The birthday celebrations of March

We celebrated Grandma River's birthday on the 5th...of course cake was involved.

Even though it's Grandma's birthday, B gets the first taste of cake.

And we celebrated Grandma V's birthday on the 11th...we had a birthday breakfast for her, so instead of cake, there was coffee cake, Brendan wasn't too upset about that.

Giving Grandma her birthday card.

Helping Grandma open her present!

Then we celebrated B's birthday on the actual day, St. Patty's Day, and had a family birthday party on the 20th!

B got to take his very first train ride, from our town's Metra stop to a Metra stop about 45 minutes away.  He was beyond excited to be on the train.  He was completely enthralled while looking out the window; we sat on the top portion of the train car.  When we got off the train we went to the Choo Choo restaurant where a train circled the track and even brought us our burgers.  B was in heaven.  "More train please!  More train please!"  That is what Brendan was saying every time the train disappeared from sight.

There goes the train again!

Once we got home, B opened more presents from Mom and Dad and of course we had birthday cake.  A cake that I made, and it had construction trucks on it.  B's biggest obsession...trucks.

My masterpiece.  B still talks about cake being in the dump truck.

Boy oh boy, does he love cake.  Who doesn't like cake?!

Playing with his new trucks and rug.

He loves his new "truck".

2 year old birthday silliness

Family shot!

We had 29 people over (including the 3 of us) for B's family party.  We had B's favorite...pizza and cupcakes, decorated with Mickey Mouse....of course.  He had fun visiting and playing with everyone and of course loved opening presents.  And he certainly opens those presents like a champ now!

He loves blowing out candles...he was a pro!

Super excited to have a cupcake...How did he have room after FIVE pieces of pizza?!

Brendan is two.  TWO!  Two?  Time flies.  And we couldn't be more blessed.  Brendan is a smart, inquisitive, funny, compassionate, energetic, and lovable little boy.

My little star

How come every time I take out my camera to record B singing, he stops singing?  I even try to hide the camera so he doesn't realize, but he automatically clams up!  Right now B's favorite song to sing is Old MacDonald (with the goose making an appearance more than once) and Too Ra Loo (Bing Crosby) is a very close second.  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is also making an appearance occasionally.  The ABC's are now a big hit and from the letter A to the end it is absolutely adorable; I must get it recorded!  Although, I need to remind myself not to get too caught up in recording/picture taking and try to enjoy the moment and remember it on my own.

Brendan is now realizing that shapes and letters are everywhere...from the "Y" in our quilt pattern to the triangle that is his toast.  We went out to eat and Brendan grabbed a straw and was playing with it, then all of a sudden he used his two hands to form the straw to make a triangle, then yelled "triangle" at the top of his lungs.  I LOVE IT!  And now he can count up to 15!  Maybe he will be a math boy after my own heart...

I absolutely love watching him grow, especially this past month, B is now 23 months old and in just a few short weeks he'll be 2.  TWO!  TWO?  TWO?!  What?!  It can't be.  He is so much fun, has such a great sense of humor, and is talking up a storm (Even though I hear him say "mommy" a million times a day, I'm still excited to hear him say it in that little kid way, "mom-eee").  He's just perfect.  (For this post we'll forget about the tantrums and the hitting/biting when he's frustrated and doesn't get his way...yeah, the biting.  I'm scared every time my child comes up near me and puts his mouth anywhere...but that's a different entry for a different time.)

Good Mor-ding

Well, B absolutely loves his big boy bed, he loves it so much that after one bedtime story he tries to crawl in to bed.  I'm thrilled!  It took one night of "training" so he wouldn't keep getting out of bed at night.  I stayed outside his closed door with our video monitor and each time he started to get out I would tell him to stay in bed and that it's time to sleep.  After 15 minutes of this, he stayed in bed and slept until 6:30 and once he was awake he stayed in bed, what a sweetie!  He doesn't even try to get out of bed, after his normal talking he just falls asleep!  He catches on so fast; my little smarty pants!  A few mornings ago, I got a 5:15 wake-up call and I walked into his room to explain it was still nighttime and he says to me loudly, "GOOD MORDING".  An early riser like me, hmmm.  Luckily he was willing to get back into bed and stayed there like such a good boy until about 6:45, that's a much better time!  Most mornings he is up at 6:00 and then he sits on his floor or bed and reads his books; getting up every few books to try and open his bedroom door.
He does not stay under his covers, nor does his head stay at the head of the bed...just like his crib.  Which is why he fell out of the bed; luckily that has only happened once and he didn't even wake up!

One of his many positions throughout the night

B grew another whole shoe size in just a few months...yikes!  One of my splurges for him is Stride Rite shoes, considering I pay next to nothing for most of his clothes and diapers, but at this rate I won't be able to keep going there!  Once you hit size 8, the shoes go up to $50!?  That's more than the gym shoes I bought for myself at Kohl's!  He was super excited to try on the shoes and then run around to try them out; he was such a good boy.  Once we got home he kept carrying his new shoes around; he really likes them.

So excited to have his new shoes on

He wanted his new shoes on and wanted to try on my hat

Big Boy Bed

B just seemed ready for a toddler bed.  We finally got one in his room, about 1 week before he turns 23 months old.  It may be a little early, but it just seemed right.  B sleeps great in his crib, so the thought of "messing with it" and moving to the trials of a toddler bed were scary.   We have been talking about his "big boy bed" all week and he got to see his big boy bed sheets (Disney Cars) and he ran into the office every chance he got to look at his big boy bed.  He helped us move his big boy bed into his bedroom yesterday and he also helped with the sheets.  He couldn't wait to get in and once he was in, he didn't want to get out!

Helping mom put his sheets on

Crawling in for the first time

Pulling up the covers

Pretending to snore

So excited!

Pretending to sleep

When B went to bed last night, he did a great job.  He now has a special turtle (on the nightstand) that shows the stars and the moon (it's real constellations!) instead of his crib aquarium.  We tucked him in and he moved around on his bed and talked until he fell asleep (just like he did in his crib).  It was great...until 5:00 a.m. came along!  He came down the hall (his door was cracked open) and into my room where he asked for Mickey.  I brought him back to bed and explained that it was still night time and he needed (and Mommy needed) to sleep still.  I tucked him in and by the time I got back to my room, he was getting out of bed again.  So I told him that if he wanted to be awake then he could read books, but needed to stay in his room and I closed his door.  He then read books until 6:50, when he actually opened his door and came down to my room again.

Nap time...not so cool.  He is not staying in his bed and I had to lock his door so he couldn't get out.  He wanders around the room, then reads, then tries to open the door, then repeats.  I guess we're getting the toddler bed transition done with now, rather than later...next up, potty training.  I'm curious to see how bed time goes tonight.  I miss his crib.

I like cake!

At almost 23 months old, Brendan spoke his official 3-word sentence...and it was "I like cake!"; it was crystal clear and about the cutest thing ever.  We were celebrating Charlie's dad's 60th birthday and Brendan kept asking for cake before dinner and during dinner.  When it was finally time for cake, he dug in and with his mouth full of cake he declared, "I like cake!".  

Brendan looking at Grandpa V's gift

B helping blow out Grandpa's candles

Doh!

I love Play-Doh.  Brendan...not so much.  Of course we don't have any cool tools or things for the Play-Doh, so that doesn't help, however, I did get Brendan to finally touch the Play-Doh!  Because of Mickey.  It's all about Mickey.  B doesn't like having things on his hands, if food gets on his hands (i.e. a small piece of bread with jelly on it), he has to shake his hands (over the floor of course) until he gets it off.  If B is coloring and marker gets on his hands, he sits there and tries to get the mark off.  Play-Doh wasn't any different, but he made great strides by holding an entire blob of Play-Doh in one hand and pulling off pieces from it to decorate his Mickey cut-out.  This went on for about 15 min. straight!  He still got annoyed when a piece was stuck to his hand, but he would get it off and then continue working.

Holding "Mickey"

It's on my hands! UGH!

Giving Mickey some eyes.

This is what I got when I told him to smile.

This cookie cutter came in handy!

Mickey ended up with about 20 eyes.

Blizzard 2011

What a snow!  I made sure to snap pictures so that B could look back and see the "history" he lived through.  B absolutely loves playing outside (we won't mention the work it takes to get him in all of his snow gear--he's pretty good, but not great), so we took advantage of the snowfall to spend some time outside.  He did not want to come inside; he was having too much fun picking up and throwing the already made snowballs from the plow.  He was so upset that it was time to go inside, that he started to run away from our driveway!  We ended up walking down to the end of our block (in the street--he kept saying "danger" and putting his hand out, hopefully I didn't mess up all of his "don't go in the street" training) and when I told him it was time to head back, he kept walking.  I told him to please turn around...and he did...he turned 360 degrees, looked back at me, smirked, said "turn", and kept walking away.  Seriously?  Isn't that something a teenager would do?!  Oy vey.  The icing on the cake was as he continued to walk away, he looked back, waved to me and said "bye!".  I ended up having to carry him (boy oh boy was that a struggle!) all the way home!

"outside ma"

It was rough going for the sled.

A spot where he could actually walk.

I could barely walk in it!

He had to have his "cart".

That hill got even bigger after they plowed our driveway again.

He loved when I ran while pulling him.

Daddy and B.

Throwing "noballs"