More Happy Birthday

It's good to be 2 because when you're 2, you get 2 birthday parties! On Saturday Ma and Pop, Papa and Nana and some of my Nana's cousins, Robert and Fran, and Keith and Maria came over to wish me a happy birthday! This time for dinner we had pizza and then a red velvet cake for dessert. My mom and dad were going to let me have sugar but I told them I would rather have some fruit so I ate prunes and applesauce while everyone else had cake.

I had fun blowing out my candles again. This time mom got me trick candles so I could blow all I wanted. Even though no one was supposed to bring gifts, Ma and Pop got me a cool piggy bank with a 2 dollar bill and lots of pennies to put in. I also got some gift certificates and a fun musical card.

Here is my fancy new tricycle from Ma and Pa Herzog.

Birthday parties sure are fun!

Happy Birthday You!

I mean ME! I turned the big 2 today and boy was I excited! I woke up saying "Happy Birthday You" because my parents keep singing "...happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." I also have a book called Happy Birthday Baby and I've been reading that lots lately. In fact I told mom this morning that we needed to go to the store to get streamers, balloons and party hats because that's what they had in the book.

We had a small party today with just Mom, Dad, Zeke, Nana and Papa. (On Saturday more family will be coming over.) We had my favorite Chinese Food for dinner, then we had birthday cake (sugar free of course) and then we opened presents. I would have been happy having everyone sing for me and blowing out the candle all night. (The video is probably the 10th time we did it. Even after we ate the cake I wanted to blow out the candle some more.) I kept asking dad to light the candle again and again and again!

Here are some picture highlights. I got some really great presents including lots of balloons (I've been into those lately ever since "Santa Claus" gave me one at the dentist's office), a school bus with letters and numbers, books, a blanket, a couple of cars, and probably the best (although I'm not sure because Dad needs to put it together still): a real tricycle equipped with a Mountain Dew helmet thanks to my Ma and Pa! Those pictures will have to come later because before we could play, it was bedtime. I sure can get used to this birthday thing!

My Nana

Of course everyone thinks their Nana is the best but I know for sure that my Nana is the world's greatest Nana! Just look at all the fun we have! She even takes days off from work just to spend them with me. (She thinks I'm pretty special.) When I see her car pull up in our driveway I run to the door and say "Nana's home!" I especially love the weekends cause she comes and plays with me on Saturday mornings or I go to the Farmer's Market and the grocery store with her. Then on Sundays we pick her up and we go to church. I love to sit on her lap and clap and sing.
I rarely ever let her hold Zeke either...I want her all to myself! I think she holds him when I'm taking a nap though...I'll have to talk to her about that!
I love you Nana!

Pool Time!

I'm still taking swim classes once a week with dad and I love it! And because I love to go under the water now I got to skip a class and move up to the Pre-School II class. We get to do lots of fun things with hoola hoops and kick boards. The slide is still my favorite and I can even go down on my tummy straight into the water! It's loads of fun, and I always ask if I can go down one more time.

My first snow!

With 2 pairs of socks, 2 pants, a t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, snowpants, snow boots, a winter coat, a hat and gloves, mom thought I was ready to brave the winter storm that blew in last night...


After 20+ minutes of getting me dressed, I spent all of 30 seconds outside before I told mom and dad I wanted to be warm again. I suppose my body was warm but mom forgot the ski mask because my face felt like it was frozen solid! And there must have been icicles hanging from my eye lashes because I could hardly open my eyes. We decided it was best to go back inside but Dad was kind enough to go back out and get me some snow to play with inside. We had lots of fun and here is my first snowman!

Biltmore House

Before Helen had to go back home I took her and Ma and Pa to the Biltmore Estate (the touristy thing to do here). We couldn't take pictures inside the house so here we are on the outside! The inside was all decorated for Christmas with tons of Christmas trees. Ma and Pa said I did such a good job while I was there and I walked up about a million stairs! They must have tuckered me out because when I got home I took a 3 hour nap!

"Toy Time!"

There is a time for everything but mostly I like toy time! Christmas this year lasted longer than usual for me. We opened gifts at Nana and Papa's house on Christmas Eve, at my house with just Mom, Dad and Zeke Christmas morning, with my great Grandma, Pop, Rob and Con Christmas day and the day after Christmas my Herzog grandparents (Ma and Pa) and great Aunt Helen came to my house and we opened more presents. By the end I didn't want to open any more so I just left a couple under the tree for when I get bored. Which probably won't be for a really long time because I got a lot of cool toys.

It's really great having Ma and Pa here. I always have someone to play with!

Merry Christmas!

Even though I didn't get my picture taken with Santa this year (I was afraid he was going to look at my tooth...) he somehow knew exactly what I wanted.

I had lots of fun opening presents. At first I didn't want to but after a while I started saying, "open more presents now". I was a very neat opener too. When I tore off a piece of wrapping paper I wanted to put it in a bag right away. I'm still a neat freak I guess.

My favorite toy was a bead maze. I made sure everyone got a chance to play it with me!

"All I want for Christmas..."

"...is for my tooth to get all better now".

Yesterday while I was on my stepstool innocently washing my hands, I slipped and fell knocking my bottom tooth loose. It hurt quite a bit and had mom and dad pretty worried. It was after 5:00pm so we were lucky to find a dentist who was still working. Dr. Chambers was kind enough to stay after hours to help us out. He had a great office but my first impression of him wasn't too great. He was wearing a Santa outfit and I did not want that man looking at my teeth. (I'm not sure I will get my picture taken with Santa this year...) Well, I protested the best I could but he looked anyway and even took some x-rays. Dad got to sit with me in a cool room with glow in the dark stars on the wall. I kept saying "all done now" but mom kept saying "almost" so then I changed it to "almost all done now?" After they checked out my teeth real well I got to play while the dentist talked to mom and dad. Turns out I have a luxation which in technical terms means: a traumatic injury which has knocked the tooth out of position, injuring the surrounding structures of the tooth and its root. Pretty serious huh? Well, we just wait and see now and then go back to see the dentist in 4-6 weeks. It's back to baby foods for me since I can't bite down on anything. Plus I'm fighting a bit of a cold this week so I'm not in the best shape. Hopefully I'll feel better by Christmas!
The only good thing about going to the dentist was this cool blue balloon I picked out.

Christmas Tree

Last week we finally had time to put up our Christmas tree. Mom and dad planned to take me out to cut down our own but they were all sold out. Can you believe it? So this year our tree came out of a box! Mom likes it better that way anyway (no bugs).

I had a great time decorating the tree. I put up all the ornaments and clapped for myself each time one actually stayed on. Then one by one I plucked them all off. Now our tree only has decorations on the top. It's still very pretty and I love to say "Christmas tree" every time I walk by it.

Plumber Guy

The other day when dad and I went out for a walk we saw the Roto Rooter van drive by. Well, I love to wave at cars so I was doing my best 2-handed wave as they passed by. They must have thought I was pretty cute because they stopped and handed me this great Roto Rooter Plumber Guy equipped with a plunger and everything! Who knew Roto Rooter had a mascot? You can't see it from the picture but my plumber guy is winking. I can wink too but not for the camera apparently. I was so excited to get home and show this to mom.

23 months!

Well, just one more month till I hit the big 2! Life is good. I've got a new baby brother who I adore. I love to give him hugs and kisses and whenever he cries I run to go get his plug (pacifier). I haven't been too jealous yet. Mom and dad make sure to spend lots of quality time with me. My Nana also comes over lots to play with me, we are big buddies.

In other news, I got my first real haircut the other day. Nana was getting her hair cut so Dad took me to get mine done at the same time. Mom sent the camera with him but didn't realize the batteries were out. But he said I was such a good boy. I sat still the whole time and put my head down when the lady asked me to. She even took out a buzzer thing and went around my ears and the back of my neck. All the ladies in the beauty shop were impressed with me. Mom says I look so grown up now.

I still love to read books. My Papa got me some great new books the other day and I love them. One is called Gossie and Gertie (they are goslings and they are best friends) and I can't get enough of them! At night I tell mom and dad that I am going to dream about Gossie and Gertie. Although in the morning when they ask me what I dreamt about I always say "Dada". (I'm still a Mama's boy but I like to make Dad feel special too!)

SATURDAY MORNING

PANCAKES WITH DAD!
Every Saturday morning Dad and I get up and make pancakes! I do most of the work. I crack the egg, tell dad when to flip them and I let him know when they are done. Sometimes we even put bananas or blueberries in them!

The last step...eat and enjoy!

Bye-bye big boy bed...

Well, my big boy bed didn't last too long. Since I could get out any time I wanted, that's just what I did. It didn't matter if it was midnight or 3:00am, I could go to mom and dad's room and tell them what was on my mind. One night I looked out the window and saw the moon so I had to go tell them. Another night (at 4:00am) I decided that I needed to brush my teeth, so I had to wake them up for that too. And one night (ok, actually two) they were so tired I got to sleep with them! Boy was that fun. Soon after that they started a nasty rumor that I snored though...I don't buy it. I sure did like to stretch out though. Dad got the crack and mom got the foot of the bed, the rest was mine!
Unfortunately after that my crib got turned around so the tall side is facing out and darn it, I can't climb out of it anymore. I was not happy about this arrangement and I tried to let mom and dad know about it. I stood up and pleaded, "me out now please". But nothing worked. Here I am on the video monitor actually sleeping standing up.
Mom said it made her sad when I cried so from now on I had to lay down and not get up until she came and got me. She said even if I cried she wasn't going to get me. After 2 nights of protests I finally gave in. Now I'm back to my old sleeping patterns but I lost my big boy bed... (any suggestions Rogan?)