2 years old

Happy Birthday to my sweet little boy.  I can't believe that you are 2.  The time has flown by!

It is such a joy to be your mother.  You are such a fun, energetic, funny, enthusiastic little kid.  You are brave and fearless.  You are handsome, and you know it.  If I had a dollar for every time that someone said you should be a Gerber baby, we would be rich! 

You are so smart!  You have a larger vocabulary than any other kid we've met who is your age.  You are so good at communicating and expressing yourself.

You love trains, trucks, cars, planes, buses, or any type of vehicle.  We go for walks and to the playground almost every day.  You are quick to tell me that you like the City Park playground more than the other one that is closer.

You are working on potty training.  Requesting to use the potty multiple times a day (mainly for the skittles that you get as a reward), but still going in your diaper on multiple occasions also.

We are thinking of moving you into your big boy bed soon, especially since you have recently learned to climb out of your crib, even with it on the lowest setting.

You take one 2-3 hour nap every day.

You love yogurt, cheese, pizza, fruit, meatballs, turkey burgers, and any sweets that we let you have.  You are still a picky eater, but will eat all fruits, dairy products, some vegetables, but almost no proteins.

You love our weekly family trips to get frozen yogurt.  And when we spend Sunday mornings going to Starbucks as a family and sitting and letting you watch the trucks driving by.  You really love it when you get to eat pumpkin bread, or take sips of mom's passion tea lemonade on said Starbucks trips.

We let you watch a half hour of TV before bed every night and your favorites are Thomas and Friends, Chuck and Friends, and Curious George.

When you get hurt, you ask us to kiss your boo-boos.  But recently, you've started kissing some of them yourself before we can get to you.  If mommy or daddy gets hurt you insist on kissing our injured body part right away.

You love life.  You love people.  You love being outside.  You love being the center of attention, and try to capture it when we have our 20ish people over for community group each week.  As comfortable and wild as you are in your own environment you are still shy, quiet, and take time to adjust to new places and people.  You cry almost every time that I leave you in the church nursery, but get over it within a few minutes and then happily play with the kiddos.

You share really well,  and don't seem to have a problem handing over your toys to the other two kiddos that I watch.  You love playing with those two girls, but you are a little too energetic and rambunctious for those two milder mannered little ones. 

You love wrestling with your Dada.  So much so that you try to wrestle with everyone that you play with, not fully realizing that you can't play that rough with anyone else.  Dada recently taught you how to do a forward somersault, so you do them a lot.  You also love getting to sit on the couch and watch football with your dad on the weekends, so much so that you ask for it during the week, not knowing that it's not on everyday.

You make better animal noises than most adults.

You can count to 5 without error, and to 10, missing a number or two along the way.  You are starting to learn your colors.  You get yellow right almost every time, but frequently mix up red and green.

You are becoming a professional boundary tester, and have MANY timeouts per day.

You have recently started calling yourself "baby David".  If we ask who you are, you'll say "I am baby David".  We have no idea where this came from, you don't even know anyone named David.  It's pretty funny though.  And you love to make us laugh, so I have a feeling this will keep going on for a while, at least until we stop laughing at it.

Although you are such a rough and energetic little boy, there is a softer side to you.  You are sensitive, empathetic, and discerning.  You are going to be a leader.  You will be able to feel the hurts of others, and your heart will go out to them.  You will care about and love people.  You will love Jesus.  If you marry, and have kids, you will be an amazing husband and daddy.  You will make disciples of the nations.

Your daddy and I are so proud of you, and love you lots!  You have changed our lives for the better, taught us how to play and explore.  You give us a reason to be a man and woman of God, to lead by example, to do the things we want to see you do, to provide a stable, loving, Christ centered home.  You are going to be a great big brother!