Ethan's 2nd Birthday

It's hard to believe that our little man is 2 years old! I suppose I can count on each of his birthday's making me sentimental, but this one was very emotional for me. As he gets older and more independent, I have to hold myself back from trying to cuddle him as often as possible. Cuddles are for reading before nap and bedtime and that's about it. He does want in on the action whenever Steve and I are hugging though. He comes running over saying "hug, hug" and gets very excited when we pick him up for a family hug. Ok, back to his birthday...

This was the morning of his actual birthday January8. I took this to compare to the same picture taking on the morning of his first birthday...

It's hard to believe it's the same boy! He looks about a foot taller and his hair turned so blond this year. It's getting close to time for a toddler bed, but we're keeping him in his crib as long as possible! We aren't relishing the thought of him being able to come get us whenever he wants.

Ethan made cupcakes with his friends at school. His teacher Diane said that he sat at the table long after the other kids were done savoring every crumb of his treat. He was covered in is as you can see! This picture is funny too because he's trying to take off his own jacket. That's a skill he's still working on. He gets it part way then gets frustrated and cries our "I need help!".

We had a Bertucci's pizza party for his birthday dinner

Grandma Suzanne and Pop-Pop bought Ethan this great kitchen! Ethan loves it and woke up the next morning saying "play kitchen! play kitchen!". That is a request (more like demand) that we hear on a regular basis these days.

Our neighbor's Alice and bob dropped of a birthday present of 5 matchbox cars for Ethan to add to his growing collection from them. I think Bob gives him a car every time he sees him. They go great with his garage and we like to line them up and race them down.

On Saturday we had 2 birthday parties to get ready for! Ethan was all too happy to help by licking the beater from the frosting.

For his kids party we set up a grown up table and a kids table at an attempt to eat lunch in harmony.

Ethan was excited to have his table in the kitchen. It's still there and he still wants to eat at it all the time. That would be fine if there was a way to strap him in. He won't stay still to eat!

This is a typical pose for the little man. He was a little uncertain of having his friends and their parents over at first and it took him a little while to warm up.

Once the party got rolling, the kids did a great job eating at their table! Caleb and Ethan didn't make it long enough for Katie and I to get to eat so we ended up with the boys on our laps for lunch. We're very skilled at eating with one hand.

The kids all played very well together! Tommy was glued to the train table but Caleb and Ethan shot some hoops.

Tommy couldn't drag himself away for any pictures, but Caleb and Katie were game. The boys were holding hands. Katie and Ethan managed to keep their hands off each other most of the day!

I feel the need to go back to earlier pictures of the kids since I wasn't blogging at that point. This is one of my favorites of Ethan and Caleb at 3.5 and 4.5 months.

This is one of Katie and Ethan at his 1st birthday last year.

Back to this year...

One of Ethan's best birthday presents was that Tommy's dad Peter came! He absolutely adored Peter the whole time.

Grandma Jan came up early to see E and his friends. It is pretty entertaining to watch them play together!

And Auntie Jamie was there of course...

I broke the rubber scraper when I was making the cake for the second party! I guess I don't know my own strength.

The second party was ladies night plus Steve and Ethan. My mom's sisters Linda and Barbie came over and my cousin Bekah came too. We did manage to get a little nap out of the little man so he was ready to go!

Ethan wasn't too sure of Taz. We haven't seen that crazy character before and Ethan is not a big fan of loud or sudden noises. We'll have to break him out again in a few months...

Ethan was very excited to get some fruit for his new kitchen.

But he really loved his new tricycle! Thanks GS and P-P! He still hasn't figure out how to push the pedals quite right but he does rock back and forth pretty well so it's only a matter of time.

Funny story about the tricycle...one of Ethan's other favorite "toys" is our remote control. Well it went missing last weekend and Steve and I couldn't find it anywhere. Finally Steve says "Ethan, what did you do with the remote?" not actually expecting an answer, but he got one. Ethan responded with "in the bicycle.". Steve and I looked at each other in disbelief but sure enough, the remote was in the compartment in the back of his tricycle! It was a big deal to us to see him connect what we were asking him with an action he took hours earlier. Kids are just amazing!

We had Ethan's 2 year appointment last week too and he's doing just fine. He was 30 lbs and 33.5 inches. He's into the 30+ percentile in height and 70+ for weight! He is a solid little man! He got 2 shots and had blood drawn and was a very brave boy for both. Getting a lollipop for his bravery didn't hurt either. When we left the Dr's office he was very proud of the band aids on his finger but not even 10 minutes into our ride home he was freaking out about them! I had to pull over to take them off. Once he gets an idea in his head it's almost impossible to call him off.

I think this is my longest post ever! Happy Birthday Mr. Bethan!!!