Happy Birthday, James!!

This is a picture taken today at the zoo. We celebrated James' 2nd birthday yesterday because Al had the ENTIRE day off!! I will post pictures of our adventures soon.

James is a sweet little guy. Here are some things about him at 2 years old:

- doesn't say much. And most words that he does say he uses just the vowel sounds of the word or just 1 syllable of the word. Crazy enough I actually understand what he wants a lot of the time!

- loves to cuddle, be held, get hugged, etc. He is just so lovable and squeezable.

- will not eat any form of a sandwich...unless it belongs to somebody else. If I make a sandwich just for him he won't touch it.

- loves, loves, loves his trains and cars. He literally plays with them every single day. He loves toys in general and plays with them a lot more than Avery ever did at this age.

- likes to take things to bed with him. Lately it is a Nemo stuffed animal which he calls "Mo." Last night it was his Thomas the Train hat :)

- is really good at coloring for his age. It still is a lot of scribbles, but while most kids just grab one color and scribble it all over James takes a lot of time and will use tons of different colors on one picture.

- knows many letters of the alphabet and loves to point them out on signs, in books, etc. He loves looking at ABC books or having me or Al draw the letters for him on the magnadoodle.

- would spend all day outside if he could.

- his favorite item of clothing is his rain boots. He wears them around the house, outside, to the store...every where.

- loves dogs and animals in general. He has a killer growl that he does :)

- his favorite foods are strawberries, grapes, cereal, pizza, cheetos, cheese roll-ups, chicken nuggets, and practically any form of sugar. I caught him several times this Easter season sneaking a cadbury egg from displays at stores. I only had to turn my back for a second and he would find one and have it in his mouth.

- he is fascinated by planes, trucks, trains, and anything that goes. If he hears an airplane while we're outside he has to stop and look for it in the sky, then he points to it and waits for me to acknowledge it.

- he loves little babies and is really soft and gentle with him. I still get nervous when he goes up to a tiny baby, but he is careful with them. It is really sweet.

- the same cannot be said for the way he is around toddlers or Avery... Sometimes he is sweet and hugs them. He really likes his friends "baby" Dean and "baby" Rhett. He calls his friends "baby." They are cute together. But there are also some hits that go down.

-loves blankets, or "Dees" as he calls them. Not sure how he came to that term for them. He gets so excited when I put him to bed and put his blankies on top. And he also loves to pull all of the blankets out of the chest we keep them in.

-he loves to laugh. And is easy to laugh, which is a great quality. He laughs at himself, at what other people do our say, funny noises in cartoons, etc. He loves to be chased, or to run away and that always makes him laugh too.

Anyway, these are just a few of the things I want to remember about James at this age. We love him to death and are so happy he is a part of our family. Happy birthday, James!!