Charlie turns TWO!

Here's a quick post about some of the celebrations from the actual day of Charlie's birthday, with our little family. That morning, he woke up and got to open up a couple presents that we had purchased for his birthday. We went low-key, knowing he would be having a party the next day!

Three of the packages were parts to his new wooden train set from Ikea. He also got a potty chair for starting to potty train (maybe, haha) and a set of two construction trucks that move across the floor and make noise when you push their buttons. The trucks totally scared him at first! It was pretty funny :)

He spent SO much time that day playing with his new train set. He really does just love it! That evening, for his birthday dinner, we (Trev, me, Charlie, and my mom) went to Paradise Bakery for dinner and dessert. He was one very happy, cute boy!

Now I'm going to make a quick list of some of the things that 2-year-old Charlie is doing these days. It is early January now, so he's about 2 years and 2 months old... but here's some facts about him:

• He weighs about 25-26 lbs
• He's currently cutting all four canine teeth, finally! It really sucks, but we're almost done with the last one poking through any day now... whew!
• He's speaking SO much more every day! He probably knew about 40-60 words by his second birthday, and now I'm pretty sure it's 100+ and growing. And he's starting to form little sentences like "Bye bye car" when we get out of the car. He also speaks long, fluent baby language sentences that usually end in an english word. For example, "Yiddabladdilubbadidayuh Daddy!?" means he's usually asking where Daddy is. :) 
• He has started repeating EVERYTHING we say, with more and more clarity, especially in his prayers (when he's willing to cooperate, which is probably 70% of the time). It's adorable. Especially when he says "I luh you". <3
• He still eats well, but he's definitely turning into a picky 2-year-old, where he will refuse to eat things that he ate even the day before! We're already starting the bartering process... "Ok, two more bites..."
• Still loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and is getting into the movie Cars
• His favorite toys are his cars, mostly the little Hotwheels ones. He also loves to read books still, and will sit in his little red push wagon and read them.
• LOVES to listen to music! I've discovered that music is truly an effective way to communicate with him and help him learn better. He plays for longer in his playroom if we have a CD going while he's in there. He'll fold his arms if we sing a song about it. He'll be more likely to help clean up if we sing the "clean up" song. He ALWAYS gets excited when we sing any of the fun preschool songs like Old Macdonald or The Wheels on the Bus. He likes to do the motions. He knows a ton of primary songs and it's not uncommon to catch him singing parts of them to himself while playing or reading or in the car. 
• He has the absolute sweetest disposition. He loves to give kisses when you ask him and he makes the CUTEST kiss face. 
• As to be expected, he is also developing some two-year-old attributes like yelling "NOOOO" or "STOOOP" or throwing a tantrum when he doesn't like something or it doesn't go his way. But it's really not too bad yet, and he makes up for the "spicy" moments with all those adorably sweet things he does and says. 
• Potty training? Nope! We have a little potty and he will talk about it and sit on it (clothed) and sometimes I'll sit him on it with no diaper on, but so far, no luck. He pretends to go "poo poo" by making grunting noises, and he knows what "pee pee" means, but he just hasn't done it on a potty yet. Oh well, I'll wait until he is ready! Size 5 diapers for now!
• He's still in his crib and makes very little effort to get out. The kid LOVES to go to bed for the most part. And he's still a fabulous sleeper. I tried for a couple days to put him in a toddler bed to see how that would go, and it didn't work out so well. The first night he cried a lot and ended up falling asleep up in the rocking chair. Naps were skipped completely. He just doesn't quite have the self discipline to get back in bed when he's feeling tired. Maybe he will soon, since I'm hoping to have him in a toddler bed by this coming summer... We will see!
• His favorite foods are all things "treats", especially chocolate (hmm wonder who he gets that from!?), most fruits, frozen peas and carrots, regular crackers and graham crackers, chicken nuggets, fresh tomatoes, cheese, and juice. We're working on expanding his horizons, but with the pickiness lately, I'm just glad that he will eat ANYTHING worthwhile! :) 

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweetest boy!