Nolan is officially the age that Brady was when he was born- right around 21 months. I can’t for the life of me picture how I managed a newborn and someone Nolan’s age. I’m sure the only reason it was possible is because Brady was a completely different 21 month old than Nolan is. Brady was calm, quiet, and liked to play independently. Those are not exactly the words I’d use to describe Nolan, but he’s fantastic in his own way. He’s at such a fun age, that I wanted to take the time to write a post that could act as a “snap shot” of a typical day in the life of Nolan. I want to remember as many of his little quirks and catch phrases as possible.
Just woke up. Must bring all items from my crib downstairs.
You never quite know what kind of Nolan will wake up each day. Happy and singing a song?! Screaming and demanding you take his socks off?! Busy and talking to the pictures on his wall?! Either way, you can just about count on the fact that he will not want to get out of bed without his “night-night” (blankie) and Pup-pup (puppy.)
The other thing we can count on each morning is that Nolan will wake up HUNGRY. “Snack! Milk! Foffle! Pancake!” Just a few of the things he yells at us as soon as we come downstairs.
You must always be prepared with snacks and milk when Nolan wakes up. Keep the beast happy.
The boy enjoys his breakfast. Yogurt is always a favorite (and one of the few healthy foods he requests.)
9 times out of 10 Nolan is not satisfied with only eating his own breakfast. Generally he assesses the situation to scope out what everyone else is eating and either grabs it out of your hand/mouth or, when he’s being polite, stares you down and says, “I want some.”
At some point in the morning, you will inevitably hear Nolan say from the other room, “Yay. I did it.” To which we respond, “What did you do, Bubba?!” and he very matter of factly states, “I pooped. I stink. Stink! Stank! Stunk!” We’ve never accused him of being subtle.
Other favorite phrases, “I’m awesome” “Hot Mess!” and “Wow. I’m fast!”
When it comes to playtime, Nolan is all boy. He loves all the things his big brother loves- trains, cars, and airplanes. In fact, he plays with cars and trucks even more than Brady ever has. It’s one of the few times he’s quiet and calm…
Nolan loves to line up his “f*cks” (trucks) Still waiting on him to turn that “F” sound into a “TR”
He also reeeeally likes to drive his “f*cks” up the “Mommy Mountain. Wheee!” It hurts a little…
He usually plays really hard- running around full speed, knocking things over, singing, squealing, roaring, and then all of a sudden needs a break. Like anywhere…
On school days, Nolan and I get lots of “Mommy and Me” time.
The boy is a big fan of selfies. Like, wants to do them all the time.
Some mornings we go to Toddler Time at the library or walk the park. Other mornings we run errands- lots of Target runs.
My Target buddy- wiping down the cart like it’s his job. “Mess! Yuck! All better!”
And, most mornings he falls asleep in the car because he just can’t quite hang yet without a little morning snooze.
And of course this usually happens as we’re on our way to pick up Brady from school!
When we go into Brady’s school, Nolan gets excited and tells me “lollipop!” (Brady’s teacher made the mistake of letting Nolan choose something from her treasure box once. Since then, Brady’s school= Lollipop.) After we get home and he takes his afternoon nap, he wakes up…yup, you guessed it, HUNGRY.
Snack time Round 177…
When the weather is nice in the afternoon Nolan loves to play outside!
“Folfing” is the BEST! And he WILL throw a fit if someone leaves the house with golf clubs and he’s not invited.
Walks in the park are cool too (as long as there are snacks involved.)
One of our favorite things about Nolan is his ability to talk/sing non-stop all.day.long. He just doesn’t shut up! We joke that he narrates his own life. In a car ride he goes from describing everything he sees on the road- “f*ck! tractor! bulldozer! light!” to naming the members of our family, “mommy! daddy! Brady! Nolie! Albert! Gato!” to singing a prayer, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Ah-men. A-men!” to labeling the parts of his body, “eyes! nose! tongue! hair!” And occasionally he’ll treat us with a little gem like this…
When dinner time comes around, Nolan is not shy about expressing his hunger. His favorite foods are pizza, tacos, “foofies” (cookies) and hummus. He doesn’t exactly crave the healthiest of foods…
After dinner, Brady and Nolan usually run around the house chasing each other or playing on their riding toys. When Daddy is home, they have dance parties and play Hide and Seek. Nolan, bless his heart, tries so hard to hide and be quiet, but usually calls himself out by loudly saying “Husssshhhh!! I hiding.” Either way, he just loves playtime with his daddy!
No one makes Bubba laugh quite like daddy.
At the end of the day Brady and Nolan take their bath together. Nolan always initiates the splashing.
He is the first to splash, and the one who cries the loudest when water gets in his eyes.
When I put Nolan’s jammies on he usually asks for powder and lotion. He specifically says, “Lotion. Feet.” (People who know my feelings on feet should be impressed that I will in fact put lotion on his little *clean* feet.) And usually as I do this he looks at me and very seriously says, “I’m fancy.” Apparently soft feet=Fancy.
Right before bed we always read books with Brady- Nolan loves to “read along” with sound effects and voices for the characters.
When it’s time to say goodnight- Nolan doesn’t leave anyone out. “Night-night, Brady. Night-night, Albert. Night-night, fan. Night-night, downstairs.” And then it’s off to thumb-sucking, blankie snuggling, dreamland…but not before a quick song that he sings to his night-light and space heater.
We love this kid so much. From morning to night, happy to sad, clean to messy, and everything in between, he keeps us laughing!
Loving this age- full of toddler energy and laughs, but still baby enough for some mommy snuggles!
our blessed adventures 
