Birthday Bashes

Corey and I took Jackson out to Red Robin on his actual birthday.  [Auntie] Sara joined us for a bit and brought J his first present.  He's still talking about her Elmo card with Elmo stickers in it. 

Apparently turning two makes you hungry.  We ordered and every two seconds J asked anyone who walked by about his mac & cheese.  When it finally came, he polished off the entire bowl, his oranges and his full glass of milk.  They brought him another bowl of mac & cheese, which he ate half of before finally giving up. 

While we waited for his ice cream sundae, the Red Robin bird was walking around and J surprised us by loving him.  We were worried he'd start screaming, but no --- he gave him a high five and said hi, before yelling "bye, bye birdie!" when he walked way.

Jackson's birthday celebration continued this weekend with a family filled party at our place.  When J went down for his nap on Saturday, we quickly got to work prepping for the bash.  My mom and I decorated with streamers and balloons, while the guys put together all of J's new big boy toys (magnetic white board/chalk board, bike with a handle for us to "help", and a slide).  Corey's parents, Scott and Consuelo showed up to greet the birthday boy when he woke up.

He was excited, and a little nervous, at first to see so many faces and decorations when he first woke up, but quickly began playing with the balloons (one of which plays a song when you hit it) and opening his other presents.  He got all kinds of new clothes and a ton of great books.  J was so excited about his books - he wanted to read every book before moving onto the next present.  Corey and I are looking forward to some new books in the rotation.

J was so excited about his Elmo cake and the huge smile on his face as we sang was priceless.  He dug in (he definitely likes cake much more than his 1st birthday) and when he first piece was nearly gone, he looked up with a very serious face and said "I want some more" (his first time saying that phrase).  Of course, we couldn't say no to that!

He had a great time running through the streamers we'd put in one of our door ways, after he figured out that he didn't need to crawl below them to get through.  But after a few minutes of that, decided that it was time to pull them down and put them in the garbage.  He pulled every last one down, crumpled them into a ball and put threw them away.  Always such a great helper.

All in all, I'd say he had a wonderful, memorable birthday and was a very spoiled big boy.

Who are all these people looking at me?!

Loving the new slide - each time he came down, he loved to clap for himself.

Yep, same face...different day.

Loved drinking out of a "big boy cup"

 

Reading time with grandpa

Only J and I got the memo on which camera to look at for this shot...

Twinkle Twinkle

 

J had been doing hand motions along with Twinkle Twinkle when it came on during one of his Elmo DVDs for a few weeks, and we assumed he'd learned them at school.  After paying more attention to what was actually on the DVD, we realized that he was actually mimicking the characters on the TV.

 

This kid just loves to sing and dance.  It's pretty much a part of our nightly routine right after dinner these days.

Birthday Boy

 

It so hard to believe that our munchkin is TWO today!  Seriously, where have the last two years gone?  It is just shocking to think that two years ago we were welcoming Jackson into the world, and now he's a walking, talking, tantrum throwing machine.  Amazing.

I absolutely love being J's mom and getting to experience the world and all the things it has to offer through his eyes.  Everything is so much more fun and exciting from his perspective. 

He continues to amaze us daily with new words, phrases or things he's learned.  Tonight at dinner we were talking about how today he's "1" and tomorrow, he'll be "two" and he started talking about "Monday" and "Tuesday" (both said perfectly and in the right order).  We were shocked - we've never really talked much about days of the week, but I guess they must at school. 

He can truly have a conversation with us now and I just love listening to what he says, as well as the way he says things.  Tonight, he even kept me company by chatting while I cooked.

He's drinking out of a cup without a lid at meals now, and hasn't been asking for "help" (as he did the first week or so, even though he didn't really need it).  And hopefully it's a new trend, but over the last week or so, he's been much more accepting with new foods including asking for salad last night (after which he ate several pieces of lettuce, some carrots and every last tomato we could dig up from our own plates), beef from a fried rice dish last week, sausage in his soup tonight, to name a few.  For those of you who know Jackson, this is a huge improvement - the kid wouldn't touch protein other than dairy and tofu previously, and rarely ate any veggies outside of those that come in a pouch.

He's got a sweet tooth like his mama, occasionally asking for "ice ceam" or "candy" or "choc-o-LIT" and even talked us into a half gallon of strawberry ice cream at the store over the weekend.  Those of you who know me know he'll be polishing this one off on his own (with a little help from dad), as I am much more of a "choc-o-LIT" girl myself.

J's continues to sleep great --- goes down around 8 p.m. and wakes up between 7:00 and 7:30 on the weekends. He's still taking a 3-4 hour nap on the weekends as well (not going to lie - we love this and hope it continues for awhile...gives us so much time to do chores or even sneak in our own naps now and then). 

During the week, we've started to have to get him up earlier as he's gone from taking ~20 minutes to get out of the house in the a.m. to about 40 mins.  He has to do EVERYTHING on his own including brush his teeth, put gel in his hair, wash his hands, pick up all his "guys" and bring them downstairs, wash his dishes after he eats, gather our shoes, open the garage door, open his car door, buckle his seat belt, and the list goes on.  Mornings are definitely a test of my patience.  Well, let's be honest, a 2-year old in general is a test of this mama's patience.

Speaking of mornings, he's figured out our hand signals/commands for Roxy and in the a.m. has started to say "Roxy...Stay" in a very serious voice, with his hand up before he heads out of the house.  It's hilarious.

Above all, he continues to be a warm and caring little boy who will run up and give you a hug and kiss for no reason, will ask for a hug or kiss before bed, asks for cuddles or to read books any chance he gets, tells you multiple times throughout the day before you leave to "have fun", and in general, seems to enjoy life and all the fun it brings.

I couldn't ask for a more perfect little babe and I am so honored and proud to be his "mama".

Happy birthday to our BIG boy!

Taurus Tot

In the past, I've not been too into astrological signs but after reading more about Taurus babies, I've a firm believer.  That article (and others that I've read since, including this one) is a SPOT ON definition of our little Taurus.  And, not only does it describe our munchkin 110%, it's helped me understand him a bit more.

When my parents were here over the weekend, we got to discussing J's very strong personality, his love of routine, how he always knows what he wants, when he wants it, and his stubbornness.  At some point, I think it was my dad who mentioned that "I guess that's a Taurus for you", so I looked it up and was shocked at how much I saw him throughout the description.

This article helped me feel more confident and prepared to deal with the challenges he throws our way from time to time, especially these terrible two's tantrums that have erupted lately, and re-affirm that how we've been handling these situations is the along the right path.  He truly is a lovable munchkin and is so very sweet (asks for hugs, pats your arm when saying "sorry", wants to cuddle all the time)...just as long as he's getting his way. :)

The best part about all of this, is that he displayed these traits and characteristics before we could even hold him in our arms.  If you remember, he was breech and we were about to schedule a c-section, only to have him decide he was ready to flip over so that he was head down.  Then, he went past his due date and just as soon as we scheduled an induction, he decided to come on his own two days before that.  And then while I was in labor, after pushing for 2:55 mins (3 hours is typically the max), the doctor went to grab forceps, only for Jackson to come out on his own with the next push.  It's Jackson's way on his terms...and as long as we remember that, things seem to go just fine around here!

Chatterbox

J's been talking up a storm lately.  My parents, who hadn't seen him in five weeks, were SHOCKED at how many more words he'd learned and how much more he was putting sentences together this past weekend.

While I love just about everything he says (even "no like it" about new foods that he decides he doesn't like after no more than a quick lick), my absolute favorites are:

"Have fun!" when I kiss him good night and head out of his room (which is what I say to him before we part ways for school and work)

and...

"Cuddle minute" meaning he wants to cuddle for one more minute (which he's asked for several mornings lately, which I think he got from us saying we wanted one more minute of cuddles in the evening before bed).

Man I seriously love this kid more every day, no matter how many terrible two tantrums we've dealt with.  All the sweet things he says and does more than make up for the rough patches here and there.

Love, love, love him!

Loves to turn the radio on my nightstand on and dance

Jackson's "guys" (i.e. big Elmo, little Elmo, "Snuffie", and "Cookie") don't wander far from him around the house.  I'm just glad we don't have to hold all of these guys, plus three blankets, while reading books at night anymore (we've reduced it to a single blanket...whew!).

Happy Easter!

Holidays are getting more and more fun with our little munchkin.  We had such a lovely little Easter yesterday. 

Joan watched Jackson on Saturday evening so Corey and I could enjoy a date night with the Barths, and then stayed the night so we could all celebrate together in the morning.

After a yummy brunch, we headed outside for a little egg hunt Joan put together.  Jackson understood the concept right away and ran around the driveway looking for eggs.  It was the sweetest thing when he headed up towards the front door and spotted yet another egg --- he jumped, shrieked and looked at us, yelling "I see 'nother one!!"  Mom of the year award goes to me - I didn't think to bring the video camera out with us, until a few eggs in, and at that point, there wouldn't have been time to run back in and grab it.  I so wish I'd have been able to catch his joy and excitement on video.  But the hubby saves the day by capturing some great photo throughout the morning.

Each egg had a magnetic letter in it that corresponded to a present or activity.  "C" was chocolate (or "cho-o-LIT" if you're J), "A" was for airplane, and "D" was for daddy (i.e. give daddy a kiss).  J is getting really good with his letters (what they are and what they stand for) so this activity was perfect for him.

He absolutely loved the mini chocolate bunnies and bunny crackers and spent the day asking for more.

And to top of our lovely morning, the weather couldn't have been better - I don't remember an Easter this nice.  And a nice day meant our first sunbathing date of the year, while J napped.  It reminded me that summer is just around the corner, which I can't be anymore excited about.

It was a great holiday, and it makes me even more excited to celebrate Jackson's birthday later this month.