My independent man

I kinda knew from the beginning that Austin, our middle boy who is almost 2 1/2, would have to grow up sooner than "normal". From the start he was forced, in a way, to self soothe, to be on his own, and keep up with his older brother. With Daddy being gone from 6 weeks old to 8 months and again from 1 1/2 to 2 years old, he has had to be more "mature" as I needed him to be. (As mature as a 2 year old could be:-) These past few months he has shown me a glimpse of what life may be like with him in the future. He tries to do things by himself so much and just tries and tries until he succeeds. For example, I have countless times found him on the toilet trying to go potty (diaper off and kiddie seat on) instead of napping, trying to brush his teeth, buckling and unbuckling himself, getting crayons out of a difficult cupboard and setting up a place to color, etc. He has a very spirited personality, yet a sweet and cuddly one when he wants. I love that he still wants to cuddle in the morning and I will gladly sit on the couch with him for 20 minutes scratching his back while he wakes up.

With him being the middle child I don't want him to grow up any faster or feel that he has to do everything on his own. I vow to spend extra time and attention to him since I feel that he will need it. He has no fear with many things such as bugs, heights, food, dirt, and water just to name a few. I often think about what the "no fear" mentality will be in the future and of course think of the awful things that could come of it. I pray that he comes to know the Lord because with his attractive personality he would be an awesome ambassador for Christ. Anyways, I love my little Austin and wish sometimes I could go back to when he was a baby and soak up more of the sweet time with him. I realize with Everett that they grow up so fast and am trying to take it all in ssslllloooowwwwllllyyyy. I love Austin's little face and I couldn't get enough of it this morning, so I thought I would share it:-)

(the middle picture is before his recent hair cut, the others are of his bed hair...NOT the haircut)

ps, while I wrote this, his mischievous or curious side (that comes out a lot) had him putting his yogurt from his bowl to his plate. Now he has yogurt toast.