makes us laugh . . .alot.

Holden just talks up a storm! It's constant. He repeats everything. We have real conversations. I love it! He is constantly amazing me by what he has to say and the way he is putting sentences together (even correctly sometimes!)

He can count to 10. Though he normally skips right over 6. And he does best when it's his own idea and he thinks no one is listening. It sounds some thing like: won, tooooo, fwee, foh, fibe, yeben, ate, nine, ten! You get my drift? It just sounds cute.

He loves to sing. Jesus Loves Me. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. our Good Morning Song (the same one my mom always sang to us girls). I picked him up from the church nursery after morning Bible study several weeks ago. His class was sitting in a circle singing Jesus Loves Me. He was in a teacher's lap (because he LOVES to be held) and his back was to me as I entered the room. I could hear his little voice above the entire group of children. Melted my heart.

He has decided that he will eat salad, as long is there is dressing. I have been trying out several salads and he really seems to enjoy them. Taco salad. Spinach/strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing and pecans. Asian slaw salad. He is just loving him some salad. Thankful that others were right when they told me his refusal to eat veggies was only a stage. I think we are coming out of it. He won't eat everything at this point, but I can tell he is becoming more open-minded in the area of food.

I have started to let him dress himself. You can see that he doesn't always get it on just right. So he normally has a little help from Jeremy or I.

He loves the water. Whether it's bath time, the water park, a sprinkler or me just washing my hands. With me washing my hands, he completely invades my personal space. Wait. Who am I kidding? Trying to pretend that I still have such a thing as personal space. Not so.

He's tall! And everyone seems to think he's 3. Some people thought this before he ever turned 2. I bought some 3T jeans for the fall at a consignment sale. They fit him perfectly right now. Meaning if he grows between now and cool weather time, they will be high waters. 4T at age 2? Surely not. He's my long-legged, skinny boy.

He is now understanding rules. We now recite rules regularly in the car before going somewhere. This way he knows my expectations. It's a new little tip from a new friend. And in public, he normally behaves really well. He usually chooses to throw his fits in the privacy of our home, which I think is really considerate of him. I mean, at least he spares me some embarrassment. I'm only kidding (sort of). But the other day, I took the boys grocery shopping and they didn't have a big cart for us. Like the kind that have multiple seats for children. So when we ran out of room in the cart, Holden had to walk with me up and down the aisles. My goodness, he even impressed ME. He never left my side. I left the store so proud of him. Even the cashier told me how good my boys were. I laughed. Not because they aren't good, little boys. But they ARE children and she caught us at an especially good time.

Well, that is a little update on the life of Holden. 2 truly is a fun age. Oftentimes challenging. And oftentimes reminding me that I'm not really cut out to do this on my own. But what a blessing it is to watch this little boy grow, develop and learn new things. I couldn't be more proud to be his mommy! And every day I am so thankful that God gave us this gift.