For Erin

still not sure where he found it, but for the past 20 minutes Axl has brought the blanket to me REPEATEDLY in order for me to fix it like this...

Snuggle

Axl already likes snuggling with his little sister...

Frenemies

Rachel is a close friend of mine at church and her little boy, McKay, is just a bit older than Axl. They spend quite a bit of time together, as Rachel kept Axl some while I was in school, since Rachel has started a part-time job, McKay comes to play with us once a week, and Rachel and I like to hang out... :)

At this age, I think it's hard for kids to make "friends" because whomever they're playing with...they're pretty much being forced to "share" with...so these boys have been learning some life lessons together. It's funny to see how each of them acts when they are at their own house, or the other's house...but altogether I think they're doing pretty well and most every time they are together they share atleast a 15 minute giggling/chasing/silly session.

As they grow, I really do think these boys will be best buds. :)

and, of course...they can always meet on the same page for some mischief. They were each taking turns pulling out a wipe...almost to the end of the box :)

Axl's First Masterpiece

I have tried several times in Axl's short life to model the concept of coloring but he just did NOT get it. In the slightest. The bathtub crayons he received for his birthday (Thanks Julie and Jaxon!) just became another thing he filled his tub cup up with. Most every bath, I would have fun writing something on the wall for Axl, but to no avail. Then, last night, he just started drawing. :) I personally thought the result was beautiful!

(and just for my records...Axl hasn't slept in the crib since Thursday...naps and all. could not be more shocked, grateful, proud, etc. love that boy.)

Really??

...could it really be this easy? I'm pretty much in disbelief that I found my 17 1/2 month old son, on just the second night of trying out the toddler bed, like this...

The sad thing is that after he went to sleep and I finally went to bed, I wanted to go take it back. Scoop him up out of that bed and put him back in his crib where he belongs! I'm not ready for him to be a little boy...not by any means--but I guess I can take this as a message that he really is ready.

Tyler's response was that he was "just proud of the little guy". I suggested that we reward him...after sleeping through the night, only waking once for the yummy, and not even getting out of the bed until after 8 o'clock! So off we went to Target and Axl's limited vocabulary drew him, of course, to these...

We really are proud of him and fully expect nap time to be a different story...but for now I'm just relishing the fact that he seems to have known to make this transition easy on his mama! :)

SUN!

We were so excited to see the sun shining through the windows today and decided to take Axl out for a play. He seriously has never really been able to "play" outside because he was such a late walker and we've had such a cold winter...He was really reluctant to walk on the grass and made us hold his hand for a while but quickly warmed up to the wide open spaces! Thanks to Tammy and family for donating Axl's new favorite toy!

Tyler insisted on taking this...and I am including it just for the record--partly because I feel guilty for taking essentially NO belly pictures this time around. 28 weeks and already huge.

Most of the time, Axl loved it when Tyler pulled him around in the wagon...and then he went too fast and flipped him...after that, he didn't quite trust him. :)

Toddler Bed Transitioning...

1st day down...I told myself I was going to start in March to make sure Axl had plenty of time before the baby comes...and then yesterday I realized it was March...yeesh. I've made some pretty good progress on his room so it was pretty easy to make sure most everything unsafe was out. His room looks pretty bare now but there are very few things he could actually hurt himself on. Today a little before nap time Tyler and I took Axl up and told him about sleeping in his big boy bed (we've had it set up in there for a couple days now). We laid him down and he immediately got out. Which doesn't really surprise me because he has been putting himself to sleep in the crib for a while now, like not letting us tuck him in anymore. But anyway, we left and waited awhile. Went back up intermittently and kept finding him just playing, his yummy in mouth holding tightly to bunny bear, at his table and chairs. We put him back in the bed a couple of times, but after about half an hour put him in his crib and he was sound asleep within minutes. I think for a first day it was pretty successful seeing that we have plenty of time and he does seem to know what the bed is for...he's always walking over and laying his head down on it. I just did the same thing for the night time routine only we read some books in his bed. He reacted the same way and I actually heard him a few minutes ago knocking lightly on the door...(adorable) so I went up and got him and plan to put him down in the crib after a little QT. So, wish us luck in the next couple months...hopefully the transition won't be too hard on the Axman.

Also--I think there needs to be some kind of night light in there for bedtime, but the one we have goes with his bedding and is really big and bulky and heavy and has sharp corners, etc. I don't want him attracted to the outlets...what can I use for a little light that's perhaps out of reach?

EDITED
Axl started acting tired a few minutes ago so I asked if he wanted to go night night in his big boy bed. He emphatically shook his head no and said, "uh-uh". I had to just crack up laughing. This is the one of the first times he's directly answered a question. Guess we have a while to go... :)