Walking in a Winter Wonderland

The freezing temperatures outside, the warm coffee in my hand, and the blizzard going on outside my window have all inspired me to post some pictures from our last snow. Bram is taking a good long "it's too cold to do anything else but sleep" morning nap and Titus is snuggled up next to grandma Gigi watching The Lion King. Although it is way to cold to play in the snow right at this moment, hopefully this is in our near future...

"Lets go play DOMINATION (his name for wrestling) in the snow mommy"

SMILE like we aren't freezing our bums off!

DOMINATION

T looks a little unsure...

 "Yeah Okay this snow angel things looks cool"

 "Uhhhhhh nevermind"

"hey dad"

Little Moments

I decided today that despite the fact that the pile of laundry in my room will never end and the other things on my "To Do List" will not go away on their own, I'm going to stop and blog a few of the precious moments I've had with Titus lately. Kids really do say the greatest things I know that I'll forget so many of the great little moments so it is worth it to stop and document what I can! (Also...I started this post in December and just finished it today...oh well!!)


Moment 1
God's Promises

A few weeks back Titus and I were looking at his Noah's Ark book. He was searching fervently for the rainbow in his book! He couldn't remember what page it was on but he knew there was a rainbow somewhere in that darn book! Once Titus found the rainbow I thought it would be a great time to talk about God's promises, since God sent that Rainbow as a promise for his people. (Sidenote: We have been listening to a lot of Paul Tripp's teaching on parenting lately, and he talks at lengths about being in AWE of God and how that awe will change the conversations you are having with your kids...It's good stuff...check it out!). I went on to tell Titus that God sent that rainbow in the story as a promise that he will never destroy the earth with water again. That rainbow is a sign to us that God always keeps his promises. Then I told him that God also promises to always to care of us. That is why is he sent us Jesus. Here is how our convo went from there:

Titus: God take of mommy
me: yes God takes care of mommy
Titus: God take of Daddy
me: yes God takes care of daddy
Titus: God take care of Titus and Bram and Gigi and grand daddy and  papa
me: yes he does take care of all of us, how does that make you feel?
Titus: Better

And then he went back to looking at his book.

Moment 2
WEEEEEE

This story is a little less redemptive then the one above but it's true.
A couple days ago Titus was wound up! I mean crazy hyper! He ended up needed to be disciplined for not obeying (he wouldn't stop grabbing his brothers face). So I asked him to wait in the kitchen like I always do until I could come in and talk with him about why he was getting a spanking. So we went through our normal routine, I asked him why he was getting a spanking, we talked about it, and then I gave him a spanking, As soon as the spanking was over he looked at me with a huge smile and yelled....WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! You would have thought I just told him he could have 12 doughnuts for breakfast! Normally we hug and pray after he is disciplined, but this time it took everything in me not to bust up laughing.

Happy 2 1/2 years Titus Lair Marasco

My big boy turned 2 1/2 this week!  Yup that's right I'm going to try to give an update on that wild child every 6 month (Once Bram turns 1 I'll switch to only giving updates on him every 6 months). It makes me excited to think about how fun it will be for the boys to read these updates when they are older. That's what keeps me pressing on! :)

Happy 2 1/2 years Titus. 

Strengths

* Language- Talking in conversations, can answer most WH questions about a situation or story (who, what, where,when, why; the teacher in me gets pretty pumped about that), my favorite thing he says right now is "how was your day mommy, good?"

*People- T loves people and people love T. He lights up a room.

*Being a big brother- T has started to be a big help with Bram. At first if I asked him to bring me a diaper, he had no idea what I was talking about or why I would interrput play time to change Bram's diaper! Now he will run over and get it (if he doesn't get distracted by a toy on the way!)

*Memory- T has just gotten to the age where he remembers EVERYTHING! He remembers every promise you make about sweet treats, who we will have a playdate with, etc. He has even gotten to where he knows where we are going/which way to get there when we drive! If I take a different route home or to the park, he freaks out! He's afraid we are not going where I said we were going. To be honest, it's little annoying, but it has led to good conversations about trusting mommy. I'm trying to teach him that daddy and I won't lie to him. We will always try to be honest about where we are going, etc, BUT sometimes plans change and that's okay...that's life! :) HA! He doesn't get it yet....but hopefully someday!

*making friends- T has been making good little friends at church and at mother's day out. It is so fun to watch him interact with other kids.

Struggles

*HELLO Terrible 2's!- They do exist! It goes through phases for us. There are days when it feels like everything results in a meltdown and then days where T really seems to understand that rules, consequences, etc. are in place for a reason. As much as two year old can understand that concept...right. :) (that's still a hard concept for me to remember as an adult!)
*Sleep- this has been a struggle on and off since this summer. T has gone through a few phases of what I guess are night terrors. Poor little guy will wake up screaming. He usually calms down quickly and is back to sleep. Winter sickness hasn't helped with sleeping, but overall sleepless nights are usually only because of those two things. We need spring! :)
*Playing DOMINATION with Bram- T loves to run and tackle Bram and yell Domination. This will be really fun when the boys are 2 and 4, 6 and 8, or 15 and 17, but right now it terrifies me! Poor Bram!
* WATER- T wakes up most nights right around the time Matt and I head to bed for water. He starts screaming WATER, WATER, WATER until one of us runs into his room with a glass of water. He proceeds to chug the glass of water and then falls back to sleep immediately. Random.