September!

We're looking forward to Noah's second birthday. Here's his list of needs and wants, all in one convenient location for your shopping enjoyment!

Needs:
long sleeve tops
socks
winter boots
slippers
snowsuit/winter coat
lightweight pjs

Wants:
toddler snow skis
Duplos, duplos, and more duplos! These are currently his favorite toy and he asks to play with them multiple times every day! He, of course, calls them tractors (?!), train cars, and towers. I don't think he would know what you were talking about if you asked about playing duplos.
Books about nature, transportation, or sesame street.
All things ELMO or sesame street! He knows all of the characters by name and likes to sing "C is for cookie".
playdates with friends - he told me a couple of nights ago, "more friends house". He loves his people, who used to be just family members but are expanded to the kids from daycare and church. This is quite challenging for mom and dad because we can't quite interpret his friend's names - 'Lexis sounded like Jacket for the longest time and didn't make any sense to me.

Counting down to the 24th!

Noah's measures

We're getting ready for that big 2nd birthday with a list of some needs and decided that measurements might be useful. Noah thought it was good fun to have me measuring him, so we took far more measurements than anyone would need. Here's how BIG my little buddy has gotten!
33.5 inches tall
27.5 inches heel to shoulder
10 inch long arms - shoulder to wrist
11 inch legs - inseam
19-21 inches belly circumfrence
19.5 inches head circumfrence
32 inch wingspan - fingers to fingers across his back
5.5 inch long foot

I can't believe how much he has grown from the tiny bundle of 2 years ago!

Tour of America's Dairyland re-cap

Chocolate milk really is as good as they claim! Appleton was my best race to date and I'll claim that it is because of the chocolate milk and banana that I ate before the race (before warming up, actually). Or maybe it was the 1500 calorie Applebee's pasta dish that I ate the night before? I definitely felt like I had the right energy for that race and my relative results backs that up! It was a flat and fast course, which made it easier as well.
Grafton was hilly and the wind was in my face during the downhill sections so that there was never really a break. I felt pretty rushed to get lined up for that one and ate my Nature Valley bar at the starting line.
The road race on the Elkhart Lake Road America track was fun for the first 5 laps. I thought I had a good chance at placing as well as I did in Appleton. Then on the 6th/final lap, this girl who was forgotten about behind us (I was riding with 2 other ladies) came out of nowhere and passed. This caused some sprinting and re-grouping and I didn't have anything left to give. I fell off from that group and struggled to haul myself to the finish line. My hotel breakfast that morning was NOT a breakfast of champions and there was no chocolate milk hand-outs at the registration table that day, boo.
I'm working on sprinting for the next few weeks, that is clearly the area where there is the most room for improvement. I also need to create a workable pre-race routine that includes a proper warm-up and fueling!

Genius child

This stage of development has got to be the most fun! It's awe-inspiring to see the new things that Noah is able to do with each passing day. He's combining words to make sentences and ideas now. He's getting really good at adjectives, "orange truck"! Every time I turn around I catch myself thinking that Noah has to be the smartest little guy ever - I suppose every parent thinks that though.
We were playing at toddler class in the little kitchen. Noah got out a pot and lid. I offered him some different pretend foods to put into the pot. He put the pot into the little pretend microwave, made a motor sound, took the pot out, lifted the lid and looked at his little food items. Then he put it back into the mircowave, made his motor sound, and took the food out again. This time, he opened the lid, said "steam" and waved his hands over the top of the pot. Then he said "hot" and moved the pot to the table. What a little genius!! He made that up all on his own!!!
He can't quite get the word motorcycle, but he knows how to identify them. He points them out by imitating the sound that they make, it's so funny! I can't even begin to phonetically write out the sound he makes, but he repeats it enough that we know when he is talking about motorcycles.
I have several more examples that I could comment on, but no more time to write this afternoon!

Noah Bikes!

Noah got up on his special seat on the bike and went for his maiden voyage on Friday! You'll notice that there is an empty seat in front of him, Mom decided that running along side seemed like a better idea than getting on and riding with.

After all that effort, a cool treat!

Vocabulary

I've been having so much fun, I haven't made time to blog about it! I'm going to share a partial list of Noah's words, he is so funny sometimes!

In the transportation category:
bus
truck
garbage truck
car
taxi
ambulance (ambi, for short)
tractor
beep, beep (the sound they make when they back up)
watch (as in, I want to go watch the trucks)
bike
walk
brown (that's the UPS truck)
choo choo (it's easier to repeat it's sound than to call it a train)
boat

Other things found outside:
bird, tweet
puppy
squirrel (it doesn't come out very clear, but he can sure identify these!)
grass
tree
ball
shoes, coat, hat (things you must wear in order to go outside)
stroller

Personal care words:
socks (pronounced hocks)
shirt
brush teeth (something he HATES to do)
wash
hot
hands
nose
eyes
mouth
soap (pronounced hope)
jammies
zip
poop
toot
juice, mine (these are what he calls his pacifier and blankie, very important!)

Foods - these are important!
milk
juice
water
apple
applesauce
strawberries
cracker
rice krispies
cereal
cheese
cheese stick
chips
eggs
peas
broccoli
corn
pop, pop (for popcorn)
sandwich
french fries
waffle
toast
cookie
pizza
yogurt
fish
sucker (pronounced hockey!)

Action words:
more
up
down
ride (I want a ride down the stairs)
book
help
out
yes
no

Animals and/or their sounds:
duck, quack
moo
meow
puppy, woof
Ooh-ooh (the sound the gorilla makes)
bird, tweet
fish
ant
roar
horse
baa
buzz (the sound of a bee)

People he loves:
Noah
Mommy
Daddy
Gramma
Papa
Mimi
Hannah

I'm sure I missed a few. He has an impressive vocabulary for his age.
Enjoy! Sorry I'm such a slacker for posting.

Hugs!

Aw, sweet! Cousin Miriam gives Noah a little hug. We are loving the pleasant spring weather; it's fun to play outside now.

I'm working hard at getting my bike speeds ready for racing. It seems like I have a long ways to go and only a few weeks to make big improvements. We took the tandem out for a Sunday afternoon ride and went 18 miles doing intervals. I went out last night for a short hills circuit, 7 miles, 4 big climbs; I thought I was going to die!

Happy Spring!