Watch Out!

So, way back when Jeremiah was little (when we were in Michigan in August), he was given a PowerWheels dump truck type thing. It was a hand-me-down from Scott, and apparently just taking up space in Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane's garage-- so we took it off their hands! We put Jeremiah on it then, and when we pushed the gas pedal down, he freaked out, cried, and wanted nothing to do with it anymore!

However, he was just a little 18-month-old back then. The PowerWheels spent the next 7 months in our basement while Jeremiah did some growing up. NOW, he is a big 2-year-old, and watch out! Move your parked pick-up trucks because we have a driver on our hands! He's leaving the tricycle behind and moving on to bigger and better things.


He was given some pointers and advice by daddy, and then he was ready to go! He really likes the dumping feature (so much, in fact, that he is often turned around pulling the lever while driving forward....). So far he has run into the "nay-ver's kick-up" 3 times, Daddy's car once, and Mommy's car once. He also ran over and dragged his mower. So when I said watch out, I meant it! :) He's pretty proud of himself, though!


The CB radio (is that what they are called?) is also popular-- Daddy taught J how to say "Ten Four." So Jeremiah said, "One-Four, Meema!" (because that is who he talks to on the phone!) and then proceeded to use the CB to push the gas pedal down.


Whew. Then it was time for a break.


Thanks, Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane-- Jeremiah loves it! :)

"Daddy mow!"

Well, the long awaited day finally arrived! Jeremiah has been waiting for what seems like FOREVER for this (okay, maybe it has just been all winter, which really was pretty short this year... but still. To a 2 year old, it was forever!).

Since the weather has been so nice, Jeremiah has been LOVING the outdoors (see previous post about playing outside!). This weekend was an exciting weekend for 2 reasons-- first, Grandma and Grandpa Wissink came down and on Saturday we went and picked out a sandbox! Needless to say, Jeremiah LOVES it and would spend the entire day in it if we let him. Mommy is going to have to get used to sandy feet in the house, I think.

He got to play in it last evening, and then his very first words on the way home from church were, "Play sandboxes!" He went down for his afternoon nap with the promise that we could "play sandboxes" again after nap!

And reason #2-- Daddy mowed the lawn for the first time! And it was time, with our warm weather and the rain last week things are definitely green and growing around here. I love that! As much as I hate winter, I do believe that it gives you such an appreciation for spring! :) Jeremiah was SO excited when Daddy got the mower out today-- he usually supervises from the front step while Daddy does the front yard. Here's a video of J's reaction to the mower starting up! :)

Then, in the backyard he decided to supervise from the sandbox.


We have one happy boy on our hands! :)

Playing Outside!

To say that Jeremiah likes playing outside is a huge understatement! I mean, HUGE. The kid would live outside if we let him. This entire week has been gorgeous-- sunny, and mid 70s to low 80s.... just perfect. Every day this week Jeremiah has thrown a fit when leaving daycare-- the reason? They were playing outside! And he does not want to do anything except play outside! And if Mommy or Daddy takes him home, they might actually want to go in the house! Can you imagine? As soon as he does get home, he wants to go get the mail and then get out his bike or his shovel or "sumpeen else" and play outside. Also, the guy down the street has a motorcycle, so that is a huge draw as well.

This afternoon it was beautiful once again, so Adam got a bit of yard work done, with the help of his sidekick.



Quit standing around!

While the boss wasn't looking, Jeremiah hopped on his bike and took off!


Go go go! He's still not looking!

Still not quite sure of the pedals, but he's getting pretty good at pushing himself around! Every once in awhile he puts his feet on the pedals and says, "I'm twyeen!"

And we even broke out the sidewalk chalk today, too.

Yep, he totally wrote that all by himself. What can I say? He's smart.

I know how the weather in Iowa can be in March, so I know snow and cold could still happen. BUT, I sure hope it stays nice-- we will have one sad little boy if he can't go play "aside." And I love that my little boy likes to run and play and get dirty and put rocks (and maybe a piece of dog poop or 2) in his dump truck. So we're hoping the nice weather sticks around!

TWO!

How can my baby be TWO?!?!?!?!? Seriously. The past 2 years have just flown by, and I am amazed at how our little man has grown and changed and turned into a little boy! Seems like he skipped the toddler stage altogether and went straight from baby to kid! So sad for this mommy. Anyway, this weekend, instead of being sad and thinking about how my baby is growing up... we celebrated our BIG 2 year old!!!! Lots of family came to town to celebrate with us.

Friday Jeremiah got to celebrate his birthday at daycare with treats!

Thank you Pinterest.

Michelle, our daycare provider, kindly texted me this pic of the birthday king enjoying his treat. :)


Meema and Grampa Wiers arrived just in time for dinner at Panera with us! I wish I had my camera when Jeremiah watched Meema walk up the sidewalk-- excitement isn't a strong enough word! :)

Saturday was the big day! J awoke to a Happy Birthday sign and b-day balloons.


After breakfast, we headed downstairs so that J could see one of his presents from Meema and Grampa Wiers-- his very own kitchen!

He made popcorn, vegetables, coffee, bacon & eggs.... and made sure to bake everything in the oven. He loves his new kitchen!

Then we were off to Jordan Creek Mall so that Jeremiah could experience the Build-A-Bear Workshop. This kid loves his stuffed animals-- you can tell by the way he chews on all of their noses!

He picked out a doggie (surprise, surprise)!

Clutching his doggie and watching how the lady put the stuffing inside...

Then J got to push the pedal while she put stuffing inside his doggie!


Doggie got a bath...


And then it was time to pick out clothes and accessories. Wow. That's quite the process! J ended up picking a Chicago Bears uniform (complete with helmet and football). Daddy carefully dressed the doggie...

Meema and Grandpa Wissink, Aunt Rachel, and Kobe arrived while we were in the bear-building process. J was so excited to see them! He got a great big hug from his cousin Kobe!

We then christened the doggie "Max," printed the birth certificate, and were on our way! After lunch at Chick-Fil-A, we headed home for a nap for the birthday boy-- it was quite a morning.

After a nice nap, it was time for presents (that's Max, the Chicago Bears dog sitting in the dump truck)!


Opening up tractors from Aunt Rachel, Uncle Kelly, Kyan, and Kobe!

He got a kitty-cat keyboard from Aunt Abby and Neil (oh, they arrived during naptime!).

And he loves rocking out with the guitar he got from Uncle Matt, Aunt Cheryl, Josie, and Evan! I'm not going to lie, Daddy and Mommy have also played a few tunes on the keyboard and guitar.


He's blurry because he's dancing!

He got a cool talking tractor from Meema and Grampa Wissink!

And a cool remote control car from Meema and Grampa Wiers!


After presents we went out for dinner to The Pizza Ranch! Although this was our Plan B (we hope to try Zombieburger someday when there is not an hour and 45 min. wait!), it was yummy food as always!

Abby and Neil obviously approved (Neil was a first-timer).

Once we got home, it was time for cake and the singing of "Happy Birthday!" If you know Jeremiah, you know that he is quite happy to be the center of attention. This was no exception. HERE is a video!


"Enough with the pictures, just give me more cake!"

It was quite the day of fun and celebration for our birthday boy! Sunday was a bit more low-key, which was good for all of us. Meema and Grampa Wissink, Aunt Rachel, and Kobe headed back to Sioux City in the morning. After church and lunch, Meema and Grampa Wiers headed back to Wisconsin. J was sad to say good-bye, but was consoled by the fact that Abby and Neil were going to stay until Monday!

Sunday night we introduced Abby and Neil to Smokey D's. I think Neil is in love. Not with Abby, but with the food we have here in Iowa.

In order not to embarrass Neil, I am refraining from posting the AWESOME pic we got of him enjoying his ribs. You're welcome, Neil.

I took Monday off (yes, I know it was President's Day-- my school views holidays like this as prime opportunity for torturing teachers with professional development. Too bad I was "sick"). I took J to the doctor for his 2 year check-up! And yes, it is official. We have a big boy. I was surprised though, that he is "only" in the 89th percentile for height at 35 and 3/4 inches tall. He is also in the 98th percentile for weight at 35 lbs-- this was not so surprising. The dude is heavy! The nurse asked all of the normal questions about J's development and kind of chuckled when she got to the last one-- "Does Jeremiah use at least 6 words?" (SIX?!?!?!? Are you kidding me?!?!?!?) She laughed and said, "It's more like 6 word sentences for him!" Yeah, he's verbal. J also got his second Hep A vaccine (ouch, but the band-aid made it somewhat better) and a finger-prick for lead testing (or something like that). He has NEVER been a fan of this test, and neither have I. I would hate to have my finger poked and then squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed until the proper amount of blood is in the vial. Sheesh. He was a trooper, though, and only really cried when she poked his finger. The entire way home he was saying, "Band-aid. Good boy!"

We said good-bye to Abby and Neil and then enjoyed spending the rest of the day together (we did our normal standard things-- a trip to Target, the library, and even a quick walk around the block)!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jeremiah!!!! We love you!!!

My Baby

I always (okay, well, for the past 2 years) get sentimental around this time of year! 2 years ago I looked like this:


And on the 18th of February 2010, we were introduced to this:


And if I let my mind wander and remember 2 years ago, I just can not wrap my mind around how that little baby has turned into this KID!


It makes me sad, and happy, and proud, and nervous, and and and.... all at the same time! I know that everyone always says, "Oh, the time just goes by so fast!" And now I understand exactly what that means! But it's almost depressing how fast the time really does go!

I even think back to just last year. This guys was celebrating the big 1!



He wasn't even walking! And hardly saying a thing (I think "ball" was about it!)! What was that like? I can't even remember! :) Now we have ourselves a walking, running, jumping, talking, repeating, laughing, mischief-loving little boy on our hands. How can my baby be almost 2?

Jeremiah, you bring us so much joy and laughter every single day (and sometimes some frustrations...). :) We love you so much and are so proud of the little boy you are!

P.S. Stay tuned for a post in the next couple weeks about the birthday celebration and the 2 year stats! Any one want to place bets on what height percentile J is in? :)

Jeremiah-isms

So, apparently nothing has been going on here lately since I have not blogged in almost a month! And unfortunately, that is totally true.... kinda boring around here! Don't worry, though, our little guy has not stopped being cute. Mommy has just gotten lazy about capturing the cuteness. BUT, with birthday number 2 fast approaching, I wanted to put down some of the phrases that we hear most often from J. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes it's not-- but either way I will want to remember them! :) And yes, our very verbal little boy is speaking mostly in 3-4 word phrases. So, here are a few of my favorites!

"NO Moesha! Own food ober dare!" (pointing to Molly's food dish). His name for Molly is Moesha-- this morphed from when he was not speaking too clearly and Molly sounded like "Moe-eeee." And this phrase is often said when J is carrying around a cookie or cracker and Molly is all up in his face.

"Don't yike it? Sumpeen else!" We hear this often in the car. He will play with something for oh, 4 seconds, and then pipe up with this lovely phrase. He is very disappointed when there is no "sumpeen else."

"Bock-a-bye, Dadddyyyyy!!!!" Okay, this one is cute and not cute. Cute, because he wants to rock in the chair with Daddy! Not cute at 2 am.

"Hideen! Hideen! (giggle giggle)." This one he says when he is trying to avoid something (bath time, putting shoes on, etc). He says this while standing against a wall in plain site. :)

"Hold you...carry you!" He says this when he wants to be held or carried (obviously).

"Was dat?" Said when pointing to pretty much anything.

"Burped!... cue mees." Also said after tooting.

And HERE is a short video of J singing one of his favorite songs from Yo Gabba Gabba (yes, he still loves that show... we now DVR all the episodes. He has his favorite ones-- this song is from one of them!). The words are "Treasure! Ooooohhh! It doesn't have to be silver or gold, it can be something new or old..." in case you can't understand him!

And a few pics from the last few days:

Mastering the art of saying "Cheese!"



A photographer already! For some reason this pic reminds me of my Dad... I think it's the sweatpants.


"Helping" Mommy bake zuchinni bread-- licking the beaters is serious business!


And as you can tell by some of the pics and video where he has his fingers in his mouth-- we are STILL working on those darn 2 year molars! What a pain (literally)!

Ringin' in the New Year Toddler-Style

Hi everyone! Now that I am singing my ABC's and stuff, my mommy finally let me get my hands on this blog. It's about time, right? I'm the one you all want to hear from anyway!

So, my New Year's Eve was pretty ca-RA-zy for a guy of 22 months. We started it off in the afternoon with a little walk in the 50 degree weather. I do not know what is up with this Iowa weather! But I like it because I love going for walks! As we got closer to my house, I kept saying "No! No! No!"


In the evening, I went downtown with my mommy and daddy. We checked out something called "ImaginEve," which was a free event at Hy-Vee Hall. There were lots of inflatable jumpy things, long lines, and crazy kids running around. We didn't stick around very long!

Here I am, ready to party the night away with mommy and daddy (as you can see, I had my phone close by, just in case I got any better offers for the night!).

Then we met up with my buddy Tristan and his cousins at All Play. I didn't know exactly what this place was, but I figured with a name like "All Play" I would probably like it. I was right! My mommy and daddy are so silly, though. I don't know why they bother to pay for games and stuff, when I am perfectly happy running around pushing buttons! My mommy played about 6 games of Ski-ball, though.

Buttons!

Oh, my daddy played some Ski-ball, too. I pushed buttons.

Then I decided to help my daddy-- see that ball behind me? I threw that! Pretty good, right?


My favorite thing was practicing my driving!


My daddy even took me on a motorcycle ride! I thought that was really cool! And as you can see, I do not look like my daddy at all.


Once all our money was gone (and I picked out my prizes-- a bouncy ball and plastic dinosaur! So cool!), we went and had dinner at Legend's and THEN we headed over to my buddy Tristan's house! My parents let me stay up past my bedtime!!!! Can you believe it???? I still can't.

Once we got to Tristan's house, things started getting REALLY crazy. There was dancing on the tables...

That was Tristan's idea. I wasn't so sure.

There were crazy hats...


Tunnel-crawling...


Oh yeah, and mommy and daddy were there, too.

Someone should tell my daddy to keep his eyes open in pictures. Oh, and did you know that 5 years ago on New Year's Eve, my daddy proposed to my mommy? Isn't that so sweet?

Anyway, I had so much fun! But by about 10:00 I was just running on pure adrenaline! My mommy and daddy packed me up and we headed for home-- I was asleep in the car in about 5 minutes. And then, get this, I slept in until like 8:15 am! I never do that!

I am looking forward to an exciting 2012, mostly because I will be turning 2! Happy New Year to all of you! :)