Happy Birthday, Noah!

Happy birthday to my sweet baby, Noah!  He is such a little rascal and doesn't listen to us 90% of the time, but we still love him so much.  When he wants to, he can totally melt my heart.  He has been very loving towards his baby sister most of the time, showering her with kisses, patting her head (gently), and bringing her bottles for her milk (even though we haven't been using bottles). 

Noah has been waiting for a looooong time for his birthday.  He was the youngest in his daycare class, so all year he's been singing happy birthday to his classmates.  I can't remember when or how, but we started singing songs as part of his bedtime routine and in the past month or so, he'd been asking to sing "Happy Birthday Noah" before going to sleep.  Finally, it was his turn!  We did cupcakes at school, a small party with a few toddler friends (okay, my friends, with toddlers around his age), and of course a party with family, so he got to hear "Happy Birthday Noah" three times and blow out the candle many times.  Of all of the pictures I took, he definitely looked the happiest during the singing and blowing out of the candle.  As a parent, I think there have been few moments that have touched my heart as much as seeing him so happy being the birthday boy.  It was a bit crazy planning birthday stuff with a brand new baby, but Peter and my sister made it all possible and I'm so glad we were able to pull it off.  Yesterday when I put him in his highchair for breakfast, he said, "Happy birthday time?"  Unfortunately it was not happy birthday time again, but I did sing it to him one more time today before having some leftover cake after lunch since it was his "real" birthday today.  All in all it was a very happy birthday! 

As far as developmental updates go, Noah continues to talk more and more, and is putting together more sentences everyday.  He is also starting to "assert more independence," which is my euphemism for being totally out of control.  He doesn't listen.  We can ask him nicely fifteen times, not as nicely twenty times, or in ten creatively different ways, but it usually doesn't matter.  If he doesn't get his way, he almost immediately resorts to crying/whining.  I know that we probably shouldn't give in to the whining/crying, but it is really hard not to when your patience is worn so thin.  We usually try not to give in fully and try to compromise instead.  We'll say that we'll read the book just one more time and then it's night-night time, instead of just saying okay, let's read that book as many times as you want.  Not sure if this is better, but it's the best I can think of for now, and usually he'll hold his end of the bargain. :)  He also likes to grab random things from where they are and throw them around.  It's like he's just making a mess for the fun of it and then laughing at us when we get upset.  It drives me nuts, but I recently had this revelation: in this power struggle, I'm not going to win.  I think I actually have this revelation every month or so, but I always forget.  So I can either get mad at Noah and lose both my mind and any sort of control over my child, or I can remain calm and simply reinforce consequences.  So far, I've found that the latter produces better results and more happiness all around.  But man is it hard to stay calm when he spills his milk in his high chair tray and then proceeds to splash it everywhere with his hands!!!  What a rascal.  This week is the official beginning of my time as a stay-at-home mom of two, by myself (during the day).   I hope that in my next update I'll be writing about how unbelievably calm I was all month long.