Luke's 2nd Birthday

It is hard to believe that my baby Luke turned 2 years old today.  And yet at the same time, it feels like ages ago that he was a tiny newborn sleeping in my arms.

A few days ago we started telling Luke about his birthday and that he was going to be two.  We've been practicing asking him "Luke, how old are you?" and he says "two" in the cutest tiny little voice.  Except sometimes he gets confused and thinks we're asking "how are you?" and then he answers "fine."  We've been telling him about how he would get to open presents and get new toys, and we would eat cake.  That part really resonated with him and every time we mention his birthday he immediately lights up and starts asking for cake ("take!").

This morning we had him open the biggest present before Charlie left for work.  He wasn't sure what to do at first, so I ripped a little corner of the paper for him and then he got to work on his own.

He was very precise about opening.  He would tear off a piece of paper and set it in a little stack next to the box, then tear another one, and set it down.

After enough tears he got a good peek of what was inside.

Isaac was equally obsessed with trucks when he was younger so we probably already have a few too many of these kind of things around the house.  But what harm could a couple more do?

Most of the day went on as usual.  Dropping Isaac off at school, gym, errands, picking up Isaac from school, quick lunch, then off to speech for Luke, more errands, and back home for a nap.

The real fun started after Charlie got home.  We had slider hamburgers for dinner (which are actually Isaac's favorite, not Luke's but he doesn't really have any main dish favorites), with macaroni & cheese (Luke devoured this in Hawaii) and watermelon (which Luke loves, loves, LOVES and was so excited about tonight).  I gave Luke the Special plate even though I doubt he thought there was anything special about it.

After dinner it was time for presents!  It is actually kind of hard to buy for Luke because Isaac already has so many toys, including lots of things he's outgrown, and Luke has tons to play with so he really didn't need anything.  But you can't very well celebrate a 2nd birthday without presents!  So now we have a lot more trucks around here than we did yesterday.  And Luke loves every last one of them.

I took Isaac to Toys R Us so that he could pick out a gift to give to Luke.  He originally planned to get Luke a stuffed snake just like his, since Luke likes to steal Isaac's snake.  But once we were there Isaac changed his mind and decided on a stuffed turtle.  Except Isaac really loved this turtle and I could tell that he actually wanted it for himself.  When it came time to wrap it up for Luke, Isaac tried pulling a switch and put his own smaller stuffed turtle in the box.  Brotherly love.  Luke absolutely loves the stuffed turtle and was so excited when he opened it.  The way he says turtle is really cute ("tur-toh") and he kept hugging it over and over.

Finally it was time for cake.  Luke had been asking for cake all day long.  I found some fantastic recipes for chocolate cake and chocolate frosting last year for Luke's birthday and I have made this same cake several times since.  I wanted to make it a little more exciting for him though so I decorated it with a few construction vehicles and a sprinkling of chopped pecans to look like rocks.  It did the trick and Luke was thrilled when he saw it.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and that brought another big smile to his cute face.  He clapped and cheered when we finished and then it was time to blow out the candles.  Apparently this made a big impression on him because he has re-enacted the candle blowing for me at least a dozen times since then.

Here is a little video I put together with some photos and short clips from the birthday party.  You can see that Isaac reeeeally wanted to help open Luke's presents.  Don't worry, he got plenty of time playing with all of them.  And also before we sang Happy Birthday to Luke he had touched the cake and got a little bit of frosting on his finger.  He does not like to be messy so he was kind of distracted by his frosting finger during the singing.  Funny kid.  We love our little two year old!

It was a simple and fun birthday at home.  We love this little guy and his big personality.  Here are a few things about Luke lately.

• He loves to play with cars and trucks, and especially putting "guys" inside of trucks.  He usually sits at the kitchen table with his Matchbox cars and drives them all over to one side and then back again.  He also likes to do this on my bed or he stands by the couch to drive his big trucks (with guys in them) back and forth.  
• Luke loves to eat.  If he sees anybody eating anything, he wants some too.  His current favorite foods are Trader Joe's cinnamon raisin toast (he calls it toh), yogurt (yo-yo), bananas (uh-nah), graham crackers (cah), beans (bee), any kind of soda (so-ya), watermelon (wa-wa) and of course cookies (coo) and cake (take).  He has a major sweet tooth.  
• He is still in a therapy program because he has delays in several areas.  His contract just went up from 6 to 8 hours/week.  We feel like he is making good progress and though his speech is delayed he's started talking a lot more in the past month.  Isaac's ONLY word at this age was "go" so we are happy that Luke's speech has come along so well.  
• Luke mostly speaks in one word phrases, except for when he says "I wanna" which he uses pretty frequently.  I wanna eat it.  I wanna go.  I wan in deh (I want in there - referring to trucks, the pool, etc).  I wan it.  And also he says "I do" when he wants to do something himself, like climb in and out of his car seat.  
• Luke loves animals and squeals in delight when he sees them.  He always wants to pet every dog we see.  He says "soft" and pretends to pet softly, which is his way of telling me he wants to pet them for real.  He is pretty good at making animal sounds too.  
• Luke wants to be just like Isaac (who he calls "I") and often imitates what Isaac is doing.  We wish that Isaac would be nicer to Luke, but Luke tolerates most of Isaac's unkindness pretty well for the most part.  
• He likes to watch TV and DVD's but usually only has about a 10 minute attention span.  His current favorites are Backyardigan's (especially the episode where Pablo is a meteor watcher - Luke runs around yelling "MEETEE-OOOH!!!"), the Kidsong's DVDs about dogs, the beach, animals, and trucks, the All About DVD with garbage & recycling (he calls it "pee-yew") and monster trucks, and some Sesame Street DVDs but only two specific parts - Snuffaluffagus "On Top of Spaghetti" (Luke loves the big meatball), and a Cookie Monster clip where a man is trying to eat cookies like Cookie Monster and then cookies rain down all over the floor.  
• Luke loved our recent trip to Hawaii.  Any time we spent in our hotel room he was constantly asking for the beach (go bee) or the pool (poo).  
• Other favorites:  balls, bath time, riding his bike (which means me pushing him), drinking as much juice or soda as he can get (he requests a drink by saying "ooo" and holding a hand to his throat like he is totally parched), being tickled, the nursery at church, the kids club at the gym, the garbage truck, playing outside, watching the bees buzz around the flowering bushes in the front yard, throwing anything and everything that resembles a ball, stacking things "up high", and last but not least his googin (blanket) and pacifier.   

Happy Birthday Luke!  We love you!