More Birthday Fun

On the day of Xavier's 2nd birthday, we made pancakes with sprinkles mixed in, went to Chuck E. Cheese, took a bike ride to get ice cream, spent lots of time outside.  Some presents we got him were a new lift-the-flap book, a talking Elmo doll, and new shoes.  We also got him a KidKraft play kitchen, but with the hassle of selling our house, we haven't gotten around to putting it together.  Someday :)

Xavier has been putting together lots of words and forming sentences these days, which is nothing short of amazing.  Some of my favorites are "Aw May!" (translates to "Aw Man!) when he drops something, "open the door", "put shoe on", "ew, bug", "waffle in my mouth", and for fun we taught him "O-A" (translates to O-H) to which we reply "I-O".

Xavier has become increasingly enthusiastic about reading books, lately!  So much, that he will actually stay put on my lap for a solid 10 minutes before bedtime!  He used to wake up wanting to  watch YouTube videos while we get ready, but now, he wants books.  He likes interactive books - touching, feeling, or rhyming that he can imitate.  Some favorites:

Pout-Pout Fish (Deborah Dieson) - rhyming

Pat the Bunny (Dorothy Kundhart) - touch and feel

Dear Zoo (Rod Campbell) - lift the flap book

Where Is Baby's Belly Button (Karen Katz) - lift the flap book

My First Things That Go (Let's Get Moving) - great visuals he recognizes

P is for Potty (Random House) - Elmo AND lift the flap book, A Little Boy's Dream!

Xavier's 2nd Birthday

So hard to believe our sweet baby boy turned TWO!  We had the best time celebrating with family and a few of his little buddies as well.  We kept asking him the week leading up to his birthday, "how old are you?!" and he's say "two!" and proudly hold out his hand, all five fingers spread out.  The sweetest thing!

We celebrated the Birthday Boy with a pizza party at the babysitter's house.  We had Pizza Hut delivered to the house the Friday before.  We got off work early and took the kids Funfetti cupcakes with sprinkles I made the night before, balloons, and juice boxes.  Not to self, when bringing balloons to a kid's party, make sure there are enough for every kid to have at least one!  Luckily, I brought extras and frantically blew up a few to keep the whining under control!  I thought about making little goody bags for the kids, but decided to keep it a little more simple.  Xavier had a blast!  And, given the amount of work and energy we put into the 1st birthday party, I wasn't ready to have another big party just yet!  I think having it at the babysitter's worked out great for everyone.

After the kids party, we took Xavier to the festival in our town so he could play on the playground and, for the first time, experience jumping in a bounce house.

My family threw Xavier a little party at their house.  We grilled out, picked pumpkins from the garden, opened presents, and ate cake, ice cream, and went out for frozen custard, all in one day!  Xavier loved all of his presents!  He's at the age where he gets really excited to see what's underneath the wrapping paper and it's so entertaining to watch!  Some highlights included a remote-controlled car, a kaleidoscope, hand puppets, and stickers.

I may have teared up a little singing Happy Birthday, he was just too sweet looking at his birthday candles and blowing them out!