Thursday, July 8, 2010

Two Years Old!

We say it all the time but this really does just keep going by faster and faster. Our little boy is already two years old. And what a wonderful and amazing two year old he is. We usually try to keep outright bragging about our kids to a minimum here, but it's his birthday so I'm allowed.

A lot has happened in this last year of Patrick's life and we couldn't be more proud of him. Every day we're amazed at what a loving, mild tempered and smart little man he's turned into. In the last year Patrick has been on countless out of town trips, started school, gotten new teachers and changed classrooms a couple times, gained a little sister and tons, tons more. All of this while trying to just be a one year old and handle everything that goes along with developing language, social skills, motor movements, cognitive processes, learning numbers, learning colors, learning letters and a million other things kids brains have to compute this early on in life. Through it all he's been the best little boy Angie and I could have ever asked for. There has literally not been a day in the last two years that we haven't stopped what we're doing at some point during the day, looked at each other and said how happy he makes us.

In the post I wrote on his first birthday, I included a video of the first year of Patrick's life. We still occasionally go back and watch that video and marvel at how much he's changed - and, how much he's stayed the same. His laugh now is identical to what it was when he was 5 months old and his beautiful big eyes are the same sweet boy we've always had. But to hear him talk now and to see his personality more every day is such a joy. He has a sense of humor, he speaks in full sentences, he challenges EVERYTHING and he openly shows affection unprompted. There's nothing better than when he stops in the middle of playing to come give us a hug and tell us he loves us.

There's a video that goes along with this post as well but it's not of the entire last year of Patrick's life. That's a "first birthday only" kind of thing for now. Mostly because holy cow does it take a lot of time. The video in this post is a short one with some highlights of Patrick's second birthday party. We had the party on the 4th of July at Meme and Papa's "train station." It was, of course, a train themed party since those are currently the love of Patrick's life.

Meme and Papa went all out with the decorations for the party. We had decided to keep the party a little smaller this year and really only have the family and a few close friends with their kids come over. That didn't stop the families from going over the top in spoiling Patrick though. When we got to the house, there were train tracks drawn in chalk from the driveway to the front door where a welcome sign hung with a big picture of Patrick on his train ride a couple weeks ago. He walked up and down the train tracks for the first 20 minutes we were there. The rest of the party was just as exciting for him. And how could it not be? There was a bouncy house, three pools and a giant beach ball that squirted water out! We also got him a birthday cake shaped like Thomas the Train which was a big hit.

Anyway, the video shows it all. It's set to one of his favorite songs and includes a couple musical numbers by Patrick himself. Enjoy...




We had such a fun time at his party. Oh yea, and we're pretty sure he did too. He went on kind of a hugging spree at the end of opening presents that hopefully showed how thankful he is for this big, wonderful family.

Patrick's birthday has really been going on for about a week now, though. Last Friday afternoon, Grandpa and Grandma came over with their present to Patrick: a gigantic train set. Grandpa had been setting it up all week (setting it up = playing with it) at their house but had to put on the final touches at our house. He snuck upstairs while Grandma, Angie and Madelyn distracted Patrick with something shiny and finished the assembly right as I was getting home from work. I'll post some video soon of Patrick's reaction to seeing a small city in his bedroom but for now there are plenty of pictures in the slideshow below.

We got Patrick out of bed this morning singing Happy Birthday and carrying his presents into his room (hopefully he doesn't expect that every day). The first present he opened was a training potty. He promptly took his pants and diaper off and opened the rest of his presents sitting on the potty, nude from the waist down. Somehow, we managed to not get pictures. It was a very funny way to start our day though.

Here's a slideshow of Patrick's second birthday so far:


Thank you again to our family and friends, not only for making his birthday so special but for making this whole last year such a fun adventure. From trips to the zoo, to the pool, to the beach, to cabins and train rides and nature centers and everything in between it's been a blast for us and him.

And a special thank you to Meme and Papa for hosting Patrick's birthday party. As you'll see in the pictures, there are a lot of little details Meme and Papa threw together to make the day that much more special. We spent all day Saturday preparing for the party and making food and we were still surprised when we got there at all the cool stuff they had come up with that morning.

We're headed to the beach this weekend with my family, so we may not have another post up till we get back. We hope everyone has a great week though!

5 comments:

KBBean said...

I LOVE that video! And Carson does too :) Brandon & I actually talked after the birthday party for awhile about what an amazing kid Patrick is. So loving, curious, sincere, and friendly. He's such a special boy, and we feel so blessed to be able to be part of him growing up. Thank you for sharing him. You guys are amazing parents. He is as lucky to have you as we are to have him. Happy birthday, buddy!

Anonymous said...

Chugga Choo Chugga choo choo!xoxo - travis and rhiannon

John said...

Looks like he had a great time. Congrats.

TERA said...

Happy Birthday Patrick! You are growing to be an even more wonderful little guy.

Aunt Mollie said...

I have to say that I watch the video at least 3 times a day! It makes me so happy. I am so blessed that I live near you guys to share these wonderful times in Patrick's life! You both did a great job planning a great 2nd birthday for Patrick! Love you all!