Isaac Babe Ruth from adam coats on Vimeo.

Isaac at Jackson's Orchard

Isaac went to Jackson's Orchard twice this year. What was he most excited about.....well, it wasn't the pumpkins. No, he wanted to push around the little red wagon the entire time. As we walked through the pumpkin patch, he could have cared less about all the pumpkins. He just wanted full control of the red wagon.
Isaac also enjoyed the play area with trucks/ tractors to climb on and the Cider Slider (which is a huge slide). His first trip was with Mommy and Daddy. After exploring the orchard, we then had some tasty treats including: apple cider slushe, caramel apples, and apple fritters. His second trip was with Uncle Eric and Aunt Steph. While on the second trip, we met up with Adam and Carrie, as well as other friends from church, who all took turns going down the Cider Slider with the Bopper! He had a blast!

26th month update

Isaac, now 26 months old, weighs 27 pounds and is saying, doing, and learning new things each day. Physically, he has always seemed to be a little ahead of schedule. His coordination amazes me. He is able to hit a pitched ball (without a tee). Of course, it takes several tries, but he can do it! We have had some good times playing ball in the yard. He also has a good throwing arm; however, we have lots of work to do when it comes to catching a ball. He has learned to play freeze tag at school, which he loves, because it involves running around. It is so funny, he spreads his legs really far apart and says "freeze," as he maintains the position for a couple seconds, then he says "go" as he takes off running as fast as he can. His "freeze stance" just cracks us up every time! Some other physical activities he enjoys include playing "Ring Around the Roses," marching around as he says "hut 2,3,4," climbing, jumping, playing his drum as he says "1,2,3,4" then beats on it, playing Simon Says, hopping (as he says "hop hop), and stacking blocks to make castles and towers. He also stacks my candles which is a no-no, and he says "a tower." It is just one of his tests to see what he can get by with; he is consistently testing his boundaries!

Isaac loves visiting his grandparents, and tends to get sad when he has to come back home. He had a couple new experiences this month with Grandad and Mimi. They took him to his first band competition, and he loved it! He really enjoys the Big Red Marching Band, so it was no surprise that he enjoyed it. While there, he also experienced his first funnel cake. YUM! Isaac also learned how to water plants this month. While at Grandad and Mimi's house, we helped them water their plants, and Isaac loved being a big helper! Another big accomplishment this month was that Isaac actually pooped in the potty, and told me before he did it. However, this was just a one time event only. Hopefully it won't be too long before this becomes a learned behavior!

This month, we went to Memphis to visit our old, good friends, and to see their kids. There have actually been a couple new additions to the group since we last saw everyone, such as baby Evan (who's shower we went for). We had a great time visiting with those special friends and catching up on their lives. It was a great visit, but seemed too short! Isaac had a great time playing with all the little ones and especially enjoying the big playroom at the Bank's house. He was in toddler heaven!

Isaac loves to sing. Many mornings he will randomly sing "Happy Birthday." He usually sings Happy Birthday to Tay, which is his little buddy at school. He does not quite understand that it is not Tay's birthday everyday. He just fills in a random name as he sings the song. A couple of his other favorite songs are "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," and the prayer "God Our Father." He will often even interrupt me if I am praying before meals to sing "God Our Father." He says "no Mommy, God Our Father."

Early during this month, Isaac was hitting and pushing his friends at school some. Of course, he was hit too. When I would ask him about this when I pick him up from preschool, he would say things like "Gage hit me. I hit Tay." Whether his report was accurate or not, it sounds like their is lots of hitting going on among the little 2-year old boys. They are just rough with each other. Isaac and his two best buddies Tay and Dhavid have invented a new phrase. They say "Ka-Paw" like it is some sort of chant. Who knows where it came from, but they all say it and crack up laughing afterwards. I guess you can call that creative!

Some other random likes and habits of Isaac's this month: watching for the trashman on Thursday mornings (which he calls Dump Truck Dan after one of his favorite books, eating peanut butter sandwiches for every meal, counting (able to count 1-10 and sometimes can get a few right between 11-20), laying a blanket down in the center of his room to sit on as he plays with his toys, taking vitamins (which he calls "bitamins"), yelling "over" once his videos are completed, having his boo-boos kissed ("kiss my boo-boo"), and saying "sorry" as soon as he does something wrong (which is usually intentional). He will hit me on purpose, and then look sweet, hug me, and say "sorry." Once again, he is just testing his boundaries.

25 month update

Isaac is 25 months old, and continues to keep us on our toes. He is learning, saying, and doing new things all the time! Isaac's vocabulary is growing daily. He is saying and forming many more sentences. It is so cute hearing how some of his phrases and sentences come out of his mouth...close but not exactly grammatically correct. For example, when he is finished eating he says "My done." instead of "I'm done." He says "My down" when he is being held and wants to be put down. He consistently says that he is two, when asked his age. The only problem is, "two" seems to be his answer to a lot of questions lately. What is your name? "Two." He is so excited to know his age, that he uses it to answer everything. Whenever he is asking where someone is, he says "Daddy Is?" This means, where is Daddy? He will ask this as Daddy is coming home from work. His daycare teachers say that he will ask them "Mommy Is?" I believe Isaac's favorite phrase is "do again." If he is being tickled, flipped, and played with in a way he likes, he always says "do again." Another one he likes to say is "sit here." We are working on incorporating the use of the word "please" after these commands so he does not sound so bossy.

Isaac is definitely using the word "no" frequently, which is causing him a lot of hardship. He is a strong-willed little fella, and says "no" if he is not getting his way. Therefore, we are having to step up our discipline. He has gotten in trouble at daycare more this month for hitting, shoving, and pushing his little friends. One day, we were meeting a friend at a restaurant. I opened the door let Isaac in, and he just walked up to a little girl (smaller than him) and pushed her to the ground. I felt really embarrassed as everyone standing in the food line witnessed this incident. Isaac has even been pushing Mommy a lot lately. I am hoping this is a terrible two phase that will quickly pass. When Isaac is pushed by someone else or runs into something he says "it hurt me." He starts crying, but as soon as he is mocked, he cracks up laughing instantly. So you know he cannot be hurt that badly.

Another one of our hardest challenges so far occurred this month. Usually Isaac is happy to see his Daddy and me when he has not seen us in a few hours. Well, one weekend he stayed at Grampie and Grandmama's house, and Daddy picked him up while he was asleep. When Isaac woke up, he was at home. It was so sad to me that he did not want to see me. He cried for an hour to go back to his grandparent's house. He kept saying "I want Grandmama's house." Similar situations have occurred after seeing Grandad and Mimi. This has been the first time Isaac has preferred others over me. Of course, I am glad he loves them, but it is taking some getting used to for me.

We did have a little scare this month. All of a sudden, Isaac's leg was swollen from his knee down to this ankle and his limped for several days. Fortunately, his leg healed itself. We are still 100% of the cause of his limp, but it appeared that he had a reaction to a mosquito bite in the bend of his knee. Whether this was the cause or not, we were so thankful that he was able to walk and run normal again after a few days!

Isaac went through a little phase where is was not as interested as books, as he was his other toys. It seems now he is regaining his interests in books, as he especially enjoys "The Foot Book" and "Dump Truck Dan." I had tried in the past to get him excited about the alphabet, but have realized that he is not going to learn anything until he is ready. Well, he is now interested in his A,B,C's. This probably has a lot to do with the face that he is learning a letter a week at daycare. We are working with him at home on whichever letter he is learning at his school. He goes around singing "A-B-C-D..." and just mumbles the parts he does not know yet. He is also getting very interested in learning his shapes and colors!

Isaac loves to work puzzles. He is really good with his hands, and is able to work a large 12 piece jigsaw puzzle with a little assistance from us. Isaac also loves Thomas the Train. He enjoys playing with his actual trains and watching the "Thomas the Train" show on our i-phones. He knows all the other trains, such as Percy, Toby, and Boose (which is what he calls the caboose). Not only does he like his trains, but anything with wheels. He rides his tricycle a lot, pushes his trucks around the house, and lines up his little cars/tractors in his room. He also enjoys taking baths and looking at pictures from the past (such as vacation pictures on the beach).

He is extremely active. He likes to hop around and say "hop, hop", get on the floor at jump like a frog as he says "ribbit, ribbit", and play outside. He enjoys playing on his swingset and hitting his tee-ball. He has recently learned to run the bases after he hits the ball, and he loves it! He just runs around like crazy! Isaac also like to walk on his tip toes for fun, as he says "tip toe, tip toe."

Because Isaac is so active, I was a little nervous about whether or not he would sit still while getting his pictures made this month. We went to get some professional pictures made, and Isaac did a great job cooperating. I even learned a little trick from the photographer. He would put a quarter on his head, have Isaac "blow it off," then put his head down to make the quarter fall into his hands. Isaac would blow then smile immediately once he saw the quarter drop. Isaac loved this trick, and it worked like a charm to get him to smile good for his pictures!

I have to admit, potty training is not going as well as I had hoped. We have recently regressed in this area. For the most part, he will pee in the potty when taken to the potty, but he still will not tell us when he needs to go. He has also had more accidents lately. Hopefully this will be like everything else...he will do it when he wants to. I am pleased, though, at how well he takes medicine. For many children, taking medicine is awful and can probably be as frustrating as potty training to the parents. Isaac on the other hand, does not mind to take medicine and is extremely cooperative with this.

Everything is about the same as far as Isaac's eating goes. He still loves peanut butter and jelly, Mexican food, and Chick Fila. We have met his buddy Tay at Chick Fila on a couple Saturday mornings, and they play in the kiddy area and love it! He is abscessed with fruit snacks. He wants fruit snacks for breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner. He obviously does not get them everytime he wants them, and this of course leads to little temper tantrums. Because he loves fruit snacks so much, he loves taking his Flintstone gummy vitamins. He asks me everyday for his "bitamin" (he pronounces his "v" as a "b." Some mornings when we are eating breakfast, Isaac will be very specific and tell me which spoon he wants to eat with. At the first of this month, he always wanted his white spoon, but now it is his green spoon he prefers.

Isaac went to Holiday World and Splashing Safari this month. We were sad that Daddy could not go because he had to work. Isaac and I met up with our friends from WKU and their little ones. We had a great time. Isaac was extremely well behaved on this trip, and did everything I told him to do. He held my hand as we walked around the park. He actually seemed a little intimidated at the water park because there were so many people there. Isaac also got to go to his buddy, Dhavid's, birthday party this month. He got to attempt hitting a pinata for the first time, but kept throwing the stick. He was not understanding the concept on holding onto the stick. It was pretty funny, but dangerous for the spectators.

It seems green is his favorite color. Like I previously mentioned, he prefers his green spoon while eating. While at Holiday World, Isaac wanted to rides the green rides when possible (i.e. green airplane, car, horse, etc). He played a game at the amusement park where he got to pick a prize. He was so excited because he won a big green ball. I took him to a cupcake shop one day, and when asked which cupcake he wanted, he replied "the green one." It was a white cupcake with about 6 inches of green icing on top. He was in heaven!!!

Isaac is always doing or saying something funny and keeping us entertained. He loves to try putting on his own shoes, but he always seems to manage to put them on the wrong feet. He is real particular too; he just wants to wear his "big shoes" which are his tennis shoes. He wants his tennis shoes on every waking hour. Another thing he is particular about is getting his nails cut. He wants to have his toenails cut before he has his fingernails cut. It is just his preference, I guess. Lately, when Isaac wakes up in the mornings, he says "Isaac awake." Although, on the days when he is still tired and not ready to get up (which of course our the days when I have to go to work), Isaac will says "nigh night in Isaac's bed" or "do it again." Both comments basically are saying "Mommy, I am still sleepy and do not want to wake up." Many morning after he wakes up he walks into the living area, looks on the mantle, sees a framed picture of himself, and says "hi Isaac." It is hilarious!

Having a 2-year old is full of challenges, but there is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful for my little Isaac. God has truly blessed us with the joy of our son!