Trevor's 2nd birthday. . . .

Trevor turned 2 at the end of July. the time has gone by so fast. Most of the time I just wish time would slow down so I can enjoy his babyhood while it lasts. Of course he is two now, so technically he is a toddler now! The past 2 years have sure had many up and down moments with illness after illness, months and months of what I can best describe as "colicky behavior" (probably from the silent reflux) and constant doctor apptmts and therapy evaluations and appointments have made it a rather exhausting time. I am happy to say that he is growing into a wonderful little boy with such a sweet personality.

I wanted to have a big celebration for his 2nd birthday. I invited almost as many people to this party as I did to his 1st birthday party and his Christening party. It just seemed that after all that has gone on in the past year a big celebration was warranted on making it through - his reflux, his irritability (sensory issues), his speech delay (making wonderful progress and is catching up fast), and his failure to thrive diagnosis (he is starting to make more steady gains), plus the constant colds, flus, viruses and infections that plagued him for over 1 1/2 years (and I am happy to say has lessened considerably the past couple of months); as I said so much to celebrate on his 2nd birthday!

The day of his birthday might not have been so celebratory as he went to the Dr and got some vaccines. I was busy cleaning for his upcoming party so just some cupcakes for the birthday boy with the birthday song with our family of 5 was how we celebrated the actual birthday day.

For the party, we had a great day weather wise. It was nice that we could fit a lot of people on the deck in the backyard and we weren't all crammed into the house. We had a Winnie thePooh theme. He was super cute in his Tigger outfit, but didn't care to wear his birthday hat. He was very social and loved all the attention. We had a pinata and he loved giving that a couple of whacks, and of course he loved the cake. He was so cute trying to blow out the candles (he usually does sshh instead of blowing). He got some great gifts and everyone was happy to see him. He was in good spirits and everyone commented on how big he is getting and how healthy he looked. He got some great presents and had a ball ripping the paper off the packages.

At 2, Trevor finally made it to 20 lbs - such a breakthrough to finally hit that milestone. His height has also grown, he is 32 1/2 inches tall, now has aprox 25-30 words (and several signs ) he started with 1 word at 15 months and then about 10 words at 19 months, and he has in the past month or so started saying 2 word phrases so a vocabulary explosion is happening with him. His sensory sesitivities are getting very easy to predict and so we are not having huge tantrums and melt downs as we are able to cut them off most of the time before they begin. He is eating a good variety of food and no longer has texture issues (we stopped food therapy in June). He tolerates being seperated from mom so much easier now. So there is so much to celebrate and be thankful for as he turns 2.

Just a couple of months ago I was dreading his 2nd birthday coming. I know he can't stay a baby forever, but I wanted just a little more time with him as a baby. I have to say though, that right now is a wonderful place with him being 2 as his personality is emerging and I can see how smart he is and how funny he is. 2 year olds may get the bad wrap of the terrible twos, but I think the terrible 18 months would be more fitting. Yes, he is getting into more stuff and trying to keep him from climbing everything and getting into things is still a big problem, but still he is getting bigger and talking more and interacting with us more and it is great to see him "Blossoming". I love hearing him say new words which are coming out a lot now and his new phrases "det dow" - "get down" - he sure says that one alot because as I mentioned he sure hears that one a lot from us. I love how he goes up to his brother and rubs noses with him or pats his head. I love when he grabs me and gives me a big bear hug - babies can't do that so I am starting to really enjoy my talking, bear hugging, rasberry giving, giggly tickley little 2 year old.

Trevor my busy, busy boy!

Trying to put hands to the keyboard and actually post has been challenging lately. I am happy to say no visits to the ER, but we have had unexpected trip to the eye doctor - Trevor broke my glasses! I have always known kids are expensive, but there were just so many of the hidden costs that I did not realize. In the past week Trevor has been as busy as usual; Trevor broke my glasses, and he pulled a lamp off an end table and shattered a light bulb (thank goodness the lamp still works, but it was a tough clean up being one of the bulbs with mercury in it.) He also found Stephen's portable cd player laying on the couch (after I had told him earlier that day to put it away) and he ripped the lid off of it. He has unprogrammed a bunch of numbers in our new phone (I spent an hour one day programming dozens of numbers and now we only have 3 left in there). He also likes the WII game and tries using the controller (it is so cute to watch), at least he has not broken the WII. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Trevor has put my watch somewhere and its been over week since I've seen it - I just hope it didn't go in the trash!

Trevor is just so busy. He wheels around the chairs in the kitchen and uses them as his rolling ladders. I catch him hanging on to the upper cabinets filled filled with plastic cups and glass, turning the microwave on, and as many times as I move the salt and pepper shaker (higher and higher) he always seems to find it and pours out all the salt. He is so smart and determined and busy - I have to admire a kid that can get into this much stuff! Our biggest challenge is to constantly monitor him and keep him safe; which means he has to come to the bathroom with me and I have to watch him even if I am just going into the other room to answer the phone! He just loves trying to see how everything works and is fanatical about opening and closing doors, gates, screens, windows, toy boxes and everything else. If he gets into the dining room, he will use his ride on fire truck as his step ladder of choice and get onto the table and onto the hutch - searching for candy that may be in a forgotten Easter basekt (yes, it had been in there since March and was just put away this week).

I sometimes wonder if a lot of kids are like this. I just don't remember Stephen and Ryan being this busy and this damaging. I am glad that he is curious about things and love watching him think about how he is going to accomplish something (I can practically see the steam coming from his ears from thinking so hard, lol). He is definitely fun to watch, but also exhausting!