Terrible Two's. Temper Tantrums.  Meltdowns. Yelling. Screaming. Throwing yourself down on the floor. Fit Throwing. Yup, that sums up our lives these days. You're such a little sweetheart, but when you throw a fit...they are intense!  Anything can set you off and you have the strangest requests - you want to wear your coat inside the house, you want me to sit on the toilet and hold you at midnight (that was a fun night... 30 minute meltdown...you screamed and yelled bc you woke up and wanted to hang out in the bathroom.) you're out of juice, Auntie might want to eat your goldfish crackers (This was first thing in the morning...Auntie wasn't even at our house)  Macoy looked at you while you had your trains and obviously that means he's going to take them from you. Haha. Mama just takes deep breaths and we work through the tantrums. You still won't eat anything of nutritional value, you aren't sleeping the greatest...but it's all a part of childhood development. So we will get through this time together :) 

When you aren't having a meltdown, we are actually having a lot of fun. You love to sing and dance right now... In fact, the table next to us at Outback really appreciated you joining in the Happy Birthday song last night - you sang your little heart out! ;) You are such a little mime and try to repeat a lot of what you see and hear - your favorite "tough" word is "Catastrophe!!" It's adorable when you try and repeat it. Speaking of adorable, you told me that you were "Mama's Baby" the other day...ummmm melt my heart!!! Not so adorable, is when you continuously call me "Steen" in public. Haha. 

We have such a big two year old these days!  I can not believe how quickly it's going by... Don't blink...I might miss it!  

This has been a really tough winter so far. We currently have about 16 inches of snow out there... Thumbs down!  We made snow ice cream the other night and you surprisingly ate it. You don't eat anything new... EVER!  You still don't like to actually go out in the snow though and you barely want to touch it... But you love the fact it has snowed. You just look outside the window and talk about the snow and talk about HoHo - it's neat that you remember the last time it snowed was Christmas and you correlate the two. So smart. 

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Day of loooove!  You had your party at daycare yesterday with all of your friends; we made sports valentines for your buddies and Mama made Mickey heart shaped cookies. They turned out really cute and everyone seemed to love them!  I can totally see me being one of those crazy "room mothers" when you are in school... I love going above and beyond with cute little ideas like that for you!!! 

You are such a mime... You repeat everything you hear!  That's why I automatically become "Steen" when you're around the girls... Such a little shadow.  Mama dropped something the other day and I said "Oh Shoot!" And you said it over and over afterwards. (Thank goodness I just said Shoot!") 

Lathan-isms

After looking at a picture of Sheena in her wedding dress, You screamed "Sheen!!! Cute!!!!"  "Aww baby, uou think Sheena looks pretty?" "Ummm... Nope."  Sorry Sheena, he's just not impressed!!! 

We had family photos done for the church directory and you took it upon yourself to introduce me to the photographer as "Steen!!!" 

You insisted on going to sleep cuddling with a water cup the other day. Total meltdown when I tried to take it. That was how you slept until I could finally sneak it away. 

Kambree is starting to walk... You like to mimic her and walk behind her. You look like a little robot while baby girl stumbles around. Hilarious. 

Speaking of robot, that's currently your favorite dance. 

You pooped in the bathtub the other night... Again.  You pee the bed every single night... You wake up soaked, the bed is soaked, I am soaked. Yuck! 

Daddy asked you if you were going to be a basketball player or a baseball player when you grew up... You told us you were going to be a robot. (You REALLY like robots these days.) 

You tell me my car is "Kiki" (your word for dirty) everytime I load you up in your car seat. Yes Lathan, Mama really needs to wash it. 

While getting dressed today, you decided it was appropriate to run up and squeeze mamas belly fat. Haha. Way to help a girls self esteem!  

You played dinosaurs the other day and you call yourself the "BabySaur." It was adorable. 

You put on our oven mitts and run around yelling Football!!!  Slightly confused as to why. 

Today is your birthday!  My how the time has flown. Everyday since January 22, 2012... You have been such a blessing. You have given mama a reason to life the best life possible... You are the reason for all of my decisions, and I truly know what it means to love someone so much more than myself.  I would do anything for you my little boy!  You are my whole world.

We had your birthday party this past weekend and it was AMAZING!  You had the best day ever. Mama and daddy worked so hard to throw you the ultimate mickey party and you were in awe of all of the "Hotdogs" and all the decorations. There were Mickey's EVERYWHERE!! Everyone that you love was there and it was just the perfect day.  Lots of presents, lots of cake, lots of fun!  When everyone left but Mama's immediate family, we have you your last present. A new Power Wheels Jeep!  It happened to be 60 degrees that day, so you and Ken and Kass had a blast riding up and down the street in it.  My heart was so happy. 

Sadly, you started to get sick the next night. So mama took off yesterday to cuddle and take care of you. The bad news is that you're still sick today. You puked up your birthday breakfast cinnamon roll... So the day I had planned for us today...probably isn't going To happen. Like Ma always told me, your best days are ones when you're just hanging out with your parents...so just spending your birthday at home cuddled with mama probably isn't too terrible in your eyes! :) 

Two Year Old Lathan:

You have really formed a personality with an ornery sense of humor. You have your own form of jokes and we all think you are so funny!  You have such an imagination and it's been so much fun watching you grow into this creative little boy. You're definitely left handed!!! You are such a lover boy/ mamas boy... But you're also just ALL boy. You sadly love watching sports ;) you scream FOOTBALL or BASEBALL when it's on tv. You love to wrestle, play the drums, or just bang on things it's your hammer. So much testosterone.... But then you look at me and say "Mama, hold please!" And I scoop you up in my arms and I remember you're always going to be mamas little boy.  The dr was really pleased with all of your milestones; you're doing far beyond what's recommended for your age.  You talk all the Time and form little sentences. We are working on shapes, colors, and counting still., it's stressful being in hargr of all or your knowledge...I'm always afraid I am doing sorthing wrong... But so far you're growing into a every healthy and SMART little boy.  You're still tall and skinny. Almost 37 inches long (95th percentile) and 26 lbs (24th percentile). Youe so incredibly picky... I wish you would eat more and then maybe you wouldn't be so skinny!!! 

The past two years have been amazing,  I thank god everyday for the blessing he gave me in you.  Thank you lathan for being mamas sunshine...my only sunshine.  You make me happy when skies are grey.  You'll never know dear, how much I love you.  Please don't take my sunshine away. 

Love you Lathan.  

Christmas time was so much fun with you!  You were pretty small last year, so this was the first Christmas where you understood. You tore open your presents and became so excited with every new toy you received. Daddy had finished the basement so Santa was able to put a huge wooden train table and big play kitchen down there for you. Your little eyes just lit up when you saw them!  It was hard getting you to leave though, but we had a big day of Christmas ahead of us!  We started off at Ma and Poppy's house... Then GG's for lunch, and then after nap and cuddle time... We ended at Great Grandma Patty's!   We went and visited Ma's grave and wished her a merry Christmas. You waited in the car with Poppy though because we had a white christmas this year... It was so incredibly cold.  

Uncle David FINALLY proposed to Sheena so we can OFFICIALLY say she's your aunt now!  She's always been your "aunt" and has been a huge part if your life... So we are all so excited to actually have her as an official part of the family! 

We celebrated New Years Eve last night at Auntie's... We played board games, drank sparkling grape juice, and wished each other a happy new year at 10:00!  We couldn't make it to midnight. You and I fell asleep almost immediately after we hit the bed.  

Today is the first day of 2014; boy oh boy, am I hoping it's a good year! 2013 about emotionally killed me after losing Ma but we all got through it. You have grown and changed so much this year... I am so excited to see what 2014 brings for you.  You are really big into imaginative play right now, you look to "cook" in your new kitchen and actually interact play a lot! Your talking has just taken OFF too! You say so many new words and actually form sentences now. You love being able to communicate your wants and wishes rather than just cry or point for what you want. 

Funny things:

You burped the other day and said "Excuse you!"  (Apparently you don't understand the concept yet.) 

Rocky was snoring and it really concerned you. You jumped up and ran over to him and said "Are you ok Dog?" 

 You apologize all the time... You ran into Dave the other day and said "Oh! So sorry David!" 

You had a major meltdown the other day because I wouldn't let you keep your hand down your pants. Then later, you had another one because the lady at Lowe's had to take the dish soap from you for a minute to ring it up. 

You screamed HOHO at every older white haired bearded man you saw this Christmas season. 

Love you my little man! Looking forward to an awesome 2014 with you!!! 

Christmas is just right around the corner! You have been such a blast this holiday season so far.  It is so much fun to see Christmas through the eyes of a child - you are in awe of all the Christmas lights, of every Santa picture, of every Christmas gift, of every snowman, of each and every Christmas decoration,  we went through "Winter Womderland" which is this huge light display and you just sat and clapped and pointed at everything.  You said over and over again "Lights! Wow!!!" You would say the colors of the lights and just enjoyed very minute of it.  

This last weekend, we went to Disney on Ice with Uncle Ezra, auntie, and the girls,  that was the best day EVER!  We had absolute front row seats for it; I am not sure how we didn't know that when we bought th ticketsm but as we were trying to find our seats...we just kept going farther down the bleachers until the last row.  Mama and daddy had to stop and ask an employee if the tickets were right because we had no idea we were sitting VIP. Wee just knew that you were going to have the time of your life.  Mickey Mouse was the host of it and as soon as he came out you screamed HotDog! Goof! Donald Duck!  You also really like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story so you had your little. Us toy on your lap through the entire two hour show,  we couldn't believe how fantastic you behaved there!  The Disney show held your attention the entire time... You screamed more! More! When it was over.  The best part was at the end the performers skated around and gave everyone a high five...since we were front row, you and the girls were first in line.  Soooo my man, you got a high five from yr idol Mickey Mouse!!!! The joy in your eyes was enough to make my entire year,  

Halloween and Fun

You are growing so fast... Somedays I look at you and wonder where my baby boy has gone. You are so tall and your baby face has matured so much and you look like a little boy now... Not a baby. It's sad to think about but this age is so much fun too.  You love interactive play; you play with your choochoo's all the time, you love it when we play cars with you, you love your little people... It's just so neat to see your little imagination at work.  

We had family Halloween pictures last weekend; the first time you had your costume on you LOVED it. You ran around screaming "Hotdog!!!"and didn't want to take it off.  On family picture day, we put your costume on and you ran around screaming "Help!!" And you tried to rip it off.  Go figure. After several fits and meltdowns and one very mad little mouse...Danielle was able to get some really cute pictures of you!  We were very pleased with them.  

Halloween was Thursday.  Mama took off Thursday and Friday to hang out with you and spend some special time.  We started out the day at Daddy's job... Everyone swooned over you. We spent some time there and you got some yummy candy and ice cream.  Next we went to great aunt Theresa's job with auntie nd the girls.  Great Uncle Rodney and Great Grandma Pat came along as well. It was a lot of fun... We went to all of the different Halloween stations they had at her job and you got sooooo mic candy!!!!  It took you a little bit to warm up, but once you realized you would get candy from them... Y ran right up there with your mickey bucket and picked you out some candy.  At one point, I looked down and realized you had stolen the entire bucket of candy and you were carrying it around.  Haha.  You thought you hit the jackpot!!!  After nap time, it was time to do some trick or treating!  We went to a few neighbors, and the church had trunk or treat so we spent some time over there as well.  You were so much fun - you really interacted and participated in Halloween this year.  You ran up to doors with the girls and really trick or treated,  mama and daddy had a blast with you!  Uncle Dave came back in town so all of us ended the night walking around Poppy's neighborhood together - Every time we have a family event or a family holiday, there is that hole inside... Things just do not seem whole without ma here.  I just know how much she would get a kick out of you growing and learning... But I know she is watching over you.  

You are totally obsessed with Kambree.  You call her Baby and run and give her lots of hugs and kisses when you see her.  I don't think you understand that she is so little though because sometimes you try to tackle her or push her down to ride on her back like a horsey-ride... Other times you run up and try to touch her face and point to her eyes... It's just a little rough for a seven month old baby but she is tough!  You don't understand what you're doing so we just tell you to be gentle with the baby.  Actually... You're rough with everyone though.  You put a pen in kasssidys eye on Halloween, you slapped daddy in the face... You just play soooo rough.  We are working on playing a little nicer though.

We have really enjoyed letting you make decisions lately; we ask you about clothes to wear, lunches, milk, juice, water?  You always answer us Nope, nope, no, until you decide and then you say Ok.  It

Is so cute and you really like helping us choose as well... You feel so grown up and independent.  You love helping us do mini chores as well - folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, picking up toys, etc.  the other day I was handing you dishes as I unloaded them and you surprised me because you knew right where everything went!  Tupperware went in the Tupperware drawer, measuring cups went I. The utensil drawers... I was impressed!!! You are so smart and such a big little helper!