Second Christmas

Baby, I don't post here near enough these days. You do so many funny things now, and you constantly astonish me with how smart you are.  We are coming up on your second Christmas, and the end of another calendar year. I want to write down a few things that I want to remember.

The other day, as you proceeded to partially dismantle the fire pit in the back yard, you put one of the bricks on the ground, looked at me, and said, "Trapezoid!" I'll be damned if you weren't right. How do you know so much already?

My favorite thing is when you sing to me. You are especially good at "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". The other night, you galloped around the living room and sang it to me at the top of your lungs three times!

You started drawing pictures with a vengeance a couple of weeks ago. You love to use all the different colors. Whenever I ask you what you are drawing, you always say, "Turtles!" Although once you drew a cat and an airplane.

Daddy and I took you on your first trip to the North Carolina Zoo, and your favorite animals were the bears, the ducks, the "geyser" and the "Dino-Roars". You just wanted to stay in the dinosaur exhibit forever. What a big boy - you walked and walked and wore yourself out that day!

These are just a few of the things you have been doing lately that crack me up and make me want to hug you and kiss you!

Now, on to Christmas. This year, you have decided that the Christmas Tree is okay, but you wanted nothing to do with Santa:

Well, I hope you don't remember that when you are older!

I love you, baby bug.

Planning Time

Almost two years old.

This year, we will do a birthday party with friends - since X has friends! I'm so happy to get to know all of these other small people and their moms and dads.

We have been to a few birthday parties in the last couple of weeks. Oddly, a lot of the kids X knows have birthdays near his own. I mention this by way of noting that he knows what a birthday party is now, so he will be excited for his own. And he LOVES birthday cake!

We will keep it simple - just a small party at home, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers and traditional sides. The cake is starting to take shape in my mind. I don't know that I can make a cake myself that will reflect what I hope the decorations will be, so I am guessing we will have to spend to have it made.

The scary part is that this is getting real, really quickly.  In 3 weeks I am going to be wishing my baby a happy second birthday. I need to get going on this now!

Handprint

Today as X napped, I was folding laundry.  Although I had just cleaned the one glass-topped table we still have from before he was born a little earlier in the day, I glanced over and saw a tiny handprint.  It made me smile to know that our house is filled with little reminders of my best boy.

Row Row Row

X can sing! Well, he can chant. The sitter revealed his new trick today when we went to pick him up this afternoon: he sings along to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

Row row row row row OAT!

Love.

Growing and Growing

It has been so long since I last posted, I hardly know where to begin. X is growing up so fast, it's hard to believe he was just a baby this time last year! He had just begun rolling over on his own. He wasn't quite sitting up by himself, and certainly wasn't crawling or standing.

Now, he does all of those and more with such ease - it's second nature. He can walk -- no, run -- and climb and open and close doors and talk and brush his teeth. There are so many things he can do!

I am grateful, so grateful, for my smart, funny, strong, sweet, crazy little boy. I will just try to store up the moments we have now as memories to smile about tomorrow, and next month, and next year and in all the years to come.