28 months

today talan turned 28 months old! and what does any 28 month old do to celebrate such a magnificent achievement?! they go to a 3 day music festival, of course!
on friday, we loaded up and drove to chicago for our yearly lollapalooza trip, but this time with talan in tow. hayden was left with grandma and grandpa since it's really not his scene. he'd much rather spend the nite and grandma's than go to an entire weekend of rock shows. for talan, however, this is heaven.
as you can see, this month talan continued his love for music. he is playing actual beats on the drums, something that he picked up by himself. dave has been trying to teach him little things here and there and he soaks it all in. he also loves to rock out with his guitar in the living room showing off all of his rock moves. he will also request certain songs be played and lets you know when there is a song he DOES NOT want to hear.
one of my favorite things this month is that he started singing the ramones blitzkrieg bop. almost every day, throughout the day, he will randomly start singing "ay oh! let's go!" it's awesome. and then one day he decided to do some song writing of his own. while i was putting him in his chair for dinner he started singing, in a growling voice, "what the heck! what the heck!" it was great. so we called jessica right away so she could hear.
talan sings his alphabet now, only missing a few letters. he can recognize most of them as well, but still gets stuck on a few of them.
he still loves reading chicka chicka boom boom and chicka chicka 1, 2, 3 and can even say some of the parts by himself. he loves "look who's coming, it's black eyed p." he repeats that one often.
talan loves playing with trains, especially with hayden. they can play really well together and they can fight even better. most days are filled with screaming from both of them. talan loves to bug hayden. talan is sent to his crib often during the day for continuing to hit, push and just plain bother hayden. his way too loud, way too high pitched screaming also gets him sent to his crib on a regular basis.
talan's newest discovery is being covered up with a blanket in his crib. he LOVES it. of course, i don't think he stays under it long after we leave as he's such a mover. but many nites he now requests to be covered up and it immediately chills him out. while watching wipeout this past week, he was covered up with a blanket and he just sat and chilled for most of the show, which is a very rare thing!
talan continues to get better and better at talking. he's usually very passionate about everything he says. even if we have no idea what it is. he's putting more and more words together and i usually can figure out just what he's trying to say. his facial expressions and hand gestures complete it. he really believes in what he has to say.
he really is one of the funniest kids i've ever seen. and we still believe people would watch a reality show with him just being him. the faces, the moves, the way he walks...he's a comedy routine every day of the week.
he LOVES to go out. he could play outside forever. but even if we are just going to a store, he can't wait to get his sandals on and leave. he doesn't necessarily like being gone for too long, but he loves getting his shoes on and getting into the car. he will go around the house and get his shoes, my shoes, anybody's shoes that still need to be put on.
speaking of shoes. his feet are still ginormous. i bought him sandals in either may or june and they are already too small for him. i pulled out a pair of sandals from hayden that were pretty big and figured no way would they fit. well, they did. he tried to put on a pair of flip flops that lorelei got for her 3rd birthday and he couldn't get them on. they were FLIP FLOPS!!!! i bought him a size 8 pair of one star converse the other day thinking they looked wider than normal. i brought them home, and couldn't even begin to jam his giant foot in it. when i help his foot up to the sole of the shoe we saw that his feet were just spilling over the sides they are so fat. he loves trying shoes on and whenever we do he always says "too big! too big!" yes, your feet are too big.
some other big and exciting news from this month is potty news. talan has been deathly afraid of the toilet and has REFUSED to sit on it, even with his little insert. one day i asked if he wanted to try to go potty. then i told him that if he goes pee pee on the potty, he gets candy. he didn't hesitate for a second. he couldn't get his diaper off fast enough to sit on the toilet. and then he sat on the toilet for over 15 minutes and just kept saying "pee pee on potty. candy." i kept telling him to just try again later, but he wouldn't hear it. i imagine his butt was getting tired of sitting there and he kept getting down and then right back up again. then the whining started. but he did not want to leave that potty before getting some candy. then at one point, he got off the toilet for a few seconds and i was getting ready to put his diaper back on. suddenly he peed right next to the toilet. i grabbed him and put him on the toilet which just caused tears. i tried explaining that was what needed to go IN the potty in order to get the candy. no luck that day, but i wasn't expecting it. i wasn't expecting him to even sit on the toilet, so it was a major breakthrough!
talan continues to go to bed around 8pm and wakes up anywhere from 7:30-8:30. there are been some mornings it's been around 9! those mornings are rare, but they have happened! he takes his nap from 1-4...sometimes he doesn't get up until 4:30 or even close to 5. it is possible he's awake before then, but he just lays there for awhile.
he wears a 2t in pants and shirts and a size 5 diaper. a size 4 fits, but as i found out the other week when i bought the wrong size, size 4's are not nearly absorbent enough for this kid and he wakes up soaked every morning while in a size 4. we don't really know what size shoe he is wearing right now. i'm guessing somewhere between a 7 and 8....wide to extra wide, of course!
talan loves reading books, usually by himself. he loves running and jumping and dancing and doing anything that involves moving. he loves watching dora and diego and yo gabba gabba. he loves taking baths. he loves harassing his brother. he loves music. he loves playing with the bowling set in the basement. he loves eating salami and pepperoni. he loves making messes and mischief. he loves to be covered with a blanket at nite, if only for a few minutes. he loves playing with trucks and balls. he loves candy and chocolate and ice cream and popsicles. he loves playing in hayden's room. he loves to put stamps all over himself. he loves drinking milk. he loves his friend isaac. he loves his binky and blanket and pooh bear.
he hates getting his hair washed while in the bath. he hates sitting still. he hates being told no. he hates sitting to eat a normal meal. he hates drinking anything other than milk. he hates being changed but tolerates it much more now.
talan continues to be a major busy body but is so fun to be around. his tantrums are somewhat often, but always very quick and tolerable. he's a funny, energetic toddler that loves to laugh and be the center of attention. we love watching him grow and learn and be him day after day.
we love you so much, talan cash! happy 28 months!