My sweet boy is officially 2!

I'm super behind on posting about Mark and his 2 year celebration. We celebrated Mark's 2nd birthday June 5 at the Little Gym in Arlington. Many of his friends came to play! They all had a blast! His friends that came were Kate, Griffin, Ashtyn and Drew, his cousin Kelton, and Max. Of course everyone brought at least one parent too :) We had a Thomas the Train cake, because Mark is obsessed with "choo choos". Daddy and I gave him a train table for his birthday and that's basically all we do at home is play with
"choo choos" and occasionally "mow".

Mark officially turned 2 on June 11. I can't believe all that time has flown by so quickly. You know we always here our moms reminiscing about "the day you were born..." Well I'm definitely one of those now. I remember that day two years ago to the T when my sweet little boy arrived and changed our lives forever. I just want you guys to know that I definitely semi cried myself to sleep last night just watching him on the monitor and thinking about how much I love him! Any who, on his birthday his Daddy and I decided to try to rush over to ride the Forest Park Miniature Railroad after I finished up with patients and then have lunch. David had to be at work by 1 and we were able to leave my office a little before 11. The park is not far from my office and we were hoping to make the 11 o'clock take off time. Well we didn't make it in time to the depot so we rushed down University to the other depot in hopes that we would catch it. Due to disorganization on the railroad's part and incredibly rude older people with their significantly younger grandson who could care less about the train, we did not make the train ride and since Daddy had to be at work we opted for lunch and Pappas Burgers instead. Mark took it really well and the bottom lip poked out for a split second so he was cool with just saying "Bye Bye Choo Choo" and going on our way. Now me and David we were seriously contemplating a throw down with some elderly people and I did shed a few tears (out of sight from my son and remember I'm 31 weeks pregnant:) )All in all though we had a great time with Mark on his birthday and we ended the day with dinner with both sets of grandparents and two cousins. Mark is truly loved!!! Happy birthday to my sweet little two year old!

Look out world....he's singing!!!

Today marks a huge milestone for our little tantrum thrower. His new mastery is SINGING!!! My mom and I witnessed the cutest thing today. He crawled up on the piano bench today and started playing away while making some noises that sounded like singing. Then I realized what those sweet noises were. He was singing the "B-I-B-L-E"! Just banging, quite musically I might add, on the keys and signing the song at the top of his lungs. At the end he yelled out "Bible"! Then we learned a new song this evening. You know the vowel song with eating epples and iteing ipples. He can't sing along as well but he will just sing repeatedly "eat, eat, eat" or "ite, ite, ite". So if you're keeping our son and he chants "eat, eat, eat" he may just be singing and not requesting cookies. This is something else he does well is request sweets. I know, I know...I tell people every day not to eat sweets, yet my son has a mega sweet tooth. I blame that all on Molly, because she HAS to be the reason I eat ice cream almost every night ;)

Oh and on an unrelated note to singing...I have to share the best attitude problem I witnessed from my sweet almost 2 year old. Mark alerted me to the fact that he had his "forbidden" saline bottle last night by laughing hysterically and running away from me. (He knew it was "forbidden" the night before when I told him he couldn't play with it.) Needless to say my little boy knew he was being very mischievous. After at least two times of telling him to bring it to his mommy and that it wasn't a toy...he decided to give it to me alright! Picture it, a little boy with a miffed look inching his way to you with his arm cocked behind his head as he prepares to launch the saline bottle at your head. I informed the little defiant child that he could not throw that at his mommy, and next thing I know the saline bottle is returned to my hand in the form of a slap to my palm and then there goes the eye roll. Seriously?! Already getting appropriate use of an eye roll! He's not even two!!! The teenage years are going to be a REAL test of my patience :) Oh and then Molly will follow soon after and learn from his great example. Can't wait! I do love being a mommy!

My little Bible reader

I was just informed by my husband that the reason he waited to take Mark to daycare late today was because Mark did not want to leave the house. Why? Because Mark wanted to sit in his rocking chair and read the Bible. How cute is that? We started a new study at church about 3 weeks ago entitled "WiiFit" it's about becoming fit spiritually. This week's Bible verse is "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7. I've been reminded constantly of this verse this week because that's just how it goes...when you're studying a topic in scripture then you are just faced with it every day. That's why we equip ourselves with the Word to resist temptation. Anywho...this does all connect here in a bit. David said he heard Mark in his room this morning yelling "No, No" at the Bible and he noticed that Mark was pointing at a picture of the serpent from Genesis. He was shouting it again at the same serpent on the way to Kim's today in the backseat. Apparently Mark has been studying James 4:7 as well because he was resisting the Devil. I love that boy!

Can I just share how much I love my sweet Monkey?!

Last night Mark requested a bath early so he could play with Elmo and then he wanted to watch "Choo Choos" before "night night". "Choo Choos" is "Thomas and Friends" which is not my favorite to watch, but he just LOVES it! So anyway, I'm sitting there cuddling with my sweet boy under his quilt and watching "choo choos" just staring at him thinking of just how great he is and how I hate that he's growing up so fast. Oh wait a minute, let me wipe the tears out of my eyes so I can see the screen to finish this post...

Ok...all better. I started crying in the shower Saturday just thinking about how he's not always going to be my tiny boy with the sweet little voice saying "Hi Mama" every day. It's not just the pregnancy hormones talking either, it's the mommy in me. So since there's not a space in his baby book for me to write all his milestones/faves at this age I'm going to write them here for myself.

Mark is almost 23 months old, which I can't believe and here are the list of his current faves:

TV shows: Thomas and Friends, Wonder Pets and Backyardigans
Food: Spaghetti, Broccoli, Green Beans, Apples, Bananas, Graham Crackers, Yogurt
and I'm ashamed to say this...Cookies :)
Toys: basketball goal, water sprayer, Little Tikes car and trains
Activities: coloring, throwing balls, feeding us "pretend" food, horsey rides on our
legs, pushing around his car, playing the piano, tormenting the cat,
drinking from a big boy cup and his absolute fave...Dancing!
Numbers: 2 and 8, he likes to say these when we count to 10
Phrases and words: "Where is Dada", "Choo Choo" and "Cookie"

I'll probably have to add to his in the next couple of days because he just learns so much over night. I love that boy soooo much and I wish I could just snuggle with him all day long!!!

Picky Eater no more?...

So I've always been so proud of my little Mark because he has never been a picky eater! Over the last week he's tested me a bit more at dinner time. Sometimes not eating what I give him or eating very little and then playing with the rest of the food. I'm thinking that he's maybe just eating a few too many graham crackers before dinner. I hope that's it although I'm pretty sure it's just the big fat "Terrible Twos" staring us in the face.

Well here's where I found hope...I made a new very easy, no nonsense recipe last night coincidentally labeled "Kid Friendly" in my Real Simple magazine. He had maybe a few grapes and one cracker before dinner, but he seemed very ready to get in that high chair for dinner last night. We sat there at the table discussing our days and before I knew it my child had eaten his entire plate's worth of pan seared chicken, mashed potatoes and peas and was requesting more veggies. I whispered to David "don't say anything to jinx this, but Mark is pigging out right now..." Oh how I hope we can just limit snacks and not venture into the picky eater phase, but please know that I know better. We'll have our day I'm sure...oh well. He's precious!!!