20 Months Old!

I cannot believe Beau is 20 months already.  Sometimes he acts 20 months going on 16!  I've heard that when a baby turns 2, that is their independent stage.  Well in Beau's case, this is absolutely true.  He has to feed himself, tries to put his shoes on himself, likes to drink out of normal glasses rather than his sippy cup, and so many more things.  Here are some new things Beau is doing or saying lately....
*Sleeps on avg. 13 hours at night and 3-4 hours for a nap after lunch
*His vocabulary has grown immensely.  Some newer words are: gotta potty, book, bulk (milk), Butters, Banx, Pat, ride, side (outside), boat, kee-kee (kitty), cheese, hat, shoe, baby, bath, up, down, and more I'm sure I'm forgetting.  One thing I am definitely proud of that he does, are his manners.  He does a fabulous job with always saying pease (please) and tank you (thank you).
*He runs everywhere, no more walking!
*Prefers to always be outside rather than inside
*Likes to dip his chips in dip, but just lick the dip off then double dip again!
*LOVES boating and swimming
*If he sees a tractor, gator, or lawnmower, you better expect to give him a ride or he will have a major meltdown.
*Beau loves going "bye-bye".  He will grab his shoes and stand by the door and ask me to go bye-bye.  He is definitely my child since I love being on the go and doing activities.
*Likes to help daddy in the garden outside
*He has to wear hats!  Like what bows are to Banx (a necessity), that is what hats are to Beau.  His favorite hat lately is his fedora.
*Dancing.  When Joe or I play music through the stereo in the house, Beau will stop whatever it is he's doing, then start swaying his hips and dancing.  When the song stops, he'll say "ut- oh!"
*Favorite word: no!  I am excited for this to stop!
*And the most exciting thing, we are in the midst of potty-training!  He is doing so well already.  He will tell me when he needs to go potty, or go get me a new diaper to tell me he really has to go.  I am not rushing him to be fully potty-trained because I do not want to frustrate him.  But so far, he is doing great!

Two of a Kind

Lately I can see Beau becoming more and more like his daddy--which is a good thing, most of the time...just kidding! ;)  Not only do I see a lot of Joe in Beau, but whenever Beau smiles, it is as if I am looking at a mini-Joe.  When Beau does have his naughty moments, I just assume he gets that from Joe---definitely not from me! :)  Their personalities are almost parallel and it just amazes me as to how Beau catches on to everything Joe does.  I think Joe is already Beau's super-hero.  Lets hope it still stays that way in his teen years!

Monkeys at the Park

I took Beau and Banx to play at the elementary playground, and they absolutely loved it!  They were climbing the rockwall, slides, and ladders!  For a 1 and 2 year old, they sure can get around really well by themselves at the park.  They were even going down the "big kids" slide on their own.  I think we need to make a habit of going back to OES playground!

Lake Weekend #3

Saturday was finally the PERFECT day to go boating.  It was over 90 degrees and sunny!  Scott and Michelle brought down their new WaterMat that is over 20 feet long and 6 feet wide.  So many of were laying out on it at once and had so much fun.  Beau would not even get off and out of the water.  He just hung out on the mat all day with me and played with his toy tractor.  After we left Rathbun, we headed down to Lake Thunderhead to stay with my aunt and uncle.  What a great weekend we had while making even better memories!

Beau and Trigg playing down in the boat

We thought Beau needed to cool off, so we put him down in the boat.  A few minutes later we found that he had crawled up on the table, and was eating the entire bag of Sun Chips.  He just loves his chips!

Future Vaction Bible School Kids

On Friday, I took the kids to the last day of VBS at our church.  Since they are too young to actually go, I thought it would be good for them to expose them to it and get them around the other kiddos.  They both loved the singing/dancing part and joined on stage right away!  After the opening singing was done, we walked over to Jaarsma bakery to enjoy a mid-morning snack :)

Goofy Beau

Lately, Beau's personality has been developing more and more and I just love the goofy side of him.  For example, the other day I asked him to pick out what he wanted to wear for the day.  He chose his favorite fedora and only wanted to wear the seat to one of his old baby toys.  It was quite the get-up. 

Fun at Nana's

Since it was so warm last week, I took the kids to my mom's almost everyday so we could cool off in the pool.  They absolutely love going to Nana's because they both love the pool, they love to drive their toy Mercedes, swing, and for Beau--he LOVES to ride in the tractor and gator.  As soon as we turn in the driveway, they both start yelling NANA!!!

Lake Weekend #2 and Father's Day

Last weekend, we went to the lake again to enjoy what sun we could and to celebrate Father's Day.  Even though the day did end up cloudy and rainy, we still had a great time with lake friends and just hanging out at the dock.  Beau even made some new friends and watched them as they were fishing.

Loving the shades Papa gave him!

On Sunday, we went to my dad's house to grill and had a great time with everyone.  I truly am so grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful husband, who is an amazing father to our son.  Joe is so good with Beau and spoils him more than I do!  Just by seeing how great of a dad Joe is makes me very excited to expand our family of three because I know Joe will be right by my side to help me with everything.

Joe and I have amazing fathers, a step-father, and father figures in our life.  Thank you to all of you for being so good to us, and I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day!!

Pushin' and Workin'

The other night as Joe and I were weeding the garden, Beau decided to push his tractor around the backyard.  It is so sweet to hear him make his "tractor" noises and to be entertained with just one toy.  All I could think about was how bad his back had to hurt after bending over all that time!

Perfect Day for Swimming

Yesterday, I took Beau and Banx to my mom's to go swimming.  It was such a warm, humid day, I needed to get the kids in the water!  They both loved the pool and especially taking a Popsicle break in their own mini loungers :)

Mini-Putt for the First Time

Last night, Clint and Tara invited us to go mini-putting with them.  We were exciting to go because Beau had never been before.  After Joe grilled a delicious supper for us, we headed on out to Vennard.  Beau didn't know what to think at first.  There were so many holes with neat designs, you could see the wheels turning in his head it seemed.  With a little help from all of us, Beau did great hitting the ball!  Except one minor thing, he thought he was able then to go and hit everyone else's ball.  When Beau couldn't get his ball to go in the hole, he gave up and went and picked up his ball, then placed it in the hole.  What a smart thinker :)

Such a Boy!

 

Beau is such a boy!  And by this I mean that he is ALWAYS wanting to be outside.  He plays so rough with his toys, we finally just put some outside so he gets the best of both worlds---having toys and being outside.  I semi-joke saying we will have four boys someday...I cannot even imagine what my house would look like if that were the case! :)

Enjoying Summer

Now that school has been out a couple of weeks, Beau and I are finally adjusted to summer.  It was hard going from working all day long, to being with Beau 24/7.  I do not mean this is hard as in I cannot take care or do not want to take care of my son; this is hard because he has become very needy of me and will not leave my side!  We finally are back to normal and he has adjusted well.  I think he just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to leave him :)  As much as I LOVE my job, and I truly do, getting these three months of one-on-one time in the summer with Beau is amazing.  I love being able to play all day, take him swimming, to the park, or just cuddle during nap times.  I also started potty training Beau, and being there for the first time when he ASKS to go potty was a special moment for me as his mom.  It really is the small things in life that are important and I have quickly realized that since I have had Beau.

He figured out how to take pictures of himself on my phone :)

First Weekend at Rathbun!

Last weekend, we went to the lake where we boat for the first time this year (due to rain and cold weather).  It turned out to be a warm, sunny day!  Beau loves "driving" the boat on Grandpa's lap.  He is even trying to drive the boat by himself---not for quite some time Beau-man!  He was quite the ham when we tied up with all of our boating friends and kept posing for the camera.  I think it's safe to say, he loves boating just as much as his Daddy! 

Captain Beau here!

He was definitely spoiled all day with Grandma Michelle and Shari with us!  

Checking in on Dad at work

Last Friday, Beau was getting a little anxious at home with cabin fever, so we decided to go see Daddy at work.  Of course Beau wanted to play on Daddy's computer right away and ruin all of his important spreadsheets, thank goodness for auto-save!  After awhile, we took Beau into the warehouse.  And where did he head straight for?  That's right, the forklift.  Joe gave him a ride around and Beau just thought he was in 7th Heaven.  Of  course, when we took Beau off to go back into the office, he had a fit!  But Grandpa Scott was in his office today and Beau kept "checking in" on Grandpa to make sure he was doing his work.  I really don't know where Beau gets his bossiness from ;)

Checking in on Grandpa