Clint Bradley turns 2

Happy Birthday to Clint! (and Chris too!) Chris is claiming he no longer has a birthday since Clint has taken his. I'm not letting him get away with that though.

Clint had a wonderful birthday. We had some family and a few friends over for cupcakes and ice cream. Clint made the decisions on all of the details of his party this year, choosing a Thomas the Train theme. We got the usual plates and napkins and invitations, but he insisted on the party hats. I'm not sure why the party hats were particularly exciting to him, but he did actually wear his. He chose funfetti cupcakes with vanilla icing and sprinkles and vanilla ice cream. I was surprised about his choice of vanilla over chocolate too. He enjoyed every minute of his day. I fixed the birthday boys blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and then we let Clint open his gifts from us. Preston was very proud to pick out a card for Clint all by himself. He wrote a C for Clint on the envelope and signed his P on the inside of the card. They spent the morning playing with Clint's new firetruck and bop bag, and then had way too much fun playing in the pile of leaves Chris was raking. We partied in the afternoon, and then our parents stayed after for some Panfish Chowder and Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake for Chris' birthday celebration.

Preston was a super excellent helper with the party preparations. He helped wrap gifts, kept the knowledge of the gifts a secret, and helped with the cupcakes. In this one we were reading the directions on the box.

The best reward for being a good helper.

Excited to wake up from his nap with everything decorated.

Some of Clint's buddies: Lleyton, Micah, Nathan, P and Clint

My handsome 2 year old

Boys n trains!

A small peak into the life of 2 year old Clint. A pacifier, or 'sassy' as he calls it, is still a very hot item for naps and bedtime or any other time he can convince someone he needs one. He loves reading books, and like playing ball with a dog, once you get him started it is hard to stop. He knows all of his shapes and none of his colors. He speaks extremely well. Some of my favorite Clint words are Bye-di-dim (vitamin), Smoo-bee (smoothie), hun-guh-wee (hungry). On a particularly whiny afternoon I had a conversation with him trying to figure out what was going on. It went like this:

Me: Clint, does something hurt?
Clint: Yes, Mommy, some-ting hurts.
Me: What hurts?
Clint: (with grimace and shaking his head no) I just can't talk about it, Mommy.

Such drama! We have since then determined he's begun teething for his 2 yr. molars. His favorite movie is one we have that's all about the circus. His favorite toys are trains, cars, trucks, and dinosaurs. He loves playing outside. He knows many many songs including the regular alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, and part of the Greek alphabet. He can follow directions and complete a task easily. He will put himself in time out for being ugly. He can run really fast, and likes to remind me to watch him. He likes to dance, and I keep trying to catch this on video. Its just too funny. He is particularly sneaky when it comes to candy. After Christmas he found Chris' stash of cinnamon bears in our bedroom. One evening while we were cleaning up after dinner I caught him hiding in the dark in my room with so many cinnamon bears in his mouth he looked like a chipmunk. He had both hands full of cinnamon bears and red drool down the front of his shirt. The empty bag lay at his feet. The guilty expression I first saw on his face was quickly replaced with a vigorous attempt to chew and swallow the stash in his cheeks. This was about 2 weeks ago, and he still goes into our room asking where Daddy's candy is. He understands he's getting a sister soon and that her name is Ceh-wuh (Cara). He does not miss his nursery at all, in fact we all refer to it as Cara's room, and he has easily adjusted to sleeping on the bottom bunk bed. Some of his favorite foods are pickles, any fruit, corn on the cob, any noodle, chicken, and sausage. He shares a love for people like Preston, but is often less outgoing in a large crowd. He's definitely very snuggly and can give the best hugs.