child number two

Well, since I'm up bright and early on a Saturday morning, I figured I might as well get back to that post I was promising. All about my baby boy...

I don't even know where to begin. Thinking about what I wanted to document here, I kept finding myself thinking of all the troublemaking things. The frustrations and the hidden chuckles and the pulling my hair out that go along with the mischief and ornerinesss and plain old two-year-old-ness that is Sawyer, kept overshadowing the normal milestones like talking and learning things like colors and abc's and the all the fun things he's loving right now. But then I realized (duh) that it's not like I'm trying to brag here on all the good things that make up my boy. I don't have to put on a filter and stick to the positives... this is about writing down memories. Those things that he gets into and the bad habits he has, that's part of who he is too and I will want to look back at that someday. So here's Sawyer.... the good, the bad, and the rest of it.

I'd start with the early mornings, but I've already gone over that and there's really not much left to say on that topic. Except, man, I'd like to sleep past 6 someday.

When we finally come downstairs each morning, he heads straight for the pantry asking for a "nack". He is all about the snacks. He's not a big breakfast fan, but he does want something little in his belly first thing. And his "gilk".
Note: throughout this post I'll most likely be using Sawyer-speak and most likely you'll find to translate most of it, you simply swap out the first letter. This is how we spend much of our days... conversation with Sawyer quite often ends up in a rhyming guessing game. He says the ends of words perfectly... every syllable and sound is in there... except for the first letter. So if he says "gock" he may be trying to say sock, lock, walk, hock (which is his "nickname" for hockey), or clock, If you hear "guck" it might be truck, stuck, duck, puck, etc. The funny thing is, he can say all the right sounds... if he asks for "gilk, gleeze!" and I remind him that it sounds like "meh-meh-meh-milk", he'll say "meh-meh-meh-gilk", and I'll say "puh-puh-puh-please" and he'll say "puh-puh-puh-gleeeeeeeeeeeze!!". Other examples are gunk (skunk), goggie (doggie), gope (nope), groggy (froggy), and gunkin (pumpkin). His all time favorite phrases are "me too!" and "myself!!"(as in I'll do it myself!!).
He doesn't have a ton of words (that the average person can understand, anyway) and he is most definitely not a mimicker like many kids this age, but he can always get his point across and between his words and his signs and his body language, he's usually communicating what he needs to and I seldom find him frustrated with his still somewhat limited language. He does say a little more every day and though he's far from spewing out sentences like Savannah did at this age, I'm not worried about it. In typical boy fashion, he's much more about the physical activity than the small motor or language skills.

This kid is all about the sports. Something I thought was so interesting while Porter was here, was how different those boys are when it comes to what they like to do. I mean, I know all kids are different, but it has never been so glaringly obvious to me as when Porter and Sawyer play (or don't play) together. Sawyer is always bringing in a golf club or a ball or wanting to play catch or wrestle or chase or something at least physically active, if not directly involving a ball or a stick of some sort. Porter on the other hand just carries around cars and will sit and vroom them back and forth or line them up all day. Anything with four wheels, that's all P was interested in. And Sawyer could care less about that... I mean he'll play cars for a minute, even for maybe 15 minutes if they're going "SO FAST!" around a track. But then he's off to find a golf ball to hit across the track instead. While P was here, the guys took the boys outside plenty of times to run around and play and it never failed, Sawyer would stick to playing hockey or golf or basket ball and you could always find P on the driveway driving or pushing around the big red cozy coupe car. Porter had no interest in the sports and Sawyer could care less about being driving buddies. So interesting.

So yeah, we have a little jock on our hands I'm afraid. And he's only just turned two!!
He likes it all... he'll hit the softball off of the tee, he'll play catch with a football for hours, he'd swing a golf club all day (and he's got great follow through!), loves to get a soccer ball in the net, and he'll slap a hockey puck around for an hour straight, even pool and bowling! We got him a little bowling set for Christmas and he loves it! And the thing is, he's really good at whatever it is he's playing and I tend to forget I'm watching a toddler play. It is hilarious to watch a two year old line up a golf swing or tap the "ice" (the garage floor) with his hockey stick to let his dad know he's open! The "Hock" has got to be his favorite by far. He wants to play all day long. And I get bored out there sliding the puck around with him long before he does. And he watches all of this on tv with his dad. He loves to watch football, but if Sawyer's ever having a random meltdown, Ryan just flips on the tv, turns it to the hockey channel (yes, they really do have a channel for everything!) and instantly Sawyer's distracted from his woes. True story.
I kind of hope his true passion changes to something a little cheaper to play than hockey...
*note* I'm stealing this photo from Nicole (don't sue me Nic! haha!) because I have yet to take my camera out for hockey shots and it's too cold to actually go out and play today. So this'll have to do for now.



The Potty thing.
I think I've mentioned before that Sawyer may possibly be more ready for this whole potty training thing than I am. I'm lazy. That's no secret. And diapers are easier. Especially since we like to be out and about. But I also like money, and diapers do add up, so I might be persuaded to actually bite the bullet and work on this a bit.
I've done no prodding or pressuring on the potty thing. We've had the potty chair out since we moved here and for the past two months Sawyer uses is regularly. Each morning, before nap, before bed and almost anytime we change him, we'll ask him if he needs to go and he'll think about it and tell us yes or no. Usually yes. And he goes everytime. Last week he even pooped in the potty every day for five days straight. Now the problem is, is that he never tells us that he needs to go. He responds easily to my asking, but he never initiates. And when I do put him in underwear, he'll be wet and not even notice. And the frustrating thing is, is that I'll keep him in a diaper or a pull-up all day, and he'll go potty all day and keep his diaper dry, but then if I put him in underwear, it never fails he has an accident. And I have to watch him like a hawk or else he'll walk around with wet pants for half an hour.
Anyway, all that to say, I'm thinking if I sucked it up and took a few days to "train" him, I think he would get it pretty well. I just don't know if I'm ready to commit, as I'm fine with just going with how it is, letting him get used to going and doing with no pressure and no set pace. So we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks.






It appears most of my stories of Sawyer all revolve around pretty stereotypical male topics... sleeping (in his case, the lack of it), eating, sports, and the john.
Here's one that doesn't fit those stereotypes... cleaning. Well, I guess it's not so much cleaning actually, as it is helping. He loves more than anything else to be a helper. Anything from unloading the dishwasher, to folding laundry, to taking out the garbage, to cooking, vacuuming, sweeping, packing, or working on the car... Sawyer is right there wanting to be in the middle of it. In fact, if I don't want his help I have to actually avoid certain chores when he's awake and around. If he hears the sink going, he appears right next to you ready to help load/unload the dishwasher. If he hears the dryer buzz, he runs in there to pull it all out into the basket. It's pretty stinkin' cute, even if it can get annoying sometimes (a two year old in many cases can be quite a hindrance rather than a help!), and I just pray he holds on to this servanthood attitude as he grow older!

I feel like I could go on and on about the funny things Sawyer does and the things he's learning and so in to and the trouble he causes... toddlers are just chock-full of all of that stuff aren't they? I'll spare you anymore rambling for now though and just say he's my most favorite boy in the world.
And I'll leave you with my favorite pictures of Sawyer, where he looks so sweet and innocent...



...and just so you're not fooled, here he is in reality when I've left the room and come back to owe him a talking-to about ransacking the fridge on his own for a little "nack".