Two and a half

 So this is my two and a half year old post.  

I know I've missed a few months, but we'll just pretend that I haven't ;)

(getting his 2 1/2 year old measurements)

Wow...in a matter of a day, I feel as though Addison grew to be a year older.  He woke up yesterday morning (his 2 1/2 birthday) and immediately just seemed older!  His imagination is in full force, an incredible thing to watch.   

While on the way to the grocery store, he was sitting in his car seat having a pretty indepth conversation with his cars, pretending all sorts of things were happening.  He loves his cars, trains, puzzles, baby buzz lightyear, baby bullseye, baby ham, and alien (we're really into Toy Story right now).  And don't forget about his puppies.  They're his very best friends, and his love is very strong :)

We've also just started that delightful stage of repeating, questions, and funny sayings. How do kids do it?! They can say the same thing a million times over without stopping. Or ask the same question ten times even though you've given them the answer nine times. That part of this stage makes me want to pull my hair out at times, but it's worth it with all of the sweet things that go along with it.  Like when A grabs onto me tight and says "oh I just love you", or when he talks to Bodhi in the same low voice that Russ and I do.  The other day we were in the car pretty early and saw the sunrise.  I commented on how I thought the sunrise was pretty.  A's response..."The sunrise is pretty like Adele is pretty" (One of his "girlfriends") Really?!  How does he know to make that association, and why is he so smooth?!  Must get it from his Daddy :)

Lately he's been making us laugh with his understanding of what certain words mean. The other day we were at a friends' house and her little 10 month old fell when she was reaching for some snacks. A asked why she was crying, so I said "oh, she just lost her balance". A responded with "is that her balance?" pointing to the snacks. When she had stopped crying he asked "Did Nico find her balance?" That happened a few weeks ago, and I'm still laughing about it. And then just the other day, A was looking through our neighbor Carey's pictures on her phone. He pointed to one picture asking what it was, to which she replied "That's Miami!" A's response..."That's your Ami?".  Love this kid!

I am pleased to announce that A is potty trained!!  In my head I wanted him to be potty trained at 2 1/2, but never actually thought it would happen for a couple reasons.  First, when he was in diapers, the kid couldn't care less if his diaper was fully loaded, and falling off of him.  Second, he's a boy, and everyone says they are so much harder to potty train.  So how did I do it?  I didn't, he did.  All of the sudden he started showing interest in wanting to go pee in the potty.  So we jumped on board.  At first what really seemed to work was encouraging him that big boys go in the potty.  He was really big on wanting to be a big boy and do everything for himself, so that worked for awhile.  When that started to loose it's charm, we moved to stickers.  He got a sticker every time he went in the potty.  Our final method?  Tattoos...the temporary kind.  If you don't know already, my hubby is pretty covered with tattoos, and since A wanted to be just like daddy, we figured we could use tattos as an incentive for potty training!  He would still get a sticker for every time he went pee or poop. But if he went a full day without having any accidents, he would get a tattoo at the end of the day.  And every time he got a new tattoo he was so proud to have a new tattoo just like daddy :)  This method may not work for everyone, but it certainly seems to have worked for us!  He is now completetly day trained!  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, and there were days when I wanted to bang my head against the wall, but it was all worth it to not have to change poopy diapers any more!

I cannot believe that we are on our way to 3!  I know there are many more stories to be told, things to learn and fun things to do, and I cannot wait for it all!  We love you so much Addison Nolan Hickman!  Happy half birthday sweet boy!