June

The Johnston Green Days were a big hit in David's book. After initially saying "I no like it" when we asked him if he wanted to go have breakfast with a fireman he warmed up at the mention of pancakes and quickly climbed into a fireman's arms to get into the driver's seat.

David had fun picking up "prizes" at the parade. He also enjoyed seeing the tractors, waving, and dancing. A funny thing happened when he saw a float with a person dressed like Moses. He said, "Santa Claus." After the parade, we went to an elementary school near the route. David had fun swinging with Daddy. It is hard to capture the fun that he was having with a picture, but we think that he was trying to imitate pumping your feet on the swing.
He also created a fun game. "I throw hat.... I go get it."

... Of course, he proclaimed, "AGAIN!" at the bottom of the slide.

Grandma and PaPa Pittman came to Iowa to see me.

This is me helping PaPa Dave learn Italian.

SUMMER!!!!! This is me playing in Allison and Adam's back yard.

A bird built a nest in Daddy's grill and I got to look at the eggs everyday. "Bird Eggs - Again." The delayed grilling season was worth the wait. We got to watch the little birdies just after they hatched.

Daily trips to the park down the street are now a must. We even have a little girl friend (Jade). They hugged when David left today. He is getting so big. He can now climb the ladder.


We have perfected the cheesy smile. He'll even take the camera and hold it up to his face and say, "say cheese."

We are working on colors. The most effective teaching method so far has proven to be using "beans" otherwise know to the rest of the world as M&Ms. Our neighbor Lisa shared the tip and it seems to be working. However, his most frequent answer to our questions about colors is "What color is it?" We make almost daily trips to visit Lisa. She affectionately calls David her boy friend (so far her husband, Randy, doesn't seem worried). David is enjoying school. He loves seeing Emma, Sydney, Miss Amber, Miss Amela, Ryan and all his other friends. The kids in the neighborhood continue to be great with David. Grant had kids over the other day and still took time to teach David how to use a tennis racket. We talk about Kyle and Madison daily. After our neighbors got back from Disney, David chased Angel and Aaron (parents) down the street to say hi. He continues to be unafraid of dogs. He especially likes Baxter, the newest puppy on the block.

Other milestones...

We've mastered going potty!! He can pull his own pants down and put underwear and pants on by himself (when he wants to).

He is starting to actually be effective at brushing his own teeth.

We can sing our own versions of Twinkle, Twinkle, Ba Ba Black Sheep, Old MacDonald, Row Row Row your Boat, If You're Happy and You Know it, ABCs, a crocodile song of some sort, and others.

He is good at emotions. He'll tell us when he is happy or when he thinks that we are happy. David Happy, Mommy happy too. He also knows scared. David sad, David cry (mostly around bed time and accompanied by the sign for crying).

Some things that David is saying...

What is it?

Downstairs

Mommy Up Please

That way, Turn corner

I do it

Carry you has recently switched to Carry me

Come Here - until recently pronounced "Comere"

Outside

No way

Mommy's bed

Go see Lisa

Daddy come home. The change from just a few weeks when a "Mommy come home" voicemail was a little hard to understand is amazing.

Shoes OFF

Daddy wake up

He has an exaggerated Hello that is really cute. It sounds a little like "Hey - Yo." He changes it up with a Hey You followed by a big smile.

Drive tractor, Drive Mommy's car, Drive Fire Truck... (Note he only gets to drive fire trucks)

Go away, Daddy (after Daddy tells him it's the last time on the slide)

He tells lots of stories just not in complete sentences.

Kyle fall off bike. Hurt knee. All better.

Fire truck. siren, hurt (with sign), spray water, ladder, helmet, help people.

Longest sentence so far... I go to park and help people. Ok?

As you can tell from this posting most things that David does impress me, I am most impressed with David's ability to remember names. My memory is not as good as his, but these are some of the people that he talks about... Lisa, Randy, Allie, Grant, Kyle, Madison, Aaron, Angel, Ginny, Sydney, Ethan, Steve, Rani, Tyson, Keo, Paul, Rachel, Joyce, Theresa, Olivia, Ann, Jesse, David, Amber, Brady... even dogs (Baxter, Maggie, Chance, Sophie, Bailey, Molly, Checkers...). When we tell him that everybody is asleep he goes through the list... Madison sleeping... Randy is sleeping, Angel is sleeping... and on and on it goes

He is gentle and sweet most of the time. He practices putting his baby to bed and pats Daddy's back. Most of the time he is a great kid who just plain makes people smile, but he is also two and definitely has his defiant moments. I think his favorite words are "I no like it." I say prayers with him after he falls asleep. This week I walked in to hear him saying, "I no like it," in his sleep.

When he gets in trouble he is usually quick to say Sorry. He is now adding "give kiss," "pat back," or "be nice." He was driving one of his little cars on the wall the other day said if you do it again I will take the truck way. After he did it again and I took it away and he gave the wall a hug and kiss. He didn't get the truck back, but it was really cute : ) He did seem to have learned the lesson when he got the truck back the next day.

David has proven that he can have a one track mind. We have found that if we count to 10 to give him time to think about what is coming that we can get him to do almost anything.

1st Trip to the Big Apple

Grandma and came to visit David in New York. It was great. Mommy and Daddy got to go see shows and spend some time together, but they didn't have to feel like they were too far away.

We went to a Yankee's game. It was great seeing David get excited when the crowd cheered. I guess that he really is a Cards fan because he wasn't very interested in the game, but he did like the hot dog and snacks. He had fun meeting the kids sitting behind us. (Note the marks on his nose are from a face plant where he rolled over a basketball with his hands still on the ball. He's going to be a scrappy ball player!)

David liked the trains/subway and would say cho-cho. With arm gestures included. He was also fascinated by taxis. "More taxi." He loved pushing the stroller around the city. That was a challenge on the busy streets, but we found that telling him that it was Mommy/Daddy's turn and that he could push it at the next street helped.

We went to the Children's Museum of New York. David was most interested in driving the life-size bus.

He indulged us by experiencing the other exhibits too...

We went to the zoo and David turned this photo op into a slide.

He was a little scared by all of the big buildings and new noises. When we went on our first walk he didn't say that he was scare, but he held my arm a little tight. My favorite part of the trip was when we were sitting on the balcony and David said that he was cold. I picked him up and held him. He wrapped his arms around my neck and said. Safe. Sooooo cute.

We celebrated David's second birthday with tractor cakes - what else could it have been... maybe a BIG tractor : ) I've told many people this already, but the best part was seeing just how loved David is. He had fun playing with grown ups and kids alike. Some even said that he was working the room.
David's favorite part of his cake was the dots that formed the lights on his tractor.

May - Visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa

David went to visit his great grand parents in Nebraska just after his birthday. As you can tell, he had a great time!