Can you believe Halen is almost two?

Hello again everyone!

It has been a while since I have truly updated Halen's comings and goings. He is growing so quickly and in so many ways lately. His speech is amazing to me. We have conversations all the time. He tells me what he wants and thinks ALL the time now. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I do not. Today we were at the store picking out a birthday gift for his future wife Julia. If he didn't like something that I was picking out he would tell me, "I don't like it." At first I didn't think I heard him correctly. When I picked out something that he DID like, he said, "I like it." What a stinker huh? These new phrases continued at JoAnns when we went there. I went to get a keepsake box for my fathers flag. He told me he liked it when I put it in the cart. Funny!
His last four teeth are coming in. Actually they started a couple of weeks ago. He had a high fever and Croup on top of it. The night before my fathers funeral, we were at the hospital until one in the morning. Halen was a big fat mess that whole week. All he wanted was me! I was so overwhelmed with him and all that was going on. Anyway, he is back to himself and not a minute to soon.

He is VERY into Thomas the train. We went to visit his cousins last week and they still have their old Thomas stuff. He was in HEAVEN. He played with the trains and tracks for quite a while. I think I will have a Thomas themed Birthday party for him this year.

His new favorite thing is OUTSIDE!!! Ever since we got this break in the weather he wants to be outside. He loves playing with the neighbor dogs and talking to the neighbors. He knows all the dogs names and he knows Charlie who lives behind us. We went for a nice walk last night and Halen did not want to go home. He cried when I got him out of the stroller.

Most notably however, Halen has been in a toddler bed for several weeks. He kept trying to climb out of his crib so I had to go to a bed. The first night was rough. After that it was smooth sailing. He loves his bed!

Happy Spring....Finally:)~

I thought that the snow would never end! Halen really enjoyed it However!

It's been a while.

Hello again everyone~

The past month has been hectic to say the least. I keep meaning to update the blog, but things keep happening. I have been bogged down with school work and our computer was out of commission for two weeks to name a few. Most notably however, my father passed away on March 17th. I feel sad for myself and my family, but more so for Halen. He will never remember meeting his grandpa. I was always comforted by the fact that Halen would know my dad even though he never met my mom. It breaks my heart. My mom and dad were great grandparents. Fortunately for Halen he has two other wonderful grandparents who love him very much. He loves spending time with Grandma & Papa!

Lets catch up!

Wow, have we been busy! What a great vacation we had while our friends were here from Florida. Halen and their daughter Bailey went sledding for the first time ever. As a matter of fact, they landed the day we had that huge storm. (2/6) It took them several hours to get to our house. When they finally did, the kids wanted to go sledding right away. So, at 10 pm we ventured out to the hill down the street. The gate was closed, so we parked at the road and walked. It was so much fun! Just us and about four other people. When I put Halen on Carl's lap to go down the hill, he said "Weee" The next day was a different story though. We tried to go back and there was about 200 people out there. (no school that day) We also went downtown for the WinterBlast on Friday. That was fun too. The kids tent and marshmallow roasting was neat. By far, My favorite was the Kahlua & Hot Chocolate trailer. lol......

Well, Halen gives knuckles now. sometimes not so willingly though. He says "knuckles" and gives them to himself more often then he gives them to others. He also looovveess Thomas the train. He calls him choo choo. He now says chug-a chug-a choo choo when he plays with his Thomas toy train I bought him.

He has also discovered a love for basketball. I bought him a net to go along with the 10,000 balls he has. He really likes dunking the ball.

Halen likes to walk around the house in mine and Carl's shoes. He also like to dig into the winter accessories basket for dress up. He will put on hats and gloves along with the shoes and while he's on his way to show me, stop and grab a spatula or spoon. He will check himself out in the mirror and laugh.

My favorite new thing is how he really enjoys throwing his diapers away. He grabs it away from me and runs to the garbage can. He steps on the foot pedal and holds it open while he throws the diaper in. Then, he claps for himself and says "yeah" I love it!!!

I have new words to share.

89.ouch
90. Happy
91. No
92. cracker
93. crayon
94. color
95. team
96. paper
97. milk
98. monkey
99. bunny
100. nuggle (snuggle)
101. mote (remote)
102. shopping
103. knuckles
104. chuga-a choo choo!
105. basketball

Hello Hello and Happy February!

All is good at the Schmidt house. Halen is excited about his Auntie Natalie and Uncle Eric from Florida coming for a visit next week. Their kids,Jaxon and Bailey are coming too. Bailey has never seen snow before so we are praying that the snow stays around at least until the 7th. Halen hasn't seen them since our family vacation in St Pete Beach in July.

Halen is talking a lot. I don't always understand him, but he keeps telling me things anyway. He asked me "Where's daddy?" the other day. He seems to want to know where Carl is when he's not here. Halen looks for him and calls out for him all the time. I have to call Carl sometimes just so Halen can hear his voice. My favorite thing he does is when he wants to watch cartoons. He will gather up his blank and whatever else he feels like, climb up on the couch and get comfy. Then he says "Mommy?!" When I answer him he says,"toons." Usually he follows that up with which toon he wants. Usually, choo-choo (Thomas) clue-clue (Blues Clues) Pablo (Backyardigans) or Dora. It is so cute!!

His love affair with Santa is not over! He still brings me The Night Before Christmas book to read him at least three times a week. He still wears his Santa hat every day. Sometimes all day long. He even takes it to bed with him. Sometimes, he prefers his Santa hat to his regular winter hat. So, if you see a kid out in public in the near future wearing a Santa hat, it's probably Halen.

He also has a few new words.

84.couch
85.buddy
86.watch
87.toons
88. Sowy (sorry)

Sorry................

Well, he is continuing to be a happy, healthy little boy that we enjoy soooooo much. He has his moments like every other toddler though. He slapped me the other day when I asked for a kiss. Carl was holding him at the time. Carl "smacked" his hand and told him NO. I asked for another kiss. He slapped me again. This time Carl smacked his hand a little harder, told him no again and told him to tell mommy sorry. His bottom lip went out and he started to cry. He just looked at me and said "sowy." So, now when I tell him no or raise my voice even slightly, he tells me sorry.

I finally got him on video this week showing us where his body parts are!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great New Year! We sure did. I thought I would add a slide show since individual pictures take up so much room.

Halen is doing great. The doctor says to keep doing what I'm doing because Halen is happy, healthy and right on track. His little personality is so fun to watch develop. He just loves to sing and dance. He enjoys books and flash cards a lot too.

He knows lots of words, 83 to be exact. You can check the archived posts to see all of his words. He also knows several animal & other sounds. He knows where his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head, hair, feet, toes, belly, hands and tounge are.

All in all, he's fantastic;)~