Holy “I don’t have any babies any more”, Batman!  I cannot believe that in a month you will be 2 years old!  But, let’s not think about that right now…i don’t want to cry. 

The past month you have continued to quadruple your language skills by the hour.  You are talking very well now.  I understand a majority of what you say.  Now that you are used to being able to verbally communicate with us so well, you get very frustrated when we don’t actually know what you are saying.  You clench your fists and your teeth, maybe grunt a bit and then hold your pointer finger out to us so we can hold on to it and allow you to lead us to what you want.  It is one of the most adorable things you do.

Some of your favorite things to play with lately include: Clara’s dolls–you especially like to feed them and change their diapers, then push them around in the doll stroller; any and all cars, trucks, trains, etc; your MegaBlocks, you love to build a tower and then call me in to your room to show me how you can kick it down or throw a ball through it–my destructive little baby, aaawwww….; but playing outside with your bike, the wagon, or pretty much anything else is your VERY favorite thing…as long as you’re outside.

This winter we have learned that you L-O-V-E, love snow.  the excitement you display when you see snow on the ground or falling from the sky is unmatched.  In the picture above you were at JuJu & PawPaw’s house when you noticed dust particles twinkling in a ray of sunlight coming through a window.  Only, you thought it was snow!  SNOW! SNOW!  And look at how you held up your arms and danced in the “snow.”  It was so funny and completely adorable.  You are such a happy, handsome little guy.  You are a joy to me and everyone else who gets to know you.

Here you are at Christmas time with all the other Newcomb men in your family.  What a handsome bunch!  PawPaw is holding you, which reminds me of how much you love PawPaw, and Grandpa.  When one of your grandfathers comes into a room you are immediately at their side insisting to be involved in whatever they are doing.  I love that you get to see your extended family on a regular basis.  You also love your boy cousins, Bearsy and Sheppy…sometimes without any obvious motivation you will ask about one of them.  Simey too, you are a always excited to find out that you will be seeing any one of these guys.

Some of our favorite things you are saying right now:

“yay-es.”  as in, “yes” except you say it with a long “a” sound and nod of the head.

“mmmm…chicken.”  which you apply to all meats as well as tater tots.

“dance! dance! dance!—-MUSIC!”  all while grabbing my phone and trying to put it in the dock to play a song.

“i wanna ride the airplane, mama”–meaning you want to be hoisted in the air on my feet, high above my head…and then you will start saying, “turbulence!”  which is what i say just before i start bouncing you while you are up on my feet.  you and clara both absolutely love it.

seeing as how you say something new and adorable every 2.5 seconds, i cannot possibly mention all of them.  but of all of the adorable things you say, i don’t think any of them will ever be better than when you say, ‘love you’ and ‘mama’, especially together.

love you handsome boy!

CHEESE!!!

First of all, can i just say, I cannot BELIEVE how light your hair is now!  It gets lighter and lighter every time i trim it, which is every month.  You were born with thick, black hair just like your dad, and his hair has always been black.  I just assumed you would always have thick, black hair too.  Well, i guess i was wrong!

You are now snuggled in bed for the night.  You go to bed around 630pm and you sleep until about 7-730am.  You sleep so soundly, so sweetly.  Then you wake up and you play so hard.  You go full speed ahead until you go to sleep.  You typically go to sleep without a fuss.  Thank you for that!

The past month you have increased your vocabulary about 100 fold.  You will repeat anything we ask you to say, so i find it amusing to ask you to say all sorts of things, all day long.  I’ll say, “flux capaciter!”  and you’ll parrot, “fux capatacitatotor-oh!”  You usually add a few syllables to whatever we ask you to say.  I couldn’t imitate it if i tried, but my favorite thing you have repeated so far is “uncle Adam.”  It takes you about 30 seconds to get out the full attempt and the only part i can understand is the last “-’dum.”  Trust me, it’s adorable.  You say a lot of things without encouragement too.  Some of our favorites are, “Daddy, where are you?”  “Merry Christmas everybody!”  “help me”  “change shoes!”  “steamroller! steamroller! steamroller!”  “clara sleep?”  “peek-a-boo!”

you love animals…and chickens and roosters are a few of your favorites.  along with sheep, cows and dogs.  i can’t wait until spring so we can go back to the drive through zoo; you will love it!  you really enjoy your little people barn with all the different animals, and when you wake up from nap i will usually hear you in your room playing with them for a while before you start throwing them at the door to let us know you are ready to come out. 

you still like being outside as much as possible.  you REALLY want to be able to ride Clara’s bike, but you can’t quite reach the pedals so you get very mad just sitting on the seat.  You don’t want my help either though, so you get mad if i push you around on the bike.  You will just have to grow a few more inches before you can be happy!

*a couple weeks ago i kept you and Clara home from school and we had a fun “sick day”

*you want to paint all the time.  out of no where you will ask me if you can paint.  it’s too cute.

*you like to help me clean, especially vacuuming.  and wiping down the table after meals.

*you and clara play together really well, just an occasional fight.  usually because one of you has something the other wants.  Sharing.  it’s tough, but get used to it because it never ends.

*one of the funniest things i have noticed you doing recently is “testing” clara’s drink.  i have noticed that you always steal clara’s drink after i have given you each a cup of milk or juice.  you drink a few sips from your cup first.  then i noticed you would grab clara’s cup the first time she set it down and you would take a few sips from hers.  of course if clara noticed, then you guys would end up in a fight over the cup.  but after a few times i noticed that if clara wasn’t around you would still go back to your own cup after you tasted hers.  i soon realized that you were just testing hers out to make sure it wasn’t something better!  you’re so smart!

our handsome boy

one of my favorite times of day is bedtime.  i love sitting in floor; you in my lap, or sometimes Daddy’s.  you pick out a book (or ten) and we read and point at pictures and talk.  you are so sweet and calm at this time.  you drink your milk and lean into my chest, tilting your head so you can see the book we are reading over your cup.  when we put you in bed (or sometimes you climb in yourself), you say, “nye-nye.  love you!”

even superheros need to sleep

(i caught this pic with my phone one day when you fell asleep while i was reading you a story at nap time)

Merry Christmas little man, we love you!

Ike, you are beginning to confirm my suspicions that you are going to keep us in the doctor’s office.  (although Clara isn’t helping either–see post below).  Nine days ago you fell at day care and broke your finger.  The first day it was so terribly swollen and bruised that i wanted to wait and see how it looked after the swelling went down…i wasn’t really convinced it was broken at the time.  By day five after you hurt it, it was still very swollen and very black & blue so i decided we’d better get some xrays.  And you broke your “pointer” finger along the base, slightly into the growth plate.  We got into the orthopedic doc the next morning and you started wearing your splint that day.  You have been so tough through it all.  You protect the finger with much caution, but you still play hard as always.  You have to wear the splint for two weeks until it is healed and then we have to get xrays to make sure it healed properly.  You seem to like the splint now that you are used to it.  You hold your hand out for me so i can wrap it securely after taking it off for baths.  Sometimes you hold up your hand and say “ouch-ers!”

right after ortho appointment--looking so tough!

i don't know about this...

...let's get rid of this thing.

Besides your broken finger, you scared your dad and i half to death at the playground one day when you decided you would jump from the platform of the playset which was about 20 feet off the ground.  You called out to us and when we looked up you lifted on leg and acted like you were about to jump.  You put your foot back down and started working to reposition yourself to jump.  I had already taken off up the stairs and toward you so that by the time you went to really jump i grabbed you as you raised your leg the second time.  daddy was also positioned below you in hopes that he would catch you in case you jumped before i got to you.  through the whole thing we were yelling to you, “don’t jump ike.”  you laughed and wiggled around in my arms as i carried you back down to the ground.  you can be such a little stinker!

from that day on the playground

we had halloween this past month.  you were Max from Where the Wild Things Are, we have always loved reading that book together.  you made the perfect Mischievous Max:

you caught on right away to door-to-door trick or treating, but some of the effects scared you at times.  you were pretty cautious all night.  you threw caution to the wind when it came time to eat your candy though!

You soooooo badly want to ride this bike that belongs to one of our neighbors.  i will sit you on it when you beg, and then you get upset because you can’t pedal it, but you don’t want me to push you either.  our neighbor is getting a new bike for christmas and passing this one on to you.  i bet by the time spring arrives you’ll be able to ride.  wonder what you’ll break next?   kidding!  (please be careful for your mother’s sake)

*this month you have been naming colors–you even get them right sometimes!–i love how you say yellow

*one of my favorite things you say is when you call out, “bye-bye guys!” whenever we are leaving somewhere

*you continue to be a great sleeper…so easy…i always say you sleep hard so you can play hard

*you like to color, especially with markers; you like stacking blocks and knocking them down

*you have been known to full body tackle people…daddy, clara, me, even poor little baby liam…it’s something we are working on with you

*you are a huge fan of your bedtime routine:  bath, get in pajamas, play steamroller with daddy and clara on our bed, yell “milk! milk! milk! milk!” and run to the kitchen and dance around in excitement while waiting for daddy to get your milk, sit in my lap and read a few books, mommy+daddy+clara pray for you and then lights out, door closed, nighty-night!

*you still love being outside regardless of what the weather is like or what you will be doing

*you like singing songs and dancing–you and clara do this together a lot…adorable & hilarious

OK, so that’s been 2 broken bones in less than 2 years…whatcha say we take a few years off?

love you my little stinker