A week of fun!

You like Elmo... 

and like to say "Elmo" when you see your balloon!

We can't believe it's been a week since Gramma and Uncle Jon came down to visit!  In that time, you have had your 2nd happy birthday!  
Also, Gramma celebrated her 66th birthday, and Daddy has been to San Francisco for a meeting, and is now hiking the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, Canada.

 A little hose action...

 To the park we go!

On your birthday, Mommy, Daddy, and you went to the park in the morning.  Later in the afternoon, Gramma and Uncle Jon drove down to our house. We had a barbecue (ba ba dee) dinner and played outside with the hose and your new toys.  Since your birthday, you have loved playing with your gifts.  Scott, Erin and Drew sent you a very special Best Buddies book that Scott created.  We read it every day.  Donna and Richard gave you gardening tools and an awesome wheelbarrow.  You dug a hole next to the front porch and immediately made a mud pit with the shovel.  What fun!  Uncle Jon surprised you with a picnic table!  Gramma hooked you up with a red wagon, with inflatable off road wheels.  You also read a book that Grandma Elle and Grandpa Ron gave you, and love the cars, plane, and picture frame from Aunt Maria, Uncle Mike, and cousins Gia and Sophia.  You also got gardening gloves, a fun bowling set, alphabet cards, a bubble machine, a travel potty,  Goodnight Moon game, and a lion puppet that growls.  (I'm sure I'm forgetting some things... it's late here!)  Your birthday was a blast and you sure love cake!

On Gramma's birthday you kept saying "happy" and opening the fridge to show us you wanted to eat more birthday cake.  You gave her a handy dandy new hair dryer to "dry" her hair!  

Uncle Jon played with you and sure makes you laugh.  We look forward to hanging out with him more!  Last week, you also had your two year doctor check up.  You are measuring at 37 inches tall and weigh around 32 pounds.  A tall and strong boy!  And you are enjoying getting up on and sitting on the potty, and brushing your teeth.  You like to go into the bathroom, lift and carry your step stool to the counter, turn on the water and plug the drain and play!  Sometimes you turn on the fan and if we don't watch you, someday the sink may just overflow.  You sure have fun!

Thursday, we skipped gymnastics and took you in to get a speech assessment.  You are doing great with words and for the next few weeks we will go visit a new friend, also named Jen, to play and work on combining words.  You loved the wind up toys in her office so much that Mommy bought you some too!  You sure are a happy boy and are so sweet and kind.... and do you know what Gramma has taught you to do this week?  To give 'arm hugs'.  You take your arms and put them around us when you hug.  You are also picking up a bunch of new words each day.  Here are some of the words you routinely say... Mommy is sleepy so I'll type a few that come to mind right now...
oopsy daisy
gate
dry
wet
dwn (down)
seat
ju (juice)
power
gamma
empty
mo' pease (more please)
bubbles
wa wa (water)
hop up
up
pop (for pop or popsicles)
ice (ice cream or ice)
hawk (for mosquito hawk)
danger
nigh night
hot
baby
happy
knit
mommy
daddy
ti ti/ Titus
go go (goldfish)
go go
chse (cheese)
hi
damn it
bye bye
bimpy (binky/plug)
ba ba (garbage)
neigh neigh (horse)
ba-ba (sheep)
va (vacuum)
towel
pitnit (picnic)
net
toilet
ti ta to (tic tac toe)
tit
bucket
potty
on 
cook
.... AND MANY MANY MORE!!!! 

Another little haircut

 "knit" knit!

  Daddy was home for about 10 hours... 

he always has time for you!

It sure is awesome having family visit... and extra special when Daddy is gone because you get special time with them and Mommy gets help with things at home.  (Thank you all soooo much!  We all appreciate your support!)

 Speaking of Daddy, the West Coast Trail Daddy is on is a 75 km (47 mi) long backpacking trail following the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island.  It was built in 1907 to facilitate the rescue of survivors of shipwrecks along the coast and is part of Pacific Rim National Park.  It is often rated as one of the world’s top hiking trails.  GO DADDY GO!!!  We are lucky that he has his GPS tracking device sending us signals so we can track his progress and know that he is safe.  For the last two nights he has been able to contact us on his cell phone from the beach sites where he is camping.  It typically takes 7 days to do the trail, but the guys are doing it in 4 nights.  WILD!  We are excited to see pictures and to hear all about it from him when he's back!

The rest of this week will be busy and fun.  We have doctor's appointments, gymnastics, and afternoons to hang out and relax.  This week we also went in the hot tub (now pool temperature).  You clung to Mommy like glue... eventually splashing your hands in the water and played with the fish net too.  When I asked you today if you wanted to go swimming, you immediately said "no".  Instead, you stood on the hot tub steps and watched Mommy float, while you played with the net and talked with me.  Perhaps you will join me for a swim tomorrow?  Gramma has been watching you while Mommy goes to some appointments this week... and she is knitting Sierra a sweater!  Very cool Bama!  Another thing you did tonight was take the book Gramma is reading and highlighting, and YOU decided to highlight a page that you thought was interesting... how thoughtful!  (smile)  

What fun... your very own picnic table!