Cap-owner- a conversation between Chase and his daddy.

Daniel : Chase where is the can opener?  I can't seem to find it.

Chase: Cap owner?

Daniel:  Yeah, I can't find it anywhere.

Chase: Ina get a cap owner.
Chase jumps down from his high chair and runs out of the room.

Chase: Cap owner!!
Runs back into the kitchen from his bed room with the can opener in hand.

Sing a song...

Chase's favorite part of church.  When he realizes that we are on our way to church he asks the whole way there if we can "sing-a-song". 

It's the only part of church that he will sit still for more than 15 seconds.  Literally.  He won't sit for the whole song, but once a song starts he will sit for longer than any other point in the meeting.

By the way... notice his cute little bow tie?  My sister, who used to pretend to not be crafty, made it and two regular ties and I won them for Christmas.

The bow tie is Daniels' favorite.

Nature vs. Nurture

The great biology vs psychology debate.

I hated this topic being drilled so much in school when I didn't see any point.  When this topic was presented in school I thought,  that's easy.  It's gotta be both.  Things are rarely so simple and extreme as to lie on one end or the other without taking in some consideration of the other side.

And where does that balance lie?  Where does biology leave off and psychology begin?  I never really cared.

That is until now.

You see, I was at a church meeting last night when Chase decided that he wanted to go up and touch the props that were being used at the front of the meeting.  Since that would be more than a little distracting with what was going on, I refused to let him and we had to leave the room.  I spent the majority of that meeting standing out in the hall and only made it back in long enough to tell the other leaders that I was needing to take Chase home.  (These ladies are REALLY grateful to have me be called to "assist" them believe me.  I am SO much assistance with Chase in tow.  Sense my sarcasm?)

It was walking home... in the dark.... with my arms full of new books from the evening..... along with Chase's toys.... and it being freezing outside ... and 7 months pregnant.... (does it sound as dramatic as it felt yet?) that I started the realize why nature vs. nurture is actually important after all.

I realized this because Chase for some unknown reason decided he had had enough and wasn't going any further.  I reorganized all the stuff in my arms to pick him up and that wasn't what he wanted.  He screamed, kicked, and scratched causing me to drop everything in my arms.  When I let him down, that's also not what he wanted.  He couldn't tell me what he wanted.

I couldn't see any other choice but to pick everything back up, grab Chase and head for home despite the kicking and scratching- so I did.

It was at this point that I started to wonder if this was part of Chase's personality, his biology, his pre-mortal spiritual personality, his age, OR have I trained him to throw these fits.  Did I give in too many times when he has thrown fits?  Could I do anything to prevent something like this in the future by changing my parenting?  Or was this just another one of those terrible two's tantrums that he would grow out of over time?

I maintain my original belief that both nature and nurture are responsible, but where does the balance lie?  Suddenly it seems a lot more important.

The Birthday....

A couple weeks before Chase's birthday, back in November, I ordered this wagon for his present.  It was delivered in a box that had a huge picture on all sides of what was inside and Chase knew immediately he wanted to "ride it!"  I hurried to hide it in the back room explaining that it was for his birthday, and though tears were shed, it was soon forgotten about.  When he came out on his birthday and saw the wagon he instantly remember that this was called his "birthday". 

We call it a wagon, he calls it "birthday".  Tom-ATE-os; Tom-AH-tos.

26 weeks

Didn't think I could do it 2 weeks in a row did you?

 

Neither did I.

Our little lane...

 

When we considered renting the top part of this house, we found it a bonus that it was located down a little dirt lane.  Besides those that live under and behind us, there is no traffic, and it's very quiet and surrounded by farms.

I  failed to realize that come Spring it would turn into a muddy, mucky mess.

 

Oh well, I think the view of the temple we get everyday on our drive out of the house makes dealing with the mud not seem so bad.

Piano duet

Chase loves to play the piano with me.  Our piano is a digital piano and has all kinds of instruments and drums, and I think he really likes that more than actually playing the keys, buts that's ok.  My favorite is when he puts his hands on top of mine as I play primary songs and sing them to him.  I'm grateful for little things like this that we can enjoy together.

Looking a little like Spring...

The sun was shining outside and we couldn't help ourselves.  We headed out for a wagon ride to get the mail, a daily adventure we enjoyed throughout last summer.

We were fooled however; despite the sun, there was a freezing wind.  We lasted a few extra minutes playing outside.

Before we had to head indoors to warm up with some "cocoa."

Another good day with my little buddy.

Jam it!

Nothing like a good ole' "jam it" for lunch.  "Jam it" refers to anything with jam on it, and boy does Chase love his "jam its."

This is my yucky medicine.

Let me preface this by saying that Daniel and I try to be good parents and try to do and say the right things, but more often than I would like- things come out that maybe shouldn't.  Being pregnant brings a lot of pills with it, and Chase has learned very well that Momma has to take yucky medicine.  "Yucky medicine" became an easy out when Chase wanted a drink of pop or other things we didn't want him to have yet, but I think he has finally caught on to what we are doing.

Last night after dinner I made a dessert and we were all eating some.  Suddenly Chase states, "this is my yucky medicine."

Yep, I think he's on to us.

Family Night

I love Family Night.  I'm so grateful that there is a night set aside once a week specifically for families.  I won't say that we are 100% faithful, and I won't say that it never gets thrown together last minute, but I love it all the same.

Potty Training attempt #1

I thought I would give potty training a try and see where Chase is at.  I'm a firm believer that there is no need to push him on this (until he is turning 3 maybe), but I wanted to see if he is ready.  My conclusion of this experiment is that we just aren't quite there yet.  He totally gets the idea that he shouldn't pee in his pants, but is not comfortable at all with going in the potty.  He holds it for 3.5-4 hours at which point he runs around, dancing with his legs together trying to hold it in.  When we put him on the potty, he squirms and freaks out if any pee comes out.  Therefore; to save the bladder of my two year old from exploding, I am putting it on hold. 


But I wouldn't call it a failure.  He learned a lot in the process.  This is his stuffed astronaut "Niel".  He needed to go "potty" today and Chase was just the guy to help him out.  He put him on the potty, gave him drinks of juice....

.... and gave him something special to hold while on the potty.  We were letting Chase hold something special to keep him on the potty and he thought it was important to pass that on to his dear friend.

I'm not worried.  We'll try again another day.

Bath time... In the life of Chase

Spend some time trying to figure out how things work- that's just something boys have to do.

Then time for some toys.  Look at that cute little boy smiling at me.

No wait!  Somethings funny...

What did I miss?

Ok, that was HILARIOUS whatever it was...

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever understand things like a 2 year old does.

Date night....

I had a special date night tonight.


You're probably thinking it was with Daniel, but Daniel had a guys night out tonight....


So I asked my second favorite guy in the whole world.


We did something each of us like to do.


Do for Chase, we popped popcorn and watched a movie.  The Land Before Time (or Dinosaurs as he calls it).

And we had a photo shoot for me.

Ok Chase look a little crazy....

Now cheese it!

Every once in a while we are graced with a kiss. Baby brother is spoiled with more than the rest of us, but I take my share when I can get them.

and you can never get too many of those.

It was a good night!

A couple belly pictures.

I didn't take a single belly picture when I was pregnant with Chase.  I have a couple that show my belly, mostly from the vacation we took during that time-frame, but not a single belly growth picture.  I vowed that this time around I would be faithful and do one every week.  I procrastinated starting and here I am with no pictures again.  I'm shooting for once a month this time.  I don't grow one of those cute bellies that some ladies get, so taking a picture that I can stand ends up being a nightmare, so this may be it... we'll see.

                                                 21 weeks (try to not pay attention to the mess in the background!)

                                                             25 weeks (Now!)

Chase saw Santa Clause again today.  I really wish he were a bit older and understood the whole idea of naughty and nice lists so I could use it against him.  I could tell him something along the lines of Santa coming to spy on him to make sure he was being good throughout the year, but that didn't work today.  He had to stop in the middle of a fit to acknowledge that there, right behind us in line, was Santa Clause.

This time the guy just smiled and said, "I sure hope you have been being a good boy!"  He must be used to being mistaken for Santa :)

My poor baby is sick today.  Daniel and I took turns all last night holding him to make sure we could help him sit up and throw-up in a bowl.  Watching a 2 year old throwing up, crying, and trying to figure out what on earth is going on- is heart breaking.  He's starting to feel a little back to himself today.  Poor guy.

Here is our New Years in pictures

Yucky Kisses!

Sleighing in Lyman on a sleigh made by Daniel's grandpa.


and being pulled by the truck..... down the road. 

For some weird reason, Chase is always a little shy when we first get to Lyman, but by the end of the trip he is best buddies with Grandpa and Grandma.

Here is Chase ready to sled.  He put up with the ride, but didn't seem to enjoy it too much.  Once his turn was done, he didn't want to get back on that sled.

He preferred riding in the truck with Grandpa while they pulled someone else.

 
Getting airplane rides from dad in a little plastic box.

We had a snow fight. 

...and played ring around the rosies

pocket full of posies

Ashes Ashes

We all fall down.

I know this could have been shot from a better position, but I rarely catch these tender moments.  By the way, Chase is laughing not crying :)

and finally.....
  Dear Blogger...
Please quite moving my pictures for me when I am trying to blog.   If I say I want it in the center, that's where I want it.  If I say I want it large, I do.  And if I say I want one picture to come first, that means I don't want the other to come first.  Please quite trying to outsmart me!