Nolan and the toads

Nolan woke up in the morning and said "need froggy in fish tank." I am really not sure where he comes up with these ideas, but he is constantly amazing us with his plans. I told him we could go to the fish store when Daddy got home to get a frog for the fish tank. Matt's response was "maybe Nolan would like a frog in a separate tank."
So, off we went to the pet store, and chose between a choice of 4 frogs. We ended up with fire belly toads. Nolan named them Spike and Froggy. According to him, Spike is the "dark one." Nolan looks at them at least 5 times a day, and talks about them all the time. I am very glad that he is so fascinated with them because I have to feed them crickets. This is the part I hate. But because he smiles and loves them so much, it makes it all worth it.

Helping Daddy

Nolan has become "Daddy's little helper." Anytime Matt is working on a project, big or small, Nolan is there to lend a hand. Recently, Nolan has helped Matt shovel snow and waterproof the basement. I just love these pics. They remind me so much of me helping my dad. Especially the painting picture.

snow

We've been on hiatus because our computer needed more hard drive space. But we are back.
Michael came over for some fun in the snow. Nolan enjoyed it much more this time. The first time we went out this season, he actually cried because his boots were getting dirty with snow! This time, he shoveled, rode on the sled, and ate some snow. He called it snow cookies and pretended to be cookie monster.

nicknames

Nolan has started to give many objects around the house cute little pet names. He adds the "ee" sound onto the end of many words. I guess he picked this up from Matt and I, but I had no idea that I used this ending so often. While he was playing Playdoh today, he said, "make more snakeys"

snuggle puppy

Nolan loves his puppies, but has gotten into the habit of using my favorite phrase "go away dogs." So when he snuggled up with Rudy on the couch in the morning, she was so happy!

morning antics

Nolan still wakes up in the middle of the night to come sleep with Mommy and Daddy. When he is having a particularly bad night, he may wake up more than one time and the first word he says is "downstairs." I finally wised up and told him that we could not go downstairs until it was 6 o'clock. For a few nights, he wanted to look at the clock to check the time, but now when he wakes up he says "6 o'clock, downstairs?"

family time

Every night after dinner, Matt and I sit on the floor with Nolan and play whatever he wants. Usually this involves singing, playing the guitar, running up and down the hall, doing obstacles, and wrestling. Tonight's activity was singing "Happy Birthday To You" to everyone we know, and wearing our modified birthday hat. Nolan sings along "Happy To To."