Will's Second Birthday!

Today is Will's second birthday!! Hard to believe! He had a great day and was very tuckered out by bedtime. First, I made him waffles this morning while he enjoyed his favorite shows. We were particularly interested in watching the Sprout network, which is a PBS channel for kids. A lot of his favorite shows are on there like Thomas the Train and Sesame Street. Each morning, on the "Sunny Side Up Show" they do birthday segments where they wish "Sproutlets" a Happy Birthday. A few weeks back, I made him a birthday card and sent it in. Much to our surprise...his card was selected for one of the segments! So Will was on TV this morning! I've tried to attach a link at the bottom of this post...hopefully it works. If not, let me know and I can email it. It was very exciting to see Will on TV!

After that, Will put on his birthday t-shirt- a train shirt that said "Choo Choo I'm two." Then we went to the bakery to pick up his cake. He picked a Finding Nemo cake. He's been really into Nemo lately, who he calls "Me-mo." The cake came with Nemo and Dory squirt toys, which Will seems to love. After the bakery, we went to Castroville Regional Park and Will played at the playground for a while. He then had lunch and took a great nap. For dinner, we met up with David at Will's favorite restaurant- Red Robin. Will had his usual: chicken and cheese quesadillas with mandarin oranges, fries and milk. After we got home, we sang Happy Birthday and Will blew out his candle- with some help. He started eating his slice of cake but was quickly distracted by the Nemo toys and wrapped gifts on the table. He actually opened only about half of his gifts because he kept wanting to play rather than open more. Today he got adorable Hawaiian shirts- one with firetrucks, which he loves! He got a toy laptop, a set of trucks from the movie Cars, a t-ball set, a puzzle, a book about basketball and, the grand finale- a new tricycle. The t-ball set and bike have been the biggest hits so far. But he really hasn't had time to play much since it was getting late. We did take him outside to let him ride his bike for a little while. Daddy had to push him most of the way but I think he'll get the hang of it soon. He definitely didn't need much help with the t-ball set. He knew exactly what to do with it and has some impressive coordination for not having swung a bat before. Overall it was a fun day for the little man!

Will has been able to spend a lot of time with his Grandma Crockett, who came to stay with us while David traveled for work. He calls her "Am-maw." It's been really nice for me to have help while David was away. Will's recent activities with Grandma include his first professional haircut (Will was a perfect angel) and a trip to Austin to see a friend of mine from law school. Grandma was also able to witness Will's amazing knack for making letters out of objects. At one point, we were in a restaurant and Will started bending his straw so that it resembled letters. I think he did letters like "A," "V," and "U." He also formed letters out of long, skinny fries on his plate one evening. Finally, at breakfast a few days ago, Will thought one of his pieces of waffle looked like a "7" so he rotated it around saying "7," "V," and "L," depending on which direction it was facing. I'm glad there's now another witness to his amazing creativity and grasp of the alphabet!

Along with that creativity often comes mischief. A few days ago, Will took off to his room to play and we were apparently slow to follow. He was only alone for a few minutes. But when I turned the corner, I saw that he had reached his lotion on the changing table and decided to do some mousturizing. He must be so used to us putting lotion on his skin- he thought he'd help out. He had thick layers of lotion all over his face, hair and clothes. Needless to say, he went straight to the bath.

A few additional cute things that Will has done this week include running around the living room playing a roll of wrapping paper like a guitar and being able to recognize his cousin, Xander. When he used to see pictures of videos of Xander, he would just say "baby." But yesterday, Grandma showed him a video of Xander and Will yelled, "Xander." Without any of us telling him who it was. It was pretty impressive.

Will got a new big boy bed this week. It's a little toddler bed that is low to the ground and just his size. He has new sheets and a comforter with trains on it. He calls it his "Elmo Bed" because we read him a book about Elmo leaving the crib for a big boy bed. Will hasn't actually slept in it yet but he enjoys pretending like he's going to sleep in it. I'm not sure when we'll make the transition but it was a really good deal so I couldn't pass up getting it for when we're ready.

Finally, Will goes to the doctor tomorrow for his two-year check-up and his last round of vaccinations for quite a while. I'm interested to see how much he's grown since our last visit. He seems huge!

With respect to baby Luke, I am scheduled for a c-section on June 22nd. No matter what he'll be here in less than 7 weeks! So now we're just crossing our fingers that he holds out that long. I am already measuring about 34 weeks even though I was a little less than 32 weeks at my last appointment. Surprise, surprise- Luke is probably going to be a big baby just like Will. He is already head-down and pretty low in my pelvis. In fact, he's in the exact same position that Will settled into during the last few weeks- head down, rear end protruding on the left side and feet nestled under my lower, right rib. I know I sound like a broken record, but it's increasingly harder to get around. Rolling from one side to the other in bed has become a difficult ten-step process. I usually feel pretty good in the mornings for a couple of hours and then it's all down hill from there. By bedtime, I'm hurting. I've been lucky to have my mom here to help me keep up with housework over the last week and a half.

Anyway, everything at the appointment was still very good. Normal blood pressure, no swelling and Luke's heart rate was a robust 150 bpm. I've already pre-registered for my c-section and we're pretty much ready to go when he is. We can't wait to have two adorable little men around here!