Distinctly Two

While I would not call Gabe's current season the 'Terrible Twos', I can understand the desire to give this stage it's own special name. Maybe I'd call it the Blossoming Twos, or Discovering Twos. It's hard to say really, since every day seems completely different from the last, which is what makes it different and name worthy from other seasons. As a mama who loves routine, predictability, and consistency this season has been a change and on occasion difficult. I've had 2 Corinthians 12:9 ("My grace is sufficient for you, my strength made perfect in weakness") written on my bathroom mirror to start the day off right for about three months now.

While this period of time has been different and keeping me on my toes, it has also been a blast! When I sat and reflected on this season, God was gracious and helped me to see that there have been several consistencies and predictable habits.

1. Gabe is learning self-control. Pretty early on (13 ish months) we began training Gabe to control his emotions. If he doesn't get his way, he's not allowed to pitch a fit. While not totally easy for him to do, we were aided by the fact that he was still easily distracted and entertained by simple things. Now, Gabe knows what he wants and has already seen any possible substitution we might have to offer. This has lead to several difficult to reign-in fits. We're working on it, and I'm confident that teaching a two year old self-control is much easier than an 18 year old.

2. Gabe is trying out some big boy skills. Gabe isn't showing any physical signs of being ready to potty train, but he is showing some genuine interest and testing it out every once in a while. Most often he likes the focused reading time and the opportunity to flush the toilet. Now he's upset when I don't let him see his #1 and #2 in the diaper before throwing it away. My son thinks seeing his waste is a privilege earned when you use the big boy potty.

3. He has an increased amount of energy. Not just physically but mentally. He needs to be moving ALL the time, and if not moving he needs to be mentally stimulated. Thankfully he loves to be my helper so if I need to keep an eye on him or get something done he helps out. This week he's helped set the table, count binder clips into pairs, clean the house (while wearing a cape), and stir ingredients together for dinner.

4. Gabe's verbal skills and vocabulary are improving dramatically. 'Mine' is his universal pronoun - 'mine turn', 'mine look', 'mine do', 'mine shirt' and just today 'mine fall down on books!'. To learn new words he repeats everything I say, and to make sure I understand what he's saying I repeat everything he says. We sound like two parrots attempting to hold a conversation.

5. He's developed an imagination. All of a sudden he doesn't just push cars but pretends they are driving to specific destinations, having collisions and transporting people. Sometimes during dinner Andy and I will be chatting across the table, look over at Gabe and see him dancing to some tune in his head, crashing his apple slices into each other or making silly faces. His favorite is pretending to be asleep. He snores loudly, closes his eyes and lays his head down. After about 15 seconds of my commenting on his narcoleptic sleeping habits he can barely contain his laughter - wakes up - and we start all over again.

All in all it's been an entertaining season, but far from terrible.

Lunch Guest

Clearly summer has kept us busy busy busy as I'm only getting one blog post a month completed. Sorry about that if you check regularly, just know it means our days are full of fun stuff, no news is good news.

A few weeks ago during a picnic lunch Gabe and I were joined by this little guy.

The picture doesn't really do him justice, he has four front legs, six back legs, two antenna, and clearly a very flexible abdominal region.

Gabe was in awe!

Pretty cute.

Running and the Great Outdoors

For about the last two months Gabe has done little else but run. Run around the stairs, run down the hall, run from one wall in his room to the other, etc.

He loves to have someone start the race with a loud "Ready....GO!" and he's off. Sometimes I even hear him in the basement playroom yelling the start to his own race. You can hear his little feet pitter patter across the floor, his arms slam against his stopping place and the race start anew to end where the last race started.

The only thing he loves more than running, is running outside. On one side of the house our sidewalk slopes down into the backyard. Gabe rests his bottom against the chain link gate and waits for the starting yell.

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And a look back at the track before he does it all over again, and again, and again!

This and That

It's been a long time since I last posted and rather than provide a detailed post of all our happening (which aren't all that thrilling) I thought I'd give you a little taste of 'this and that'.

Last time we were in Lincoln Andy and I took Gabe to the Holmes Lake playground. He worked out a little circuit, climbing the stairs, going down the slide, running to the gravel swing area - repeat. At one point he laid his sweaty head in the gravel and came up with a forehead covered in rocks. Gabe also received a headlock from a playground bully. He was more surprised than frightened and I was able to resist the urge to punch a four year old...grrr.

Just a standard trip to the zoo. We like to stop at the Garden of Senses for lunch. Gabe can eat while exploring the fountain, flowers and birds.

A few weeks ago some pipe on the bottom of Andy's car dropped off. Gabe and I followed his loud car to the shop so we could give him a ride back to work. While we waited Gabe wanted to yell for his daddy to hurry up, but from a distance I could see that Andy was receiving unpleasant news about his car. I told Gabe it wasn't a good time to yell for Andy and he spent the rest of the waiting doing the above.

Gabe and Gracie Girl at the spray park. Gracie was more adventurous with the water features than Gabe and this picture pretty much captures the morning. Gracie's a go-get-er and Gabe sit's back to observe.

We celebrated Father's Day early with the Higgins and Holz Sr. I found some funny cards for Craig, Ryan and Andy and included fake mustaches for all the kids. E, Zeke and Blake had a great time and took the costumes pretty seriously.

Wednesday nights Blake and E have baseball and last week we cheered them on. Gabe loves watching his big cousins, yelling for both teams ('Go Go Go!') and we're all entertained by the general antics of 5 year olds playing organized sports. Andy seems most entertained by my lack of proper sports terms.

Memorial Day

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed a restful Memorial Day. The Holz Clan was pretty low-key. Gabe was particularly kind to us, sleeping in until 8:30! Wooohooo Gabe. Once we did collect ourselves and start the day we headed to the neighborhood spray park.

Looks like a deep conversation - plotting the best sand castle?

Usually this park is packed, but we managed to be just one of 7 or so families. Unlike last year, Gabe braved the water structures. He did get bum rushed and face planted the ground, but regrouped quickly and proudly sports a forehead bump and swollen lip.

For the walk home we removed all Gabe's wet clothes, put on a clean diaper and his hand-me-down hat (thanks Higgins!).

I couldn't help but laugh, in his new ensemble Gabe closely resembled our 60+ year old neighbor who likes to navigate his riding lawn mower in a hat, a few extra pounds around the middle and no shirt.

I'm not sure if Gabe realized the resemblance as well, but eventually he wrapped his beach towel around his tummy. Poor guy...he's mama just won't give him a break. To further celebrate our restful day, Gabe napped for four hours! I love this kid - he speaks my language *sleep*.