November

What was new with Boyd in November? Well, I must have blinked twice because he is such a big boy now. He has grown a ton. Clothes that look like they should be to big, fit, he received his first hair cut November 10 (I almost cried when they took the clippers to it. Her comment was it will grow. My thought was did you know it took him almost two years for it to grow to this length?), and the physical and language explosion- wow!

Physically he can jump, climb, carry, kind of gallop, and hang. I had to hide the step stools today since he has been carrying them around to attempt to climb things like the entertainment center, on the top of the toilet, the walls, and my favorite today- stool on top of the rocking chair -yikes I think I have gray hair now. Good thing I am a helicopter parent so he hasn't had any major accidents. At little gym he is everywhere and he jumps from the platform, catches the bar, hangs and pikes. He is about to go solo on the balance beam too. At Grandma and Grandpa Ramsey's he realized he could reach light switches by standing on the stairs so he would turn the light on and scamper upstairs, this was followed by mischievous laughter and Boyd fun. He also likes to write and draw. Today he drew two great grandmas, two grandmas and mommy. Baking and mixing are of interest and he loves to put money into his piggy bank. He still loves cars, trucks, tractors, etc. Boyd can spot UPS trucks from half a mile away, even in the dark. He loves his bikes from the 1970's and knows he needs to wear his helmet. He likes to bike on the curb which he calls the bump, and into leaf piles. The mower is still a favorite toy as well.

Language wise Boyd speaks in sentences. He also says "Ok" every time he means yes. For Thanksgiving he told me he was thankful for Halloween and broken trees. Cousins were later added to his list, as well as "eating Andrew shared cold lunch" since his cousin shared his lunch while we waited to eat hot lunch with Tyler. He jumps into conversations to make sure his voice is heard. He also attempts to let you know when he is done with something by saying, "Ready to go." On our flight to Wisconsin Boyd walked to the forward doors and told me "Ready to go!" I showed him the clouds and told him we lacked parachutes so we couldn't quite go yet. Boyd loves to sing too. His favorite songs are Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Doggie Doggie, ABC's, and Little Gym songs. He is quite the performer. Much like Adam Boyd doesn't forget much and continues to amaze me by remembering things from months ago (Boyd asked for a book we read once about two months ago by asking for the characters name), directions, new words, etc. He doesn't shy away from difficult words either and loved saying Papa Udovich for his great grandpa. Unfortunately he copies things dad tells him to say too, like what do you want for Christmas? Boyd will say dog because Adam told him to say that, he even told Santa. Fortunately Santa knows better.

Emotionally Boyd shows a wide array of feelings. He likes to make all kinds of faces and experiment with how certain feelings should look. He copies things from his feeling books and pretends to be the characters (for example, "I'm scared" as he pulls the covers up to his chin). Then there is the idea of monsters thanks to Adam. Boyd is intrigued. The other day we had a gift wrapped up on our dresser, it was dark in the room and Boyd could see the outline. He tapped me and said, "Boogie Monster."

Boyd has been showing an interest in babies too. Then, over Thanksgiving he was able to spend some time with three; lets see if the interest continues. He had a difficult time keeping baby Brendan, Eddie, and Harper apart. He also had a tough time not being the center of attention.

Lightening McQueen is still his favorite character and thanks to hand me downs he is up to 5 McQueen shirts to rotate. He likes to wear random mommy shirts on occasion too, hence the Mizuno uniform in the haircut pictures.

Favorite food reported by Boyd are: Cookies and Great Grandma juice (orange juice). Boyd does love oranges, cucumbers, pickles, lasagna, bagels, cereal, chocolate milk, cheese, strawberries, and currently, ketchup.

Favorite Books: Papa please get the moon for me, Diaper David books, We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Favorite color: Brown

Favorite stores: Target and Best Buy

My nephews continue to remind me that Boyd was the perfect name since we so often say,
"Oh Boyd." Boyd is always coming up with some new way for us to love him more. He sure keeps our life lively and we gave thanks for him daily.