Second Birthday Today!

My darling Captain Adorable turned 2 today! (He was born at 12:45 on a Friday night/Saturday morning, following in his parents' footsteps of always arriving when the party is in full swing..)

A couple of hours after breakfast I took him to a local mall. We stopped at Starbucks and I bought him his favorite, a pumpkin scone (he likes it because of the icing, thanks Capt. Obvious for introducing him to this bad bad food!). The we rode the carousel, which he loves! He always requests the black horse (there is only one, interestingly enough). Then made an unplanned (but much appreciated) detour to Baltimore to visit my grandmother (Capt. Adorable's great-grandmother) for lunch. Capt. Obvious had to be at a meeting late tonight, so Capt. Adorable and I had dinner at a local favorite (we've been going there for, gosh, 6 years now). The waitress gave us a free dessert--I chose chocolate mousse, thinking it would be easiest for Capt. Adorable to eat. I was very pleased when she brought it out with a candle! Capt. Adorable, after some encouragement and coaching, blew it out himself!

Right now he is ignoring me and banging his blocks on his train and his little table. They are also all over his brand new (toddler) trampoline (which has not impressed him as much as I had hoped, boohoo). He has also dumped out his container of chestnuts and acrons. I guess I've got a bit of clean-up in my future. HAHA! Now he's jumping on the trampoline with all those blocks! I am planning to put him to bed late tonight, seeing as I filled him full of sugar with the chocolate mousse.

His birthday party is on Saturday. We are having a party (I know, it is mostly for me) at a local private gymnastics place. We have the whole gym for 2 hours and about 11 other kids are coming (3 are still babies in arms, though). The other walkers range in age from 16 months to 4 years, so I hope that everyone will get to jump on the trampoline and climb on the obstacle course and enjoy themselves tremendously. I do have some crayons and my sweet MIL is bringing plenty of snacks and drinks, so there are opportunities for breaks as well. We do not plan to do a present-opening event because I'd rather spend the time there letting the children play!

Here are some of the things he has been doing since his last birthday!

• He walked at 11 months, but over the last year he has learned to run, jump, roll, walk in tiptoe, gallop, hop, you name it! He's quite an active guy.
• Started potty learning at 16 months 3 weeks. He is 100% with pee, but still poops in his pants more often than not...we're working on it.
• Knows his colors.
• Understands what one and two mean (can count to five, when in the mood...).
• Is putting together more and more 3-word combinations now! (Like: "big pretty tree," "miss trash truck," "teeth bite tongue," and the like). Today for the first time I heard his first four word combination!
• Rides his balance bike/aka running bike with gusto ("Fast! Fast! Fast!"). In fact he is so fast that even Capt. Obvious has to run to keep up with him!
• Sleeps in his own bed (in our room), which was a choice he made himself, much to my surprise.
• Is eating more lately, something I was very worried about for a while but seems to have worked itself out. Or maybe he's going through a growth spurt... (can't wait to find out how much he has grown at the 24 month pediatrician visit tomorrow!)
• Loves music, loves dancing, has favorite songs that he requests.
• Has recently started throwing tantrums! Rarely, but happens now and then.
• His bangs are so long that even I, the no-haircut-until-he-asks-for-it advocate, think we should get his bangs trimmed. (It is hard to ride a bike with hair in your eyes!)
• Climbs and swings and slides and runs and falls down and picks himself back up with glee.
• Gallops around the house with a huge smile on his face all the time.
• Has recently (because of renovations Captain Obvious is doing) developed a keen interest in tools of all types.

2 years ago right now I was in the hospital, learning to nurse my gorgeous, beautiful, fantastic, genius baby, with no idea of the joy and fun that was still in store! Oh wow, what a wonderful 2 years this has been!