22 Months

Sawyer is 22 months. He is getting so big and independent. He has learned several new words again this month. He can say spoon (poo, yes it is quite funny!), poppa (paaapa, for my dad), duck (duu), and the phrase 'oh yah!' It is so cute when he says this! He also answers 'yah' when you ask him questions now. Just yesterday he said balloon (booo) and today he said banana (nana). Clearly he only goes at his own pace! He has also decided to start calling Shane 'da da' and me 'ma ma'. Even though he could say them before, he hardly ever actually called us by our names.
He has become very obsessed with cars this month. I think it is because there was a building going up behind our house and he saw the workers driving all sorts of trucks back there. So now he loves to play with cars and do his cooking. He also loves driving in the car and pointing out all of the cars he sees, especially big trucks or buses.
I finally decided it was time to let him start feeding himself with a spoon. He has used a fork for a while now, but I kept putting off the spoon. But he is actually really good at it. Maybe it paid to put it off for a while. Less mess for mommy! But now of course he never wants help feeding himself anymore. I guess the independence is a good thing, but it makes me a little bit sad.
Here is our sweet boy at 22 months.

 Working hard on his puzzle

 Proud of himself for putting a piece in the puzzle!

V Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to my wonderful hubby! I am so appreciative of you and all of your hard work for our family. Thanks for being an involved daddy. Sawyer adores you! I love you, forever.

21 Months

Sawyer is 21 months today. I guess I better start thinking about his 2nd birthday party soon. Wow! This month Sawyer learned several new words. Proving to me that he can say things, he just chooses not to. He learned car (canngh), clock (coack), boom, coat (coa), and key. Notice almost all of them start with the 'k' sound. I also did a cheer one day about something and said, wooohoo, his response was wooooo. So cute! Now I make him cheer all the time. He still asks 'what's that' a lot, when I tell him what it is, he responds with hmmmm. One thing that isn't necessarily new, but I haven't ever remembered to post about are his hugs. He LOVES to give hugs. Squeeze you tight, hugs. But these also include pats on the back. I think we must have patted his back every time we hugged him, and now he thinks that's what a hug should include. :) He still naps on my bed, but now instead of crying when he wakes up, he just gets down and comes to find me. Which is good, I guess. It's probably about time to move him up to a big boy bed. He still loves playing with daddy, but his new favorite thing is to have his own controller and sit on the couch to play xBox. He loves to be snuggled up to daddy's side, with a blanket on his lap, while they push buttons and bond. When he is eating something hot (temperature) or spicy, he will grab at his tongue and try to pull off the hot. So funny! My favorite thing this month is his 'trying to open something' face. He must have seen one of us struggling to open something and pulling a face, because he thinks the two go hand in hand. I included a video, because words just can't describe. Love you, my little luv bug.

 Gonna get you, mommy!

 Gotta have my trusty spatula!

                                    

Open it face, classic. Don't mind my grunting!

20 Months

I am quite late this month, but Sawyer turned 20 months on the 3rd. It really hit me this time how close he is to turning 2. I feel like I just planned his 1st birthday, and now almost another entire year has gone by. He is showing so much personality now. Our sweet little baby is no more, now we are bombarded by a very opinionated and strong tempered little boy. Oh the joys of the terrible 2's. He has learned how to plug his ears and loves to do it when there is a loud room or tv. It makes him laugh as he plugs and unplugs them! He has also taken his crazy stepping in place to a whole new level! He now does a CRAZY DANCE. He throws his arms all about, runs around at top speed, and screams out unintelligible words. It is absolutely hilarious! He has also decided to start spitting out food if he doesn't like it. That makes for some interesting catches of chewed up food. Yum! But we couldn't be more in love with our little guy. Due to a horrible accident of someone we know losing their little boy, we have been all the more appreciative of the time we get to spend with him. It is so important to cherish the time you have with loved ones. We LOVE you Sawyer, forever.

Crazy Dance video. I told you, hilarious!

Christmas 2011

Christmas time was so fun and busy this year. Sawyer was old enough to sort of appreciate the celebrations. Shane and I decided to give Sawyer a kitchen set as his Christmas present this year because he is what one would call OBSESSED with cooking. So we bought him one and began the 3 day process of putting it together. It literally came in a million pieces. But Sawyer didn't mind playing with the bits and pieces until it all came together. He has hardly stopped playing with it since. One night we got home really late and went to put him into bed, he saw his kitchen set and started bawling. He knew he wouldn't be able to play with it because he was going to bed. Hilarious!

 On Christmas Eve we did our annual Baucom/Nielsen at my parents' house. It is always so fun to see everyone. We ate yummy food and chatted to our hearts' content. Ashley found the greatest present ever to give me. She found a book that we used to love as little girls on e-bay. What a fun surprise, thanks Ash! After we left, we went to Shane's parents' house and ate dinner and had a little talent show.

Christmas morning was spent at the Smith's opening presents and having fun. Sawyer hardly cared about the presents. He just wanted to play with the kitchen set at grandma's. When I did persuade him to come rip some paper off of his presents, he brought his trusty spatula with him. Spatulas are his favorite utensil for some strange reason! We went to the Christmas program at the ward, then came back and had a yummy lunch.

 Hunter bringing Sawyer his stocking. These two LOVE each other!

 Please open the Skittles, daddy!

 Paper ripping!

All of the Smith grandkids

Next stop was my grandparent Vuksinick's house. We love visiting with everyone there. Then we headed up to do Christmas with my family. We got some really great presents and Sawyer was spoiled as usual! 

Sophie loves to kiss Sawyer's ears

We also got to do some fun activities over the break. Shane had taken the whole week after Christmas off, so we had lots of daddy time. We went to the Provo Beach Resort one day with the Smith girls while the boys went shooting. Sawyer loved the play area, the carousel, and the arcade games. We also went to the Monte Bean Museum one day with the Smith's as well. We went shopping, to lunch, and a movie. Overall a great, fun, and relaxing break!


I had to add these pictures we did with FotoFly Santa this year. They let one of the parents dress up in the Santa costume to try to prevent scared children. Well, it didn't work out so well for us! But I am glad Shane was such a great sport because these pictures are classic!

Sawyer, Jake and Jack (Abby's twins)

New York City

Shane and I were able to get away on a little trip to NYC at the beginning of December. Neither of us had ever been, so we were really excited when he had to go for work. We extended a few extras days and made it into a mini vacation. New York is so much fun! Luckily my mom was willing to watch Sawyer for us, so we could enjoy our time. Thanks Grammie! We bought the City Passes, which get you into all of the main attractions. We hit Top of the Rock, Empire State, the MET, the MOMA (another art museum), and the Natural History Museum. We also went out to Liberty and Ellis Islands. Our brother-in-law, Jeff, knew someone who was able to get us onto the Stock Exchange floor as well. We wandered Wall Street, 5th Avenue, Greenwich Village, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square. So much to see! We also gained valuable knowledge of traveling by subway! Overall, we had great times, good food, and a nice little break from real life.

Rockefeller tree

View from Empire State

Can you see Times' Square?

Grand Central Station

 

Stock Exchange

Stock Exchange floor

Freedom Tower (replacing the Twin Towers)

Liberty in the distance

 Starry Night at the MOMA