Look who's TWO!!!

Can you believe A-man is two!!! He has had such a great month recently and finished it off by celebrating his second birthday. He will proudly tell you that he is "TWO" and that each day is now his "Happy Day" (Happy Birthday). But before we jump to the big day we will start with the beginning of the month and share all the fun we've had. 

"Look what I made mom"



Checking out his Easter Basket

A-man loved Easter and had a blast figuring out that Plastic Eggs have candy inside them. We went to an Easter Egg hunt with our church play-group and then had our own outdoor egg hunt with A-man's best buddy. Before the first egg hunt we practiced at home (we wanted to make sure that our little guy knew what to do) - he thought it was hilarious to watch mom and dad run around the house picking up eggs. Then when he figured out that there was candy inside he was more than happy to join in the fun. When we had the hunt with the play group it didn't go so well - since he knew what was inside the eggs he stopped after the first one and just wanted to open it and eat the candy inside ;) Eventually he started picking up more - although all the eggs he picked up were Yellow - I think somehow has a favorite color. By the time we had our Easter hunt in the yard - he was a pro and knew to grab all his eggs and then make mom and dad open them for you after. He also helped us to decorate eggs - he loved putting stickers on his eggs until he discovered that you can smash these colored eggs and we soon had to switch activities.


"Dude - there's more in here!"

Our little bunny!

Trucks & Eggs were found in this hunt

Dad helping A-man find his eggs

We try to separate the fun Easter stuff from the religious Easter. So most of our Easter fun was on Saturday and then we focus on Christ on Easter Sunday. We did get some great pictures of our boy and the family on Easter Sunday. He is learning so much and as we talked about the Easter story he kept recognizing Jesus and would point him out. It is so wonderful to see him learning!




Now onto the Birthday fun! For A-man's birthday it became a weekend event. On his birthday we went out to lunch at the "Big Cow" (Chick-Fil-A usually has a cow out in front and so A-man now calls it the Big Cow). We met up with his best buddy and they played and played and finished it off with ice cream sundaes and a little lunch. Then for dinner we went out to a fun train restuarant and A-man had his food delivered by a train - he was in heaven! There were trains EVERYWHERE and anytime one went by he would jump up and yell "TRAIN, Choo, Choo, WHoo, Whoo!" He loved when he had a cupcake delivered - via train- and everyone sang to him. Following dinner we went to play with puppies - there was some definite puppy love and cuddles.


Cupcake at the Train Diner

Birthday and puppies!

The next day we had a birthday party/BBQ in honor of his birthday. Since he currently loves cows and all things farm related we had a farm/cow theme party. He had a blast with his friends and all the cow print and tractors around the house ;) We heard him "moo-ing" a lot! He did a great job blowing out his candles and tried to sing Happy Birthday when everyone else sang to him. He is still singing the song although it is now "Happy Day to you" he loved opening up his presents and couldn't wait to try everything out!


Blowing out the candle's on his 2nd birthday

A-man's special personal cake

We sure love our little guy and are so blessed to have another year with him. He is everything to us!! "Happy Day A-man!"

Look at me grow!

Our little St. Patricks Day Leprechaun

Our little A-man is growing up so fast. I haven't written on the blog for a while since we've been sending pictures instead but I wanted to finally put an update on about all the things that our little guys has started doing.

He not only walks now but he runs, climbs, jumps, and moves all the time. We've had record breaking wonderful warm weather this March and so we spend hours outside and at the park. His favorite thing at the park is the slide and sand box. He has also started to love the climbing wall up to the big slide.

Playing ON TOP of his train table

A-man is also learning so fast! He loves learning and can't get enough of it. He can now tell you all his colors, shapes, ALPHABET, and is counting now. He recognizes all the letters, can tell you the letters in order and will do their sign. He loves it so much that he has started singing his ABC's in bed when he is waking up. Cutest thing ever. We love spending time teaching him and watching him learn.

He loves playing with friends and is truly the sweetest boy. He does really well with sharing - although this week he learned the word MINE and so that may be changing soon. He gets along well with other kids and is so friendly.

He also has increased his love of music and now dancing. He loves to dance and has some pretty hilarious moves. He also loves to sing into his microphone and play the piano. We taught him how to sing Do-Re-Mi the other day and he went around singing it all day. Too cute!

Sunset boat ride in Texas

We went on a little vacation and he had the chance to enjoy the beach. He didn't like the water a lot but he LOVED the sand! He would literally roll around in the sand and thought it was the best thing ever. He also had the chance to hold a star fish, pet a large turtle, touch a snake, feed rabbits, and touch all kinds of sea creatures - as well as help dad chase and catch sand crabs on the beach.

Petting a Puffer Fish

He has some definite favorites now and doesn't mind letting everyone know about it. A-man's favorite color is Yellow. I heard him talking in sleep the other night - and all he was saying was "yellow, yellow". He also saw a yellow shirt at the store the other day and when I handed it to him he cuddled it and said "Ahh yellow" and wouldn't let the shirt go. He will also point out if anyone or anything is yellow.

He loves all things BOY! Dirt, sticks, rocks, bugs, trucks, balls, trains, cars, firetrucks, and construction trucks. He will drive his trucks, cars, trains, etc...around all day and makes awesome sound effects. He also still loves animals and we make sure to visit the zoo whenever we can.

SAND!

A-man and Dad going into the ocean

Chasing seagulls on the beach

A-man is such a happy boy! He loves to talk and his speech is getting better and better everyday. We love each and every day we spend with him. He keeps us on our toys but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Halloween 2011!

Happy Halloween! A-man had a great time this last month - he loved Halloween. All the pumpkins, costumes, parties, and especially the CANDY. Here's a brief rundown of what we've been up to lately. We had originally decided to have him be a little golfer - we found this adorable costume and just couldn't resist. But as Halloween kept getting closer mom couldn't help but get him a few other costumes to throw in the mix for parties and such. Here were the costume runner ups...

We went to a party with our church and A-man was decked out as a little golfer. He was absolutely adorable. He had golf clubs, the hat, shoes, the whole thing. In addition mom and dad dressed up as golfers too so it became a family affair. It was so much fun. Not only did A-man look amazing but he had a blast! They had a bouncy house that he loved, hanging donuts, pumpkin bowling, pictures, a cake walk, and treats! Then we ended the evening with Trunk or Treating in the parking lot. He thought it was the best night!

We also had a fun time carving pumpkins. We gave A-man a pumpkin and some tools to start cleaning out a pumpkin and he didn't like it. He tried putting his hand in it a few times and then he would quickly pull it out and say "cold!" So instead we gave him a different pumpkin and some Mr. Pumpkin Head body parts (it's like Mr. Potato Head but for pumpkins). I would start it for him and then he would push it in the rest of the way. He loved doing that and would tell us all the body parts while he was doing it. We finished it off with A-man giving his pumpkin 'high fives.'

And finally came the big night - Halloween! A-man went with mom to a small party and scored a ton of candy. Then dad came home from work early and off we went trick or treating. He thought he was such a big guy to go walking around the neighborhood with dad and mom following after taking all these pictures. Then we put him in the wagon with his buddy and we went around the rest of the block. A-man has definitely learned what candy he likes - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and M&M's. Whenever he was given a chance to pick the candy he would get one of those. What a cutie!

Fall Fun

I love this time of year - the leaves changing colors, the brisk fall air, and the fun times to be had during the fall! In addition fall means that Halloween is almost here and I love Halloween. The best thing for us recently was our one year anniversary on Sept 29 - we celebrated "Gotcha Day" - the day A-man joined our family.

Gotcha Day



We have been having a great time with A-man this fall doing all kinds of fun things. We started the month off by spending the day at Starved Rock State Park hiking and enjoying the day with family and friends. The next weekend we went to a pumpkin patch/apple farm. It was wonderful! A-man loved it. They had a kids barn area with tons of stuff for the kids to do. A-man's favorite was the tractors, the big slide with dad, and the apple train.

The lucky number 9

Why is the number 9 so lucky you may ask?? It's because a week ago Wednesday A-man took 9 steps on his own! We were so excited - I was jumping up and down cheering him on and he just looked at me like I had lost my mind. We were in the dining room and walking into the kitchen. I was holding A-man's hand as we walked and when we got into the kitchen I stopped in the middle of the room to answer my phone. I let go of his hand and he decided to just keep on going and walk to the cupboard that holds all of "his" kitchen stuff. I was flabbergasted and totally blanked out on my friend who I was talking to on the phone. I just stared, counted, and then cheered loudly! He has been walking with us but anytime we asked him to walk without holding on he would refuse by sitting down immediately. We didn't want to push him and make him hate walking so we've been patiently waiting.



A-man and a huge Lego giraffe!



I thought for sure after this major walking experience that he would then start walking on his own all the time but that was a little too ambitious of me. But he has been taking a lot more steps without help now. Here and there he takes a couple of steps, and he loves walking back and forth between mom and dad. I think he is secretly waiting until he can run before he really lets go of our hands and then he will just leave me in the dust chasing after him.





A-man, mom, and Uncle B at the museum



We have had a busy month in addition to learning how to walk. He is continuing to sign tons of words and is trying to talk more and more every day. We had Diana's younger brother come out to visit for a few weeks and A-man loved having his uncle around. Uncle B brought A-man an electric guitar that matched his own and those two had a blast "playing" their guitars. We also took a ton of fun day trips all over. A-man saw dinosaur bones, Renaissance faires, lego buildings & animals, elephant rides, zoo trips, and walks all over the city. One of his favorite things were the train rides we took into the city. The entire trip he kept saying "Whoo Whoo" - and showing me the sign for train.





Uncle B & A-man and the dinosaur attack



A-man is also becoming quite the little climber - he loves going up the stairs and luckily he waits patiently for me to help him back down the stairs. He also is getting very creative in order to get what he wants when it is out of reach. Even though he is so young he will push things over to where he wants to go and then climb up on it in order to reach what he wants. It's ingenious to watch him problem solve. It's also super cute!





My little penguin at the aquarium





Penguin time!



He has loved summer and being outside so much. We go on walks and to the park every day. I'm not sure what we are going to do once winter comes and we are inside more. He is also breaking through more and more teeth - we are up to 3 molars that have come in and one more to go. Poor kid does not like this teething thing - he will show me the sign for "hurt" and then point to his mouth. It breaks my heart to have him hurting. But thankfully we are almost done with that stage and soon his mouth won't hurt him and he can sleep in peace.





A-man, dad, and Uncle B riding an elephant!!!



Well that's all for now folks!