Summer is coming to an end - the days are still steamy but the nights are getting cooler. It's getting darker a little earlier, and I know our days of long sunshine are limited. You are such an outdoor boy! You have gotten really great at driving your jeep - you jump in there and take off!  You can steer and get around the neighborhood streets really well; of course, we are walking beside you, but it is obvious you feel really independent in your little jeep ;). Daddy worked really hard and got your swing set done in a few days - you're in love with it. The look on your face when you saw it was absolutely priceless - poppy helped daddy so the three of us covered your eyess and showed you your big surprise. When we leave for Nancy's, you say "Bye swingset!"  ;) 

We still have you in our bed and we still change your diapers. Those are two big changes that I know we need to address very soon.  Life is just passing by so quickly...you're growing up way too fast. You don't like to be held or carried as much as you used to, you talk in full sentences, you won't sit in a high chair or booster seat, and you call yourself a "big boy."  It makes Mama so sad. I just want to slow down the time.  

We were outside playing the other day while Daddy was mowing and you wanted to do every thing he was doing. You drove along side of him in your jeep while he rode the yard tractor the entire time. He stopped to work on his mower, so you ran and got screw drivers and "worked on your jeep."  He stopped and put his hand on your hip, so you jumped up and mimicked him - you did every thing he did...it was stinking cute. 

You are pretty indecisive right now - I do not know if this is part of your age right now, or what's going on. For example, Daddy was going to get gas tonight, you said you wanted to go with him...so I walked you over...you started screaming that you wanted to stay home. So lame e went to leave, so you screamed you wanted to go... It went on like that for several minutes. Obviously it's not just a game you're playing because you get really really upset...but we just don't know what you want? I hate making you upset, but at that point I don't think abything would make you happy. You were fine a few minutes after he left though but the whole thing just confuses me. 

You love The Lion King!  You sing the songs and get quite a kick out of Pumba. I always fast forward the sad scary part though - you're too young to see that violence! You still love the jungle book, Cars, and Disney's Lucky Duck! (A short movie about a Rubber Duckie that doesn't squeak and is actually extremely unlucky!) We went to Huff and Puff this weekend (a hot air balloon rally at shawnee lake) and you had your face painted like Lucky Duck. I have never seen a cuter face!! Aunt Sheena's mom had a face painting booth out there and you were fantastic while turning into Lucky Duck! You sat on mama' slap perfectly still.  You really enjoyed seeing all the balloons - we watched them

Full up with air and then take off. You waved at all of them and just ran through the rally quacking and flapping your duckt wings. It was such a cute night. We spent the rest of the weekend visiting uncle Dave and Sheena - they don't get to come to town very often with his school schedule so we take advantage of any time we can get with them.

Kambree is your current little BFF...but you two are quite the duo. I just know that you'll be quite the ornery pair over the next few years. You're little rascals :) of course you love all of your girls, but as Kambree gets older...you two love to play together. You actually torment her...haha, but she tolerates it.  They love their little Lathan...everyone does! :) 

First Vacation

We are on our way home from Omaha, Nebraska!  It's not very far away, but it was the perfect first vacation for you!  We left Friday morning and arrived about ten am. We started off at the Omaha Zoo - it was just voted the number one zoo in the world!  You really enjoyed it - they have such neat exhibits and it's HUGE!!!  We rode on the Skyfari which takes you across the zoo by a sky tram. I was afraid you would be scared, but like always... You had no fear. Mama was the one that was terrified the entire time... Not because of heights, but because I was terrified you were going to fall out. I had the death grip on you. In typical Lathan fashion, you told me you were a big boy and to let go of you. Can you stop growing up so fast??  After about five hours we headed to the hotel - Coco Keys Water Resort!  We just did a little walking around downtown, did some shopping, and grabbed dinner. You did ok in the hotel; at first, you told us you wanted to go home and you didn't like that bed... But eventually you fell asleep. You didn't nap that day so we knew you were exhausted. 

Saturday was the Children's Museum!  You were on sensory overload there!! That place is absolutely amazing.... It's a place for kids to run around and explore. You were amazed with the mechanical working room - it was a series of pipes, cranks and levers that would shoot balls out of them. You loved shoving the balls in and watching the air push them through - we spent a lot of time there. To also really enjoyed the miniature grocery store, and the special dinosaur exhibit they had. There was a free picnic outside so we sat outside and are hotdogs and played on their swing sets.  After your naptime, we went to the water resort in the hotel (which was also huge and amazing) and ended the day at the Amazing Pizza Machine. It is similar to a GIGANTIC chuck e cheese - large dinner buffet, a lot of arcade games, rides, and your surprise at the end - go kart racing!!! Any arcade game that involved racing, you always found your way to it - that's your obsession right now. You were really surprised when we took you to race go karts at the end :) 

Today, we went back to the zoo. You said you wanted to see the lions and monkeys again, and you wanted to go for another ride.  (Skyfari) so we went for another three hours and then hit the road and headed for home!  We couldn't have asked for a better weekend - the weather was perfect, the places were not too busy, and you were such a well behaved little boy!  You told us "I like this vacation!" "Fun day!!" "This vacation is neat!" "I like this hotel." It made us so happy to know that you had such a great weekend - that was exactly what we wanted. :) 

I still find myself staring at you in awe sometimes... Or watching you sleep and feeling my heart just fill up with love. I do not know how I fall more in love with you every single day, but I do. I can not get enough of your cuddles, hugs, and kisses. My heart melts when you put your hand on my cheek and tell me you love me or ask for me to hold you. I know there will come a day when Baby Boy will outgrow Mama; the thought of that day immediately brings tears to my eyes.  You are my world and I just can't fathom the thought of losing my Lathan snuggles.  You're laying beside me on my pillow and the sounds of you snoring fill up the room... My perfect little boy. I wish I could keep you little forever. 

We had your 2 1/2 year old check up- no shots! Yay!  You are in the 85th % for height and 21st for weight - the same trend since birth... Tall and skinny!  Just like always, the dr was very impressed with you and said you're way past your milestones. Your speech is amazing and range of vocabulary really pleased them - again, just like always... GENIUS!  We talked about potentially starting potty training and she gave us some tips. I'm still very concerned how you will do with that because you do not handle change well at all. We will probably start that fairl soon. If you're reading this, and still in diapers, obviously we failed. :)

You really love the movie CARS and still want to race any and every thing you can race. You want us to race cars that we see while driving, you race your toys, you race Rocky, and so on and so on. You're just a little racer! :) Another one of your new favorite movies is The Jungle Book - I knew you would love that movie because of all of the singing and the different animals - specifically the marching elephants. You get down on your hands and knees and put your "trunk" in the air and "march" while chanting 123123123 (You won't count past 3... So that's as far as you will go with your marching chant.). 

You are always singing and dancing to any and every song that is on TV, the radio, my phone, etc. You just love your music. You have a special dance you made up consisting of just tapping your toe different ways. Pretty fancy! Haha. You still love baseball, pizza, and your buddy Rocky!  

Your vocabulary is amazing these days!  You can actually form several word sentences - I just love listening to you talk.  You love the Sherriff Callie cartoons (a cartoon about the Wild West - Sherriff Callie is a cat and her friends are all different animals) Anyhow, so you picked up "western talk" and you have re-named your Daddy "partner". I think it is just the sweetest thing ever - when he picks you up from daycare you scream "my partner is here!!!" Something special with you two! (You've called me your best friend...so mama isn't jealous) ;)  you still call Mama "Baba," it's a cute little name that you came up with yourself - I don't exactly know how, but I like it. 

You also are really big into Disney CARS - specifically Lightning McQueen - a bright red racecar who is super fast - we have bought you several of the cars and we race them all the time. You like to re-enact the movie, specifically where King Car wrecks and McQueen says "the King has to finish his last race" and pushes him to the finish line - I couldn't tell you how many times we play that scene out daily. It's so cute to see your imagination and creative mind play - you use your memory to remember the exact lines from the movie and interactive play with daddy and I. I just love it. 

We celebrated the 4th past week - you had such a wonderful time. A wonderful week actually! Poppy took off most of the week and wanted to hang out with you, so you didn't go to daycare. You guys went toy shopping, fishing, swimming, and just played and played. July 3rd is our traditional shooting of fireworks at the lake - you really had a good time watching every thing, and just being outside in general! We kept you up late that night but not nearly as late as the actual July 4th celebration. We had our while family over for a BBQ and to swim, and then went to the cemetery to shoot fireworks off for Ma. It brings mama peace being there - I know that's only her body and not her soul, but I still feel closer to my mama being there. Afterwards, we all went to the lake for the big firework show - the whole family was there and the show was fantastic! You were kind if sleepy and asked to go home around 930... But the show starters at 10 any then you were asking for more! :) just like mama knew you would.  We met up with a bunch of family - poppy, auntie, Ezra, the girls, David and Sheena, great Gma pat, great aunt Debbie, great uncle Rodney, and distant cousins Jonny, crystal, Maria, Tyler, Connar, Austen, Trevor, and Malachi. It is always fabulous being with family! You cuddled up on mamas lap and watched the entir firework show.... At 1030 we headed home, by 10:32 you wer out cold! I knew my baby was sleepy. There was so much traffic it took us over an hour to get home... You slept the next say until 930. We even had to wake you up then! The rest of the weekend was spending time with David and Sheena before they had to go home to Wichita.  It was the cutest thing when you saw hem on the 3rd - we pulled up to the lake and you wer naming everyone you could see and Hahn you screamed Sheena!!! And even louder "and David's here!!!!" You loooove your uncle David. Or course you love everyone, but you just don't get to see him as much. 

You are really enjoying summertime - you finally love riding around in your Fisher Price jeep and your truck - we still steer for you though... You have driven into trees, ditches, Daddy's car without assistance.  As I said earlier, you love Lightning McQueen right now - so naturally you love to pretend your jeep is a race car. You rev the engine up so the tires just spin and you scream "I'm racing!!!" You also are auch a waterbug - you love swimming in your pool in your "swimming soups." We also bought you a lightning McQueen life jacket that you love to float around while Mama or Daddy holds you.  Daddy built you an outdoor chalkboard and hung it on the fence - yet another outdoor activity Little Lathan loves!  We play lots of tag, go on lots of nature walks, bike rides, and you help daddy pick up sticks and work in the garden.  We picked our first tomatoes yesterday and you took a big bite...then immediately spit it back out! :) 

Your temper tantrums have calmed down a lot... Thank goodness.  We started putting you in a booster seat rather than a high chair at restaurants and hat seems to help a lot.  You actually behave yourself now (for the most part) ;) We Are still working on insid voices and not hitting and punching whn you get angry.  I just remind myself you don't know how to express your emotions and I try and cqlm you down.  You're only two,.. You are ornery, loud, rambunctious, but in mamas eyes...youre Perfect. 

Sometimes you make me question my parenting. I love you with every ounce of this large body :) but sometimes...I just don't know what to do!  You are in the wonderful toddler years - so full of excitement, eager to explore, your vocabulary is amazing, you are stinking adorable... But you are also incredibly stubborn and just ornery. You do not like to share your toys (understandable of an only child) you have this demonic little yell when you don't get your way, and you're really bad about hitting. You slap us in iur faces all the time - it's so embarrassing. You slapped me so hard while shopping at Lowe's that my sunglasses flew off m face. The worker across the way gasped and shouted" oh my gosh! Are you ok???" I hurriedly said "yes" and ran out if the store. I don't know what to do. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed. I panic that you are becoming unruly and if we don't stop the behavior now- it will it get so much worse as you grow up. I just get so nervous that I'm doing something wrong. I don't agree with spanking - I don't think hitting my baby when I'm mad at him will do anything but teach you that it is ok to hit when you are mad. I'm trying to stop that behavior... Not encourage it!  We try time outs but you scream and hit during them... I just don't know. I remind myself that you are oy two and you are in fact a little sweetheart... These are just phases. When you caused the biggest scene EVER at Applebee's and we had to get our food to go... Through clenched teeth...I took deep breaths and reminded both myself and daddy that this happens to parents constantly. Everyone goes through it. Breathe in Mama, Breathe out!!!! 

We lost a good buddy this past weekend. Little Macoy went to join Ma with the angels... The dr thinks he had a mass in his belly. We knew something was wrong when that fat little doggie stopped eating... Four days later, he was gone :( mama and daddy was very very sad... We cried and cried. You don't understand, you tell us everyday that Coy is sick or that Coy is with Ma. You talk about him every day and you've told us several times that you miss him. The day he passed away, I told you that Coy wasn't coming home from the vet. He was going to be with Ma. You said, in a very sad little voice, "no! I want him!" So I told you that he was sick and wanted to play with angels and you said "ok, it's just rocky now." Talk about heart wrenching! :( 

Hi little buddy!  

Today was your last tumbling class of he session... You really love going to those. You still do not listen very well during them but your motor skills have grown drastically - you can walk on the balance beam and do front rolls - two examples of thinks you could not do at the start. You actually do the stations and enjoy it rather than just aimlessly run around. They had a bounce house for a surprise today but you were too scared to even get near it ; that was frustrating because I know you would have loved it. You just are so scared of new things and it takes you a while to warm up to them... So we sat and watched the others jump and play.  Someday, you'll love things like that...but for now, you're still leery. 

We celebrated Mother's Day last weekend ; thank you for making my day so special!  You bought mama a Ross bugs and you and daddy carried it in and you were yelling "surprise!!!"  You also got me some wireless headphones for when I exercise. We went to a BBQ at grandma bye's and the whole family was there ; they all get such a kick out of you and the girls... You all can always make anyone smile. (In fact, just last night... Great aunt Theresa was having a bad night so she stopped by for a lathan hug. She said you can always make things better)  Mother's Day was nice and I'm so thankful for you- you are the reason I can celebrate that day so it's just as special for you too. It was obviously a sad day as well because I miss my mama so much... But spending special time with you makes me feel semi-whole again. You are my world. 

You are so stinking funny.  The things that come out of your mouth these days - the expressions- they're hilarious. You were rough housing with daddy the other day and accidentally bloodied his nose... You look at him and said "gross!!! Gross daddy!"  Haha. "Oh I'm so sorry you are grossed out by my bleeding nose that you caused."  You are loving Disney jr "sheriff callie" it's a cowboy-like cartoon about a sheriff cat and her horse "sparky". Naturally, Rocky has became sparky and you ride him all over the place!  You say "getting up horsey!" "Move it sparky!" Poor rocky just tolerates it. Your best little buddy. 

Your other obsession is baseball. You absolutely love going to Kendalyn's games ; we play catch with you a lot and you hit the ball off the tee. Next year, we will get you signed up for tee ball. You will be so thrilled... So will your daddy!! You started saying "baseball rocks!" (Kendalyn taught you that). You sure love your girls.