More Athenisms

Athen is talking more and more every day. Lately, he has really been into role playing with his toys. The other day I heard him say "Mommy," and I asked what he needed and he said "Not you, I was talking to my cars." I've also been teaching him double digit numbers. I bought flashcards with all of the numbers on them. We went through a few of them and he can now count to 100 by 10's. I am so proud of him. I then showed him a flashcard with a 22 on it and he said "two-t-two." I laughed and told him he was close, but after I thought about it, it really makes complete sense.
He speaks really well, but still gets a few words mixed up! When he can't do something, he will say to me "Can't how to mommy, can't how to." When he wants out of his carseat he will say, "Strap me out." If I'm upset or sad, he will ask, "Are you not mad mommy?" Or he will say, "No being frusterated."
He also just comes up with some super funny stuff. When he wakes up from his naps, he will come out and say, "How was your day Mommy?" When Matt and I are talking and not paying attention to him he will say, "Hey guys! I love you." When Maximo is sad, he will say to him in a really high pitched voice, "Hey buddy, it's gonna be okay!" So sweet. Love my little guy and all the little words he uses :)

My little singer!

Athen is really into singing these days. Anytime Maximo is sad, Athen will go and sing him a song. It really is so sweet. This past week I got really sick and Athen kept singing me sweet little songs... Here is a video of some of his favorites! Hope you enjoyed his sweet little voice!

Cattledrive/Rodeo

Time again for the annual Altus Rodeo and base cattle drive.
This year we met with a few of the families from our playgroup and watched the cattle or "horns" (as Athen called them) and the horses. Athen was too scared to get on a horse but Maximo took a turn!


The "horns" were so big, and funny enough Athen wasn't the least bit scared of them, he wanted to pet them.


Friday night we went to the actual rodeo with some friends and I captured a few sweet pictures of the boys.

Athen's Mainstreet Routine

Athen is such a talker! I never realized how much energy it would take to converse with a two and half year old, I also never realized how much joy it would bring either!
A-man, has this little routine he does every single time we are driving down main heading south (KJ aren't you proud of my sense of direction). We first pass the movie theatre and he will say to me, "Mommy, I saw Shrek there! I ate popcorn and M&M's." Then we pass the Hampton Inn and he calls all Hampton Inns "Texas"* so he'll say, "Hi Texas." Next is Applebees, and it's, "Hi Apple." Then he'll give a shoutout to Towmater, "Dadgum Mater." We drive maybe another 1/4 of a mile before we hit a stoplight. He always tells me what color is on the stoplight and what that means. By chance if it's red, he will let me know what car is next to us, the color the model and make (if he knows it). We then get to "Walmark" where he promptly asks, "Please Mommy I can have a car?" If we aren't going to "Walmark" we then see Braums and he will say, "Mommy I NEED an ice cream." If we aren't going to either of those places, he will continually ask, Mommy where are we going? Can we go to walmark? Are we going to base? Where are we going? Will daddy be there?
And that's his mainstreet routine!

*During the ice storm we stayed in a Hampton Inn in Wichita Falls for 4 nights and he kept asking where we were and we told him Texas, so now all Hampton Inns are Texas.

My sweet Maximo!

I love my little Maximo so much. I love watching his little personality develop! He has little patience and has absolutely no patience when the clock ticks 7:15pm, it's bedtime or bust! He thinks Athen is the most amazing person in the whole world and would do just about anything for 2 minutes of his attention. He loves any sort of ball! When he's happy or being mischievous he has this little smile where he scrunches his nose and it is just the sweetest thing. When he's really thinking his little eyebrows go up and down. And he is such a cuddler and I just can't get enough of it. The other day he let me rock him to sleep! He hadn't let me do that since he was around 10 weeks old, so I had to hold him for about 10 minutes watching him sleep. Is there anything sweeter? I think not.
Recently he has started "talking" more. He can say Mama, although he usually whines and half cries when he says it. Today he said "ca, ca" for car. He says, "ba ba" every time I ask him to say Dada, so I think that's what he's trying to say.
He's so super close to walking, today he stood all by himself for about 20 seconds holding my phone while Matt was saying, "Don't you walk while I'm gone Maximo! You need to wait three more days."
Here is a sweet picture of me and Maximo in one of our daily dance parties, see isn't he a cuddler!



Here he is playing at the OKC Science Museum! Super duper fun and kid friendly!

Athenisms

I could write a book every day on all the funny things Athen says and does! I figured I would share some of the joy he brings me (Matt and Maximo) every day. Today I overheard Athen counting in Spanish (thank you Dora) and he gets to five and says "cinqy" I said no Athen it's "cinqo" and he says yea, "cinqy, cinqy, cinqy Mommy."

Athen has been rising way before the sun (around 6ish) and we are trying to teach him he needs to wait for the sun to come up. I got the brilliant idea of putting an alarm clock in his room and covering the minutes with masking tape. Before he went to bed I told him that he can't leave his room until he sees a 7 on the clock. I had high hopes!!! So the next morning he comes in our room before 7. I asked him if he remembered what we had talked about the night before and he said, "yes mommy, there was a 7 under there." I went into his room and he had ripped off the masking tape. Pretty brilliant. Our next step is duct tape! I'll keep you posted!!! ANd along the sleeping matters, he's been too scared to go to bed at night. He has told us that monsters get you, puma get you, box get you and so on. SO we told him if he gets scared to ask Jesus for help and He'll help you. He said smiling, "Jesus help you!" And we said yes. So today he was playing cars, and he looked at me and said "Jesus play cars?" I laughed and said yes Athen I'm sure Jesus would play cars with you. It was too cute.
Today I walked into the living room, and I see Athen throwing with all his might in airplane up in the air. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "No throw inside, but plane trying to fly." It was too cute I couldn't get on him for throwing inside.
And I love his oneliners, Some of my favorite are "Maximo, wall driving me up." "Maxi chunkie monkey." "Athen sad."
I'm sure I will have plenty more Athenisms to share. Hope you find as much joy in them as me!

The posts that never happened!

Ha, I thought I was really going to blog and blog often. Although it's been about 6 months since my first and only post, I'm going to post more often so my out of town friends and family can see what the boys and I are up to :) We are enjoying the weather here and have been making some great new friends.
Athen is talking a mile a minute and is singing lots of songs: he can sing his ABC's and the Thomas the Train song. He learned how to spell his name last week although he sometimes misses the "T." Maximo is growing so fast. He just started giggling this week and it is so sweet. He is still working on giving me a good night's sleep though... They both are such a joy and I feel so blessed to have them. Matt is really enjoying his job and goes to court for the first time this week. I am so proud of him and so thankful that he works and allows me to stay home to raise the boys. Here are some recent pictures of the boys, aren't they just so handsome...