Holt: 2.5 years

Our little man was officially 2.5 years old on February 7th. HOW???

"the days are long but the years are short."

UMMMM, yeah.

This boy. Goodness y'all, my heart just feels like it could BURST from the love I have for him. He is smart and kind and funny. He loves BIG and is a joy to be around. He is very logical and literal (which gives way to some hilarious phrases and situations) and would rather do whatever an adult is doing than play with toys. He loves to learn, loves to "help": make coffee or cook or wash dishes or feed the dog or take out the trash. He has a servant-hearted spirit already and we hope to foster that as he continues to get older. When he wants to be held, he comes up and says "mama, hold you!" He is very independent and wants to do everything by himself--"no, MY do it!" (i love how he says that). He isn't a big cuddler at all (he never has been though, even as a baby) so if he asks me to sit by him on the couch, I drop whatever I'm doing and go sit and soak up the fleeting moments of cuddles he is willing to give me. He has started pushing boundaries and as a result we have had to change our discipline tactics. Some days I feel like all I do is discipline, but then he will just run up, give me the biggest hug and say "hi mama" and I melt into a puddle and completely forget about how mad I was just 2 seconds ago. He has the most beautiful curly hair and big brown eyes. He has the most contagious belly laugh and it instantly makes your day better.

*LOVES lawnmowers (and vacuums)---he got 2 play lawnmowers for Christmas

*can sing several songs by memory: itsy bitsy spider, ring around the rosy, holy holy holy, jesus loves me, wheels on the bus, you are my sunshine, ABC song, good morning God (BSF), old macdonald had a farm, this little light of mine
*made up a song: happy birthday today
*favorite movies/TV shows: Daniel Tiger's neighborhood, Magic School Bus (thank you Netflix), Finding Dory, Cars, Fox and the Hound, 101 Dalmatians
*loves to watch home videos on my phone (trying to do better of taking more of them)
*potty trained and in pull-ups for naps/nighttime

*MDO Tuesday/Thursday and BSF Wednesday

*has an EXTENSIVE vocabulary and speaks really well
*he has started learning that people have middle names and can list several--Holt Parker, Evie Elizabeth, and our best friends---Lorna Marilyne, Letty Renee, and Layla Dacie.
*my parents and I took him to a Razorback football game in Little Rock back in September--he STILL talks about seeing the band and watching the game

*he has an AMAZING memory--he still remembers events or things that happened from Summer 2016! He also remembers people very well--if he meets you once or twice he WILL remember you!
*In October, Daniel accepted a position of Associate Pastor at a church in the Fort Smith area. Holt hasn't skipped a beat. He has made this transition so seamlessly, it's like he has been at this church his whole life. He loves his Sunday School class and he instantly made new friends. Plus, he absolutely loves our pastor and his family. If you missed it, you can read all about it HERE
*Thanksgiving 2016--he especially loved the pheasant and deer and continues to ask to go back to Sno-lic.

*Zoo Day---we took the kids over to the Tulsa Zoo back in October for a day with our best friends and Holt still talks about how he needs to go back.

*Christmas 2016--he loved Christmas this year! He understood more of what was happening and got really good at opening presents ;) Since we had our house on the market, we didn't get out as many decorations so next year I'm hoping to remedy that. He also didn't really understand Santa, which is fine with us. Yes, we will do Santa a little bit but we are not pushing. I found a blogpost about how this family handled Santa with their kids and we plan to do the same READ HERE
Also, this next Christmas I plan to start Advent and get a few more Christmas books.

*Night Terrors during the night and naps--these started when Evie was born. we have gone through cycles--for a while we were down to only 1-2 times a night of screaming/crying and then it will escalate to 5 or more a night. We are continuing to pray God's protection over him and asking for the Lord to guard his mind as he sleeps. Thankfully he is still a great sleeper, but I know it's not as restful as it could be. We visited with our pediatrician about this---they suggest it possibly could be an issue with large tonsils and adenoids. Although I don't necessarily hope for surgery, I do hope this could be the answer. It would be a quick fix and he could get back to his normal sleeping habits. We may meet with an ENT in the near future.
*starting to play pretend and use imagination more---EX: driving the truck to work or to get donuts, playing in the kitchen and cooking, pretending he is mowing, pretending like he's sleeping
*interacting with sister more--loves to play peek-a-boo with her

*can list friends and where we see them--"school" friends, church friends, etc.
*fascinated with music and instruments--especially pianos and guitars

*we have noticed this about him since he was a baby, but he has a huge interest in taking things apart, seeing how they work, and putting them back together. he is very hands on, is curious about everything we do, and loves to learn. I am so interested to see how his interests develop as he gets older and what he decides to do as a career--maybe an engineer?
*loves to help make coffee, help cook (especially stirring), clean around the house, feed Sophie---anything to help!

*knows all his colors
*can recite his ABC's---can only recognize a few letters (his favorite is "o")
*one nap a day--12:30pm to (no later than) 3:00pm
*bedtime--7:30pm
*we haven't necessarily encountered much of the "terrible two's", although I feel like it might be picking up a bit. Over the last month or so, he has really started pushing boundaries and becoming more defiant. We have started a new method of discipline with "standing in the corner" and it seems to be pretty effective so far. Sometimes, it feels like we discipline ALL DAY LONG and others we hardly have to discipline at all. Trying to keep in mind it's worth the hard moments now to have a well behaved kid as he gets older.

Weight: 31.8 lbs (75th percentile)
Height: 36 ¼ inches (60th percentile)

Get ready for a massive photo dump!