Two and a half

Things are about to get crazy around here. So before they do, I wanted to write a quick update on Trooper and his daily happenings. If you'd like to skip to the pictures and videos down below, feel free. 

Trooper is really developing a fun little personality with favorite activities and funny phrases. He likes to say his own prayers, but pretty much every prayer goes exactly like this: "Heavenly Father, pray the food. Christ Jesus, Amen." Once I had to stop him from eating and remind him we needed to pray first, so he quickly said: "Heavenly Father, the food is yum, yum, yum! Christ Jesus, Amen!"

 'I Am a Child of God' is his favorite song that he loves to have us sing. He can sing the entire first verse on his own as well and it's pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever heard.  He also loves to sing his ABC's and all the songs from Frozen. He knew that soundtrack way faster and better than I did somehow and can fill in the words for me when I forget. I was singing 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman' and paused because I didn't know what came next and he filled in "hang in there, Joan!" He requests certain songs to listen to and likes to sing along to them all by himself. It's quite impressive. He also likes us to make up songs for him about random things. Once we asked him to do the same, so he made up a quick song and ended with "And thaaaaat's all I've got!" Here are some other favorites we've heard recently:

Trooper heard me call myself a genius and he said to me, "Mom, you're not Jesus. You're ridiculous!"

We were reading a book where you guess which farm animal they're talking about. The clue was'People like to drink my milk.' So I asked Trooper where milk came from and he said "From the fridge!"

Troop was whining for something and I told him that whiny boys don't get anything. He quickly said, "I'll be happy. I need anything!"

His favorite activity right now includes baseball, "spacketball" (basketball), and really anything else involving a ball. There are probably 15 different balls scattered around my house every day along with two baseball bats and his little mitt. He wants to play catch or have me pitch a ball to him multiple times each day. If he's not playing ball, he's either fixing something with his tools or coloring and hiding in a big box that he calls his "space." Or he's lining up similar items that he finds around the house. I often find mine and Brent's shoe racks have been emptied and there's a long line of shoes across my bedroom floor. He loves to line up the tub of trucks at Grandma's house and he's always so so proud of himself when he does. He's getting more and more into cars and trucks and likes to watch Cars and Chuck the Truck on Netflix.(And Frozen, of course.) Every Thursday morning he wakes up to the sound of the garbage truck outside and we HAVE to sit outside and watch. Then he waves happily to the truck driver and can't wait til the next week. He likes me to point out trucks and tractors to him while we're driving. He is also super into skateboarding for some reason and likes to do jump spins off of furniture and show us his "awesome skateboard tricks." He puts one foot on the seat of his little trike and likes to ride it like a skateboard. He has started pretending to "be" things, mostly a dinosaur or lion. He's got a pretty good roar. He LOVES to wrestle and jump on his dad. It makes him so happy and he could do it for hours. The other day he jumped off the full size trampoline to the ground. He's not afraid to try crazy things. We've got ourselves a true boy here, folks. And it's so much fun.

He's also the sweetest little kid I've ever met. When he sees me laying down, he asks if I need a blanket and quickly finds one to bring to me. If Brent or I are trying to rest during the day, he sings 'I Am a Child of God' to us, whispers goodnight, and closes the door quietly behind him. (Then he'll come in a few seconds later and tell you it's time to get up.) If he can see I'm frustrated about something, he says in a sweet voice "It's okay Mom, you don't need to be mad. I'll take care of you." Then he takes my hand and leads me to do something fun. He was very aware when my mom got knee surgery and would bring her blankets, touch her knee very softly and tell her he would make it all better. He's also very sweet when he talks about his baby sister. He told me today that when she comes he will turn music on for her when she needs a nap. He's so gentle and quiet when it comes to small or cuddly things. He's really going to be a great big brother.

He loves nursery more than ever, especially his leader Sister Peterson. He runs to nursery as soon as sacrament meeting is over and a couple weeks ago he told Brent, "I love mommy. I love daddy. And I love Peterson." Sister Peterson told us that last week he just sat by her and held her hand for the last 10 minutes of class. What?! He won't even do that with me! And a few weeks ago she told us that he invited her to come to his house and play. He loves his little nursery friends too and knows all their names.

Here are some cute pictures from the past 6 months or so. 

We don't own a sled, so dad improvised.

Krispy Kreme dates with the cousins are our favorite!

Nightly bedtime stories with dad.

At the Boise Aquarium during our Spring Break Staycation.

How Troop enjoyed Aunt BreA's tennis matches.

Watching General Conference in his "space."

Loves working with Grandpa in the yard.

The men and their tools.

Best cousiny friends, these three.

Relaxing to some Frozen.

Insisted on putting his undies on "by self."

Lining up the "running shoes."