The good, the bad and the ugly

I don't actually have pictures depicting all of these words (because who takes pictures in the moments I'm about to describe!), but I do have a lot of explanation on how our little man is good, bad and ugly!....

Life with a toddler (and two older siblings) is exciting, entertaining and downright exhausting. We have good, we have bad and we have completely ugly. Let's start with the good...

Lincoln is certainly the sweetest little boy I have ever known. 

*He is the first to say "sorry" or "I wuv you" and will try to make you smile when he knows you are upset. 

*He is quick to lend a helping hand, and enjoys helping in the kitchen, shoveling the driveway or putting away groceries. 

*He is genuinely concerned when someone is hurt. The other day Ryan slid down a few steps (likely due to his recent surgery) and Lincoln came running to be sure he was ok. He grabbed the items in Ryan's hands and carried them all the way down the stairs for him!

*And he always always always needs a big huge goodbye hug before I go.

And along with the good, we have to balance it with the bad. 

* He loves to tease his sisters, whether it means going into their rooms when asked to leave, touching them in the back seat of the car, or destroying their play area. 

* Although completely potty trained, he will intentionally miss the toilet, spraying his yellow water all over the bathroom floor. Laughing. 

* He likes to dump all of his toys from every room with zero intention of actually playing with them. And not just dump in one spot, nope, this kid likes to throw things clear across the room. 

And then there are the moments, in pure toddler form, where he is downright ugly!

* Like when he picks up his plate and tosses it clear across the room, with food flying through the air. 

* Or runs around the house, racing up to each person and using their legs (or something in that general area....) as a punching bag, darting away faster than anyone can catch him to stop the cycle (this turns into a disaster giggle game for him). 

* Or when he takes a bite of food, chews it up, and then spits it on his sister sitting next to him. Yes, he really does this. Poor Sidney. 

There certainly are days where he tests our limits and we are so grateful when bedtime rolls around. I have to remind all of us that these ugly moments won't last forever (thankfully!), and we just need to ride them out, stay consistent, and remember that the good far outweighs the bad! 

Lincoln says....

Toddlers have the best language. And little kid voices are so precious! They are trying so hard to speak and yet sometimes, it's tough to decipher what is being said. I love to hear Lincoln talk and generally, I can understand everything he's trying to say. I would say other people can understand most of what he says, but every once in a while, he says something like THIS and throws everyone off. It is, by far, a favorite phrase for all of us right now. He strings together "wa-oer-there" (aka: way over there) and everyday, one of us will try to get him to say it. Place a toy in another room and ask him where it went. See a dog across the street and ask him where it is. Yep, we all love it that much! 

Last month, we waited to pick up Ryan from his office and had a little conversation. (Ryan has some pretty awesome perks at his office, and Lincoln thinks it's the best when Ryan brings him a treat). He was waiting for Ryan to walk out and kept telling me he wanted a "le-a-abe" (aka: lemonade). Click HERE. This boy cracks me up! 

But his singing?! That takes the cake above almost everything! He sings wheels on the bus all day long currently and we love it around here! Click HERE. He repeats the same phrases over and over "all srew town" and Regan couldn't get enough of it this weekend in the car :) We love this little boy to pieces and each new stage is more fun than the last!  

Lincoln says....

Our little boy is growing up so quickly. It seems that he has made leaps and bounds in gains in his language since turning 2. People who haven't seen him in a few weeks will comment "oh my gosh!, he doesn't stop talking!".
Nope, welcome to our new world with a toddler. 

He is constantly talking, telling me what he sees, insisting on a response, and narating his day. 

He has completely mastered his colors, and although we were working on them daily, I know he picked up a lot from watching YouTube (because I was not teaching him grey and he knows it). He likes to watch a little 5 minute video on YouTube with monster trucks, and it's entirely educational teaching all of the colors.
Brilliant I tell you!

His favorite color is orange, we have orange trucks, orange trains, orange cars, orange bowls, orange spoons, you name it. And he ONLY wants the orange ones!

He can count to 10, though sometimes skips over a number or two. My favorite is his way of saying 'six', because it's a high-pitched 'sic' and you'll miss it if you don't listen closely. We count a lot of items, but he still hasn't figured out one versus two. When he wants a cracker, he will say 'one'. We hand him one cracker and he cries "no one!".
That is one buddy!
We hand him another and he smiles "yea, one"

No buddy, that's two! 

"No, one". 

Whatever. 

Ryan finally came up with the notion that he wants one in each hand. 

Maybe so. But for now we know when he asks for one, give him two. 

Ryan's favorite part of Lincolns verbal skills is that he is no longer referred to as "mommy"! He has his very own name: "gawdy". Not daddy.

Nope. 

"Gawdy". 

He is cute and sweet and funny as ever and now that he's talking more, look out! Because he will repeat whatever it is he hears :) though maybe not exactly the way it should be said, like Thomas the Train's friend--Percy.....

I have no further comment.