George

This big guy went from my little baby to a full blown toddler.  Now with 2 years under his belt, George is ready to take on the world and no one better get in his way!! As the third child in our family George has learned to adapt to not receiving as much attention but that doesn't mean he doesn't put up a fight for it! 

He's a feisty little thing!!  Looking through this post you'll find lots of pictures of George with a hilarious scowl on his face, or in a fit of rage.  Perhaps the reason we have so many pictures of him during these moments could be that this is how he behaves about 60% of the day, and also it could be that when such tantrums are experienced, one can't help but take a picture.  There is soooooo much personality in this little person.  We absolutely LOVE documenting it.  

 

Don't you think it's kind of funny how he throws his head back like that when he's "over the moon" angry at something?  It could have been that we split a z-bar in half before we gave it to him (don't you dare!!) or put a ball in the basketball hoop that he had previously thrown in (not allowed!!), or it could simply be because he's still mad that you changed his diaper 2 hours ago (shameful!!!). Sometimes he's just fed up because I forgot to let HIM flush the toilet. 

 

He was clearly distraught over the fact that Chase wouldn't take him to see the garbage cans around the side of the house.  He loves garbage cans and thinks it's the BEST when Chase sits him on top as he wheels the cans to the side of the road for pick-up.  The only problem with this is that he wants to bring in all the neighbor's cans too.  I don't think the Perry's would complain, but Chase just wasn't in the mood. 

 

I think George's biggest frustration is that he can't talk yet.  There is so much he wants to communicate to us and if we don't understand what he's saying, he gets really mad.  I love hearing him speak. He has the sweetest little raspy voice and ends every gibberish sentence with a question mark. I'm not so fond of his high pitched scream that is often heard if whatever he "said" isn't addressed.  Our latest kerfuffle has been happening for the last two weeks. Every time we get into the car George will usually yell out "showa" which means he wants to hear the "singing in the shower" song.  But lately he's had an odd request.  He says "butt side" over and over again. 

 

At first he says it with a sweet little smile, and then after I shuffle through about 30 songs, his smile turns to an angry lower lip and absolute disgust with the world.  I thought I had found the song he wanted the other day.  "Big Band Sound" sounded a lot like "but side" so I gave it a whirl for G's sake.  "Big Band Sound" clearly was NOT in George's queue.  Then a miracle happened.  I was driving all the kids in carpool to preschool and one of them requested the "what does the fox say."  George immediately got giddy and repeated over and over again "butt side...butt side!!"  I should have known, with my genius capability to match all words from the dictionary to gibberish that comes from my 2 year old's mouth.  "Fox say=butt side."  The 2 week mystery has been solved!! 

The other 40% of the time, George is a real gem.  I love him to pieces!!  I love looking at him through my rear view mirror as he calmly stares out the window.  This tranquility is immediately set aside when a waving flag comes into view.  George will then blurt out as loud and enthusiastically as he can "FAG!!!"  The same thing occurs whenever he sees a "gardjatruck" which is pretty much any vehicle larger than ours.  Everything is a "gardjatruck" (with a thick German accent).  

 

The cutest thing ever is watching him dip a waffle into some syrup. He will lift it up and watch it drip before he puts it in his mouth. He wants to be sure none of that syrup gets on his clothes. He also found a piece of gum the other day and I realized he was still chewing the same gum about an hour later. What 2 year old knows how to chew gum? My 7 year old still swallows it!

In the past, feeding George was a serious struggle.  He was getting sick of the puzzles and toys we brought out to distract him while he opened his mouth.  One day I had the brilliant idea to show him a YouTube video of a garbage truck picking up trash.  Little did I know I was waking an inner beast!  George now DEMANDS "gardjatruck" every time we sit down for a meal or he won't eat a smidgen of his food. 

First child to ever fall asleep in a highchair and another pic of Jack picking his nose (we have several:-)

 

After a month of watching every upload of waste disposal, we are attempting to wean him of this practice.  If the food is especially delicious, he will sometimes forget about his addiction:-).

I don't want to hand him a phone every time I need him to do something so as soon as he can communicate better and fully understand what we are saying, we will finally have a peaceful dinner without the sounds of squeaky brakes and hydraulics as our background dining ambiance.

So, if you want to win your way into George's heart, give him a flag and let him watch garbage trucks on YouTube. 

Our daily routine always consists of us walking across the street to examine Mary Lynn's American flag.  This is after he insists on being the one to "puss" the button to open the garage door.  We usually have to walk around the corner to see the other flags the neighbors have waving in front of their homes.  It's such a funny obsession. 

We all know George is a little "quirky" at this point but it doesn't stop at flags and garbage trucks.  George requires that I wear my "asses" (glasses) at all times.  If I happen to take them off, he notices immediately and will either find them to bring them to me (after he's left little George smudges all over the lenses) or will scream "ASSES, ASSES, ASSES!!" until I finally put them back on. 

He becomes especially perturbed when I get out of the shower and have a towel wrapped around my head.  I have one of those "turbie twists."  It's hot pink and awesome!  I would wear it all day if G didn't completely ignore me and barely make eye contact.  There was one day I was desperately trying to get a ton of things done and usually George would be at my legs begging to be held.  I happened to have my "turban" on that morning and it was amazing.  George wanted nothing to do with me.  He went upstairs and played with his toys all morning while I cleaned the house downstairs.  The "turbie twist" has all sorts of benefits!!

 

 

George LOVES Chase.  I think he kind of likes me, but I know he absolutely adores his father.  The fun begins when Dad gets home.  Normally this would make someone jealous of their spouse, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love how much the kids love their father.  I especially love it in the morning after Sadie gets George out of his crib and he comes running into our bedroom.  The first place he runs is to Chase's side of the bed!  It's a little heartbreaking when Chase is at work and I have to see that sad little face look over the empty side of the bed as he says "Da Da?" 

 

It's also sad seeing his betrayed face after he's been vaccinated.  Poor little dude. 

He only weighs 24 pounds which still puts him in the 8th percentile.  You'd think a kid whose favorite food is french fries would be a little beefier.  He still has chubby cheeks and voluptuous little lips I want to kiss ALL DAY LONG!! If he's in the mood, George will sometime give "kisses" which is usually him just putting his open mouth up against yours.  It's dreamy!! 

Notice the flag he found along our path to watch the excavators:-)

I love how excited he is to see me every morning when I go into his room.  He immediately wants to play with his "bahball hoop."  He runs around the room playing with all the toys he can get his hands on.  His new fascination is watching his garbage truck fall off the coffee table.  He will then say in a very high pitched little voice "uh-oh..fluff!! (fell off)." He will eventually say he wants "behfest" so we head downstairs to make his bowl of green oatmeal.  He likes to scoop all the ingredients in and always insists on pushing the buttons to the microwave. 

We go on Rollerblade/stroller runs every morning the weather permits where we point out every basketball hoop, every puppy, and dodge having to stop at every waving flag.  If we do stop to say hello to a "doggy," George will usually try to get the dog to see his "bah" and then giggle with delight when the dog tries to grab it. 

 

He also loves to read books and has become especially fond of some "Thomas the Tank Engine" books as well as "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."  Nothing holds a candle to his "trucks" board book where he points to every picture and says "gardjatruck!"  He's also very keen on pointing out the flag attached to the tow truck.  Wouldn't want to miss that! He loves going to our weekly storytime at the church and thinks "shaking his sillies out" is just about the funnest thing in the whole world!!

 

He's become a real champ at going to nursery.  He will now just do his sweet little inside wave and say "see ya" or "bye bye" as we walk away.  No more tears from this little guy at church.  After church is a different story!  One day as we were driving home from our three hour meetings, I looked back at our three chiddlers as they calmly looked out their respective windows.  They all looked so cute I thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of them in front of the house to "capture the moment." This idea went South the second they got out of the car.  A mother can try.

 

Sometimes throughout the day I will hear tinkering in the other room.  If I ask George what he's doing he'll immediately yell back "NO!!" We are now in the process of starting "time-outs'' and a little more disciplining.  Up to this point George pretty much got whatever he wanted.  If he doesn't get what he wants, he does the frightfully painful scream that immediately makes the provider of whatever he wants succumb to his torture.  He will push the other kids away if they try to look over his shoulder for a glimpse of garbage truck YouTube, and makes sure his friend Miles doesn't touch ANY of his toys when he comes over to play.  I've gotten in the habit of telling the older kids to just "give it to him" to avoid the screaming, but I have a feeling this needs to stop sooner than later.  Even George (king of the universe) can't have what he wants ALL the time. 

 

I love my little Georgie Porge.  He can be a handful at times but even when he is, he puts on a great show!  I love how he still sucks those two little dimpled fingers, how he rubs the nub of that bah under his nose and how he falls asleep in my arms when it's nap time.  

Going...

Going...

GONE!!