Joey is TWO!

I just love this little face.

Our Joe turned two yesterday, and birthdays at this age are the best. The kids all counted down the days almost as eagerly as they count down to Christmas, because they couldn't wait to sing 'happy birthday' to their baby brother and lavish him with gifts and extra love.

We began the day by seeing the Big 3 off to school and heading to the naval hospital for his well visit. Joey is a hale and hearty 25.4 pounds and 33 inches tall. He's sitting just under the 20th percentile for his age. He stood on the scale and put his feet against the wall to be measured, no problem. After chatting with the doctor about what a bad sleeper and picky eater he is, he trotted out the door after her when she offered him stickers. No shots were due so it was an easy appointment.

Back home I got the house in order, made lunch and let him play outside before his nap. He happily pushed around his handmedown Strider Bike friends gave us a few days ago, and the scooter that he's commandeered from Timmy (both of which he's still too small and uncoordinated to use, but no matter). During his nap I baked his cake and blew up a bunch of balloons. When he woke up cranky as usual, I brought him downstairs and he saw those balloons and forgot all about being cranky. First he batted them around every which way, then tried putting them in the cabinets and in the kitchen sink.

Annie and Timmy came home, Tim got home from work early, I picked Delaney up from school where she'd stayed for board game club, and then came back home. When the breakfast casserole stubbornly refused to be done, and Tim and Timmy were going to have to leave for basketball soon, we were left with no other choice -- dessert before dinner!

It was everybody's lucky day. Here is the link to the video of Joey as we sing happy birthday to him. Maybe one of these days Blogger will make it easier to embed videos, but not today. I loved watching his expression as it changed from one of bewilderment to enjoyment.

He ate nearly all his cake and ice cream, and unlike last year, was a very polite young man with his fork. Once we were done with that it was time for presents. It was a bit chaotic, but once the dust settled Joey had some nice new things from us and his grandparents, including a toy truck, motorcycle pajamas, some clothes, books and a Plasma Car. He's got quite the collection of wheeled things now!

At two he seems to be changing at warp speed. I felt like even just driving away from his checkup he was talking even more than he'd been going in. He says short phrases and sentences now, like "Baby crying", "kids school," "Annie meanie", and "Mama, (where) are you?" Whenever I sing he says, "Mama, sop!"

He loves his outside time, and the weather here is beautiful this time of year so we're outside every day. After lunch and before nap I sit out back and watch him play and sometimes follow as he wanders around the grassy area behind our houses. I know my favorite memories are going to end up being those times. Then once the other kids get home from school, he can't wait for Annie to take him to the "gound" (playground). He needs lots of time outside. He turns into a little monster without it.

He really enjoys his baths too, and has one just about every day, many times on request. Every time he poops and doesn't like me wiping him a whole lot, he says, "Bah! Bah!" Sometimes it is easier to just plunk him in the bath than to wipe him completely clean.

He nurses just once a day, right before I put him to bed. As part of our bedtime routine I read him a story and then let him make his rounds giving out goodnight kisses. He goes down easily by 7:30, usually with a little car, truck or train in each hand. Sometimes he sleeps through the night, but more often than not he wakes up once or twice and needs to be resettled. We had a few really bad nights this month that made me desperate enough to reach out the Young Living rep on Oki and order him a weighted blanket from Etsy. Still waiting on the blanket, and my meeting with the busy Young Living rep isn't until the 20th. When I'm not having the really bad nights I don't mind waiting forever, but when he's waking up four, five or six + times in a night, I feel like I wait forever for anything that might give me relief.

He might drive me crazy sometimes, but I sure do love this little man.