My sweet Julian. Where do I begin in chronicling the fascinating and hilarious little boy you are growing into? Mommy & Daddy tell you often "Julian, you are so sweet!" and you nod and smile, almost shyly and say "ha, yeah!" We also tell you how handsome you are, and you will also say "Mama, you look handsome!" hours or days later. (One thing: you are a SPONGE and hear everything we say and repeat it, too!) Lately he's been scrunching up his face, and saying in a pleading tone: "Mama, I need a kiss"...and then I give him one. Sometimes he'll then repeat the process, saying he needs another one! Oh, I will kiss you all day long little boy!
Last week while I was at mutual, Stace and the babies went to Sonny's with the Savage's. Being that it was bedtime, Julian was very tired, and so he was fussing. Ms. Amelia was offering him food off her plate, and he stopped fussing just long enough to look at her and say "no, thank you" then continued fussing...haha! That's my boy! So proud he did it even while upset and without prompt. In fact, he has been saying "please" and "thank you" without prompt really well for a while now. I still remind him, out of habit, and often times will be reminding him at the same time as he's saying it. Oops!
Julian is SO opinionated & SO strong-willed. He is so precious, but he definitely can be difficult! I try to tell myself it's just his age, but seeing him with the other kids at gymnastics makes me wonder "is it really just his age, Kim? really?" I am hoping that as he gets used to more structured group activities, like gymnastics for example, it will be a little easier for him. He is always so good in nursery, so I'm told. I guess there's something about a bunch of big climbing toys and foam pits being right next to him, and being told he can't play with them just yet, just really irks him! (He has to do some stretching-type things first that so far, he wants nothing to do with!) I'm definitely going to pray that this week is our best gymnastics week yet!
When Julian sings, he moves his body and dances expressively depending on the tempo of the songs. It's HILARIOUS. So if it's a slow song, he'll scrunch up his face, and move his head gently from side to side. haha!
He is really loving Family Home Evening time. I cherish this time, too. It's heaven on earth time. A sweet lesson, some songs, a fun game and a treat as a family. What could be better? Nothing. Last week we talked about making good choices/ decisions and bad choices/ decisions. I read a few scenarios about a little boy, and Julian had to decide if the little boy in each scenario made a good or a bad choice, and he'd do thumbs or thumbs down with Daddy. Well, Daddy started calling the bad choices "boooo" choices, and Julian thought it was hilarious. So now he says he wants to make "boooo choices" because he thinks it's funny! ha! So...that kinda backfired on us! He does understand the difference though, and I know he really does want to make good choices, he just likes to laugh at Daddy's silly voices and jokes! Julian absolutely dies of laughter at the silly things Stace does...usually it has to do with sound effects, throwing Julian up in the air, tickling him, or chasing him. It's so fun to watch:)
Lately he's been calling me "Ma!" and we find it hilarious. "Where's we goin, Ma?" "Whatcha doin', Ma?" "What's that called, Ma?"
He LOVES to be tickled! And to be chased! Lately we've been playing hide and go seek. He loves to say "ready or not, here I come!"
"Look, mama! It's a diamond car!" back when the Super Bowl was happening this year...
He sometimes gets in this little portable bassinet, asked for his "bottle", and his blankets, and pretends to whine & cry and says he's a baby, and waits for mommy to love on him and calm him down. He will always be my baby<3 And he sure doesn't need to do that to get my affection...I think sometimes I smother him! ha!
A surefire way to entertain him is to bring out the "Mommy Spider!" And he brings out his baby spider. It's just our hands pretending to crawl around like spiders...and he loved pretending! He's at his Grandmama's today, and she told me he sat on the couch today and was talking like he had a little imaginary friend, saying "it's time for lunch." "no, it's not time for lunch!" etc...:) He loves to play trains and cars with me, and he'll put his little toy car up to the one he's handed me and we'll carry on a conversation between our cars/ trains.
It seems that everything to him has a mommy and a baby. For example, this ball. "The mommy ball has the baby ball in it's tummy!"
Julian still goes without pants at the house since we started potty training about a month ago.
Speaking of potty training, here's the little champion now!
I had my cabinet drawers open the other day as I was putting away St. Patrick's Day decorations and pulling out Easter ones. He sat down next to me & found my bag of seashells, and he was just delighted! He then proceeded to pull the shells out of the bag, hold them to his ear, and make the sound of the ocean!
He loves to spin around! That is, to spin you around in a chair, and also to be spun. Here he is having the time of his life doing so with his cousins:
Because he loves spinning so much, he is in luck because we live close to "the spinny park!" everything at this park goes around and around...
I know I've mentioned before that Julian is a CRAZY sleeper! He twists his body around and upside down, and as you can see below, even halfway off the bed! I have been going into his room each night lightly just to watch him sleep and kiss his sweet baby soft cheeks one last time before I go to sleep. This is what I found last week at about 12:30 AM!
And another silly sleeping position:
He also loves to read any of the Brown Bear, Brown Bear type books (Polar Bear, Baby Bear, etc). By himself! They're pretty easy to "read" because he just looks to the next page to say whatever the current animal is hearing/ seeing. What is awesome is that with the Polar Bear What Do You Hear book, he usually gets the verb right, too! Whether it be "snarling", "fluting", "hissing" etc...speaking of reading...boy oh boy, does he have me wrapped around his finger! Last week I went into his room after putting him down for a nap as I heard him talking and playing. Before I opened his door, I was fully prepared to go inside, give him a firm look and say "Julian, it's nap time. You need to get back into bed and go to sleep." Before I could utter a word, he said
"Mommy, I need to read the horsie a book." He had been rocking in his little chair, and pulled his horse right up next to him, and was showing the horse the pictures. My heart about melted. So of course I pulled out my camera to take a picture on my phone!
Then I ran to get my real camera to get a better quality picture, but by the time I got back, he'd pulled open a different book and was now sitting on the ground. I sat down on the bed and joined in the audience and let Julian finish reading his story...then it was nap time!
Mr. Cool reading his Gospel ABC Book on his way to church.
He got his haircut in early January. Even though I want to try and grow it back out, he started to look like a bit of a ragamuffin again, so Stace pulled out the tools and gave him a little trim to make it not so trashy looking! But it's growing out steadily...patience is a virtue...
There is another park we love to go to right by my gym. It is sooo adorable! It has crooked play houses, as well as the usual playground fixtures. Here is Julian peeking through the window at a "friend." One thing I love about Julian is that to him, all little children are his friends. He is so friendly to other little children. It about breaks my heart when people aren't friendly back to him, because I worry about what he's thinking...if it makes him sad, or makes him feel bad. Nobody likes to be shut down. So far he hasn't responded to a lack of communication from other kids when he talks to them, and I tell them what I believe to be true: "he didn't hear you, baby."
He's quite the little monkey! Here he is showing off his newfound skills of climbing.
He has been honing them since at his (Groupon) gymnastics classes!
He loves to ride in the big boy swing now! And he always wants to go faster and higher! My baby is growing up! :(
He really likes hanging with his pal, Riley! Riley's parents are some of our best friends, and we got to see them in February and March! Riley is such a sweet boy, and Julian thinks he's pretty awesome, too!
Julian and Riley on the train at Downtown Disney:
Here is Julian on St. Patrick's Day. FUN little boy!
And, such a sweet big brother. He loves his little baby "Ella Gracie". He is patient with her, and gives her toys to play with. And if he takes them from her, he rarely ever has a problem giving them back to her. He is really learning so well how to be a good big brother and nice friend.
Julian loves to be loved, as all children do, and he just could not be happier than to be in the presence of his family and friends who love him...
And we all love him so much. He is such a special little boy!
