Its been quite a while since my last significant post, so I wanted to dedicate one last post to my sweet sweet Field before he has to share the spotlight with Baby Noble #2.
God has blessed us more than words can even begin to describe with the gift of our little man. Field is so many wonderful things to us. He takes interest in so much of the world around him and always wants to show us what he finds. He picks flowers from the yard and brings them to me. He will pat you on the back when you give him a good long hug. He is good at sharing (for a toddler at least) and always offers you a sip of his drink or a bite of his cookie when he really likes it.
He is so bright. He is great at doing puzzles and figuring out how to put things together. He will work on something until he figures it out, and seldom gets upset and frustrated with things. He loves to color. (I love wonder markers!) He has learned most of the standard colors, but still mixes up red, orange and yellow sometimes. He likes to count things. He knows a bunch of animals, and is starting to recognize letters. He can count to 5, and can count to 10 if he doesn’t get distracted by what we are counting. He knows most of our family members by name, and is very sweet about giving hugs and kisses to great grandparents and relatives even if he doesn’t remember who they are. He has shake up cars that he runs on a track, and whenever someone comes over he takes them by the hand and brings them over to see him “race!” He also enjoys lining things up, namely his cars. We haven't figured out if that is a personality thing or a toddler thing but it is too funny!
He is an incredible snuggler. We have never had much for a “schedule” but we read books in bed and snuggle until he falls asleep every night I look forward to it every night. Even though he hasn’t been a champion sleeper, I wouldn’t trade a single second of snuggling or snoozing in our bed for all the restful sleep in the world. Waking up to the sight of the man I love, curled up with the child I adore is an image that has been marked forever on my heart. Sleeping in his big boy bed was what helped him sleep a lot better, but he still gets up and walks to our room to crawl in bed with us on occasion. He closes his bedroom door behind him even in the middle of the night. The older he gets the better he sleeps and sometimes we wake up with a bittersweet feeling when he isn’t in bed with us. He always asks for one of 2 things in the morning – to "race!" his cars, or to watch the movie Cars.
He is shy to talk in front of other people, but is quite chatty around friends and family. I never did understand how parents could decipher their toddler’s words, but now I find translating my toddler’s words absolutely hysterical. Some of the words we hear the most are train and doo-doo (choo choo), meat (ha!) oh-dee (cookie) Maye & Marh (Maggie & Marley, the dogs) nem (m&m) dars (Cars – not the automobile, but the movie which he is absolutely obsessed with) Mayer, Wee, Ollie, Ace, Rem (Mater, Queen, Holly, Acer & Grem) pace (paci) boh (bottle, which he still gets some nights to help him wind down while we read) ra-ter (cracker) oosh (shoes) nigh nigh(when something has it’s eyes closed and is “sleeping”). When he is counting he says “rice” instead of 5. Too cute. He was a little later than a lot of his peers in beginning to talk, but he is making up for it now.
He loves music so much. He sits and picks on the mandolin, or his “tar” (guitar) while Whit plays and I sing along. He chimes in during the chorus of the songs we sing the most, and is pretty good at staying on key when we all sing The Weight. He sings in the in the car with me, and will mimic whatever words I make up as we go. If he is doing something with his hands like coloring or working a puzzle, we catch him dancing without realizing it to the beat of whatever is on. He can keep a pretty steady beat on his drum, wails on the harmonica (he is much better than I am) and likes to play the piano as well. Hopefully his love for music as will stick with him as he gets older, but if not, it was priceless while it lasted.
As of now Field is really excited about the baby coming, and seems to understand what is going on. If you ask him where the baby is he will point to my belly. If I pull my shirt up to expose my ever expanding waist line he will kiss it, pull my shirt back down and say "nigh nigh" to the baby. If you ask him what we are having, he says very matter-of-fact "Boy!" When you ask him, he will say he is going to rock the baby and give it it's pacifier. I think he will do well when the baby comes. He has had lots of practice helping with his cousin Hudson (6 months old currently) and he does not get jealous or upset (anymore) when I hold friend's new babies. We think he is going to be an excellent big brother.
It is really difficult to wrap my mind around how I could have enough love in my heart to love another child when it feels like I love the first one with every ounce of my soul. Being the second child and knowing how much my parents love me I am certain I will love this second baby just as much as the first, but still. It is hard to imagine. I pray that Field will not feel slighted by the presence of the newest member of our family, and that he never, not even for a second, doubts my love for him.
For the time being, Field is our whole world and we could not ask for a better son.
