The Truth and Mind of a Child

One of today's conversations:

Mom: "Lincoln, do you know who loves you?"

Lincoln: "Daddy, and Mommy and brother."

Mom: "That's right. We all love you. Who do you love?"

Lincoln: "Imperial Walkers and Battle Droids!"

Yesterday I took Lincoln with me to Michael's. As we approached the intersection to turn into the shopping center, Lincoln yells, "Mom, turn left." My jaw about hit the floor. Michael's can't be seen from where we were and I had not yet pulled into the left turn lane. I couldn't believe it so I asked him to repeat what he said. His response was, "Mom, turn, turn" as he was pointing to the shopping center to our left.

I'm going to try and make it a point to write more of these conversations down. He says funny, insightful, surprising stuff like this all the time.

Mississippi

+

Sippy Cup

= MississippiCup

I was helping Lincoln complete his United States puzzle (which he is REALLY GOOD at) and the funniest thing happened. He found the Mississippi piece, picked it up, dropped it and then ran out of the room intensely yelling something that I couldn't understand. I was confused and was telling him to come back - we were in the middle of the puzzle. He came running back holding a sippy cup in his hand and yells out "look, Mississipicup!" I busted up laughing. I couldn't believe that he put that together. It was pretty dang funny.

After we had put in all of the pieces to the puzzle we realized we were actually missing one. I told Lincoln that we needed to look for it so that we could finish the puzzle. Next thing I know he has his binoculars to his eyes and he's searching the room. I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm looking for North Dakota." He's so cute! I love how he makes me laugh.

L*O*G*A*N

What He's Like: Sweet, cuddly, precious and happy. Logan is an easy baby to fall in love with. He is so happy, always smiling. We're so lucky that he likes to cuddle. He prefers to be held and wrapped with a blanket. We can take him out to eat or run errands and know that he is a trooper. Logan is fascinated by Lincoln. He watches Lincoln's every move. Logan sleeps for a couple hours in the mid-morning, then again for several hours in the afternoon and goes down for the night at about 6:30 pm and is up for the day around 7:30 am. Needless to say he sleeps well. We often wake up to him cooing, laughing and "talking" in his crib. He's got some good lungs. He wakes up happy almost every time. Weighing in just shy of 18 pounds, he's a big guy for his age. We've packed up the six month clothes and will put away the nine month clothes next week. Twelve month clothes fit him nicely although there isn't too much room to grow. He has a cute chubby little fat role on his thighs. I just want to squeeze him because he is so adorable he's irresistible.

Favorite Movies: None at this time but Rick sure he will like Star Wars as much as his brother.

Favorite TV Shows: Whatever his brother is watching.

Favorite Friends: His brother Lincoln.

Interests: Eating, sleeping and whatever mom is doing.

Favorite Foods: Enfamil Formula and rice cereal. They're the only things he's had. I think he secretly loves all food. He focuses in on whoever is eating and watches them like a hawk. He's a good eater!

Allergies: Thankfully, none that we know of.

Favorite Bedtime Stories: No stories yet. We sing to him for now.

Favorite Song: Wheels on the bus and Patty Cake. He laughs every time we sing those songs.

Favorite Article of Clothing: He loves blankets. He loves to be cuddled in blankets. Sometimes I worry that he will suffocate himself because he tries to sleep with the blanket over his face.

Favorite Toys: He has a colorful teething ring that he loves and his Snuggy Bear

Favorite Place: In mommy's arms.

Talents: Logan is quite strong for his age. He has great hand eye coordination already. Anything he holds makes it to his mouth immediately.

Such a peaceful little guy.

Mommy's boy!

I love his gorgeous blue eyes. He gets those from Daddy!

So happy and content.

He loves those fingers!

Precious.

He melts my heart!

Construction - Sink Hole Update

It's been about three months since we first discovered the sink hole in our front yard. After finally working with the builder, an engineer and a cement crew we were able to come to a solution on how to fix the problem. It was decided that they would pull up the portion of the driveway that was affected, pull the old soil from the sink hole out, compact the remaining soil, fill the hole with slurry (cement mix) and then relay the cement driveway. So for the last week we've had crews here working at the house. The majority of the work is done but there is still more to do. We hope it will be all wrapped up in the next week but we'll see. It ended up being a bigger project than everyone thought!

The engineer and the builder customer care rep watch as the construction crew pulled out the loose dirt. The engineer had to continuously check the soil as they pulled it out.

Definitely a bigger hole than everyone thought. They originally thought they would only have to go down a couple of feet to find compacted soil...wrong! They were down more than four feet before the engineer cleared them to pour the slurry. That construction guy was all the way down in the hole by the time he was done.

Lincoln loved when they used a jack hammer to pull up the driveway. He has a book that's all about construction so he knew exactly what it was and he would mimic the noise it would make. Logan on the other hand was not so impressed with the loud noises.

It was fun for Lincoln to see the cement truck pouring cement in. Although I was glad that the work was finally being done, it is a little unsettling and sad to see your yard so torn up.

I'm glad the crew knew what they were doing because at some points during the day it just all looked like a huge mess.

The work now is finally done. While I was happy with the outcome and that Fulton tried to do the right thing, I'm not impressed with their customer service department. If I hadn't been calling them and emailing them constantly to move things along, I think all these months later the work would not be done. Good news though that it is done and we are just dealing with the final touches before we can put this behind us!

L*I*N*C*O*L*N

Trying to capture this time in Lincoln's life, I thought it would be good to write about some of Lincoln's favorite things and his personality.

What He's Like: Lincoln is a jokester. He has a great sense of humor. He is clever, intelligent and has an impeccable memory. He has an amazing sense of direction (which is scary because he's only two) and he talks ALL day long. He constantly surprises Ricky and me with with new words everyday. He can properly structure sentences and loves to make the sounds that letters make. He loves to rough house, climb on everything, make things crash and has a hard time whispering. He can also be very sensitive and sweet. He is great at giving eskimo and butterfly kisses and great big bear hugs. He loves to be tickled and laugh. He is a great helper (when he wants to be) and asks to help with projects. He is learning to be a great big brother and has started to enjoy Logan more. He is growing quickly but will always be my baby. He is definitely a daddy's boy. I think he want's to be just like Ricky.

Favorite Movies: Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back) and Toy Story

Favorite TV Shows: Chuggington and Little Einsteins

Favorite Friends: His Teddy, cousin Erica, Abbie and Emmas (he has two friends named Emma so he calls most girls Emma)

Interests: Motorcycles, Tractor and Trucks and Tunnels. He loves to try and make tunnels with anything he can find around the house. He has always had an interest in motorcycles.

Favorite Foods: Beside sugar, he likes cheeses, fruit snacks, grilled cheese sandwhich, and pasta noddles. He also loves to dip his food in sauces - whatever is appropriate for the meal. He eats more if we let him have a dipping sauce like ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, Italian dressing, etc.

Allergies: Ranch dressing and strawberries (although he loves both of these things because we gave them to him before we knew he was allergic)

Favorite Bedtime Stories: Noah's Ark and Alma the Younger

Favorite Song: Row Row Row Your Boat

Favorite Article of Clothing: Transformer Rain boots - followed closely by any of his hats & gloves

Favorite Toys: The water table, Legos, his Star Wars Storm Trooper, and his Lightning McQueen ride on car.

Favorite Places: He loves the park, the zoo, McDonald's playground and nursery at church.

Talents: The boy can dance and he's got rythym. Linoln LOVES music. He is also has great hand eye coordinator and can run like the wind.

His precious blue eyes melt my heart.

This is his cheese smile.

He LOVES his teddys.

He makes the cutest/funnies faces that just crack us up.

Full of life.

Mr. Independent.

Keeping Busy

There's been a lot going on over the last couple of weeks. It's nice to be busy but Ricky and I keep laughing about how much there is to do and how little time there is to actually do it all. We laugh to help keep our sanity. Here are a few highlights from the last couple of weeks.

Lincoln got a new water table for the backyard and he LOVES it. He's spent hours out there and would be out there more if we let him. He wakes up asking to go play at the water table. Rick told him he had to come in one day because it was too cold so Lincoln ran in the house, put on his blue beanie and ran back out to play. Never mind the fact that he is soaking wet...no worries...the hat will keep him warm!

Logan tried rice cereal for the first time. I thought he was going to love it but he didn't. He spit it out and looked at me as if I were evil. After about the 10th bite he finally started to eat it without a disgusted look on his face.

After about the 10th bite he finally started to eat it without a disgusted look on his face. Lincoln was so excited that his brother finally was eating with a spoon!

Grandma and Grandpa Tutu came to visit and for a couple of days and they brought cousin Erica with them. We had a great time visiting with them.

Lincoln made a huge mess one night after eating a spaghetti dinner. He sees Logan taking baths in the kitchen sink (even though Logan is in the baby bath) so Lincoln wanted to try it. I figured it might be easier for me to sit him in the sink instead of trying to carry him upstairs to the bath without getting marinara sauce all over the carpets. He had a blast.

The Obsession Has Begun

I don't know what it is that causes a young boy to become OBSESSED with Imperial Walkers, planet Hoth and Dagobah, X-Wings, the death star, a little green guy named Yoda, wookies and and battle droids. Whatever it is, Lincoln has it....he is OBSESSED. I know it's definitely part of the Phillips genes but it is just something that amazes me. I don't know why it started but he's loved his light saber, yoda and all things Star Wars for as long as I can remember. Several weeks ago Ricky showed him The Empire Strikes back and now he can't get enough of it. He asks for it all the time! The other part of this whole things is that my two year old can remember everything about it. He knows all of the characters (including the not so popular ones that I don't even know), ships, planets, different types of droids, and creatures. It's crazy how he just eats it up. Ricky will tell him about the story and he remembers it weeks later.

Maybe he is drawn to the classic battle of good verses evil. I don't know. I just know that I didn't do it...it just happened. Ricky loves that he can share in the excitement of it all with Lincoln and they can bond over Star Wars. Ricky told me this day would come. I just didn't believe him.

I guess with three boys in my house I had it coming.

Lincoln's favorite of all six movies is The Empire Strikes Back.

Ricky hates Jar Jar Binks but Lincoln likes him.

Lincoln LOVES Imperial Walkers.

Random Pictures

I came across some pictures that to me were worth blogging about. These are pictures that capture moments that happen more than once in our home.

Lincoln lined up all of his bears on the couch so they could watch TV together.

Tell me that outfit isn't adorable. Can you tell he picked it himself!?!

Lincoln LOVES to wear daddy's motorcycle gear. Rick can't ever make it out of the house without letting Lincoln put on his helmet, gloves or jacket before he leaves.

We were tickling and rough-housing and luckily the camera was near by.

Lincoln is obsessed with tunnels right now. He makes lego tunnels, tunnels from blankets in the living room, tunnels, tunnels, tunnels. His new favorite tunnel is this Star Wars tunnel.

We played Yahtzee as a family last week. Lincoln got to roll for us, Logan got to entertain us between turns and Ricky and I tried to play. We almost made it through the whole game before Lincoln's attention span was gone and he moved on to something more exciting.

Logan's Four Month Stats

My baby is growing up. He is now four months old but he looks a lot older and is wearing 9-12 month clothes. Logan is such a happy, sweet and easy baby. He just went to the doctors for four month vaccines and check up. Here are his stats and a few fun facts about Logan.

• Weight: 17.3 pounds (87%)
• Height: 26.75 (94%)
• Head Circumference: 41 cm (21%)
• BMI: 16.89
• Goes to bed about 7:30 pm and wakes up between 4:00 and 6:00 for a bottle before heading back to sleep until about 7:30 am.
• Naps a couple of times a day for a few hours at a time.
• Eats between 4 - 6 ounces per bottle.
• He laughs out loud and smiles all the time.
• He now uses his walker, bouncer and little blue bumbo (baby chair) everyday.
• Logan is very strong and has a firm tight grasp on anything he grabs. He will often pull the toys down from the tummy time mat.
• We think he is already starting to teethe. He has his hands in his mouth all of the time if his binky isn't in.
• This week we're going to try rice cereal. I'm sure he will love it!

On the tile he can move himself around but it's a little harder on the carpet.

Loves those fingers!

Laughing out loud.

Lincoln took this pictures so Logan flashed a cute smile.

We Have Grass!

Finally, after months of waiting, we have a backyard full of grass! It's been a bit of a fiasco/nightmare dealing with the turf company so I'm glad that's over. What a relief. We are so excited that our backyard is now 95% complete. We just have to replace the queen palm, get a new BBQ and patio furniture and we'll be set to enjoy our beautiful spring nights outside! Lincoln is pretty excited that he can go in the backyard and hit his baseball or throw the football with daddy. The best part now is that it's always green and maintenance free!

Before anything was done at all.

The pavers and rocks were added several months ago in preparation for the grass.

Final product! (The queen palm in the corner will be replaced next month.)