Arthur is 2 years old today... although not quite officially, since he was born a bit past 6:30 pm EST.
We just had some chocolate cupcakes with whipped cream frosting and sprinkles, which Elsie expertly administered to the tops. Arthur opened a couple of presents and asked for "more presents". Hmmm... I'm thinking Christmas sure did change his expectations when it comes to getting gifts. We got him a book because I think we just can't bring ourselves to buy more toys so close to the toy spree of the holidays. This will likely be how we feel every year and thus the tradition of a birthday book is born. He did, of course, get toys from my parents, and is happily playing with them and Martin downstairs. We will all be going to Panda Fun tomorrow evening to do a little more celebrating.
This guy gives us plenty of reasons to celebrate. He's happy and funny and easy to please. He's learning new words every day and it's so fun to think of what he'll be doing and saying at three years old! When I was blowing up his birthday balloons, I told him that they said Happy Birthday and since then he's practiced saying "Happy Birthday". Surprisingly, Arthur has developed some basic numeracy as well. I think he knows the order of numbers under 10, and he just said "three" when he saw three flashlights together. I say surprisingly because Arthur seems to express himself in fewer words than Elsie did at his age. When he reveals something that he knows it always makes us do a double take. I love that right now when he means he *doesn't* want something he *says* "want it" or "want that". It would be confusing for somebody else to try to figure out what he wants.
Arthur loves to play tag, jump on the beds, swing in the sheet, bump on our bellies, push his toys around, and just a couple days ago he really took to shoveling snow. He's been drawing with markers and chalk for a couple months now. Sometimes, he'll tell us what it his he's going to draw then when chalk meets board (or marker meets paper) it's all big loop de loops. He claims to be drawing everything from dogs to tractors to papa. It's all squiggles. I love that he's brave about the creative process and I hope that he brings that into everything else he does. He's got a great imagination that lets him play by himself quite easily most days. We were at the library a couple days ago and he took a small chair away from its table and started pushing it all around the aisles. I thought he was saying "one more" when he was doing it, like he was telling me he was going for another round, but today he did the same thing at the library and I understood more clearly that he was actually saying "lawn mower". Wow! He likes to pretend to be trucks and when I pretend to be a garbage truck that he can load with garbage.
Arthur is still sleeping with me for most of the night, but he is now starting the night in his own bed. He used to like singing a song or two or reading the Big Red Barn before sleeping, but he's been in more of a hurry to get to sleep these days. He's still nursing about 3 times in the night and waking at around 7:30 (going to bed around 9). Martin still takes him when he wakes up so I can go try to sleep a bit more with Elsie. They are not going outside in the mornings anymore, but this morning was actually warm enough to do a walk and I think they'll try it a couple of times this weekend with temperatures going up to 9! Arthur likes to use the little toilet when his diaper is off and I suspect that by the summer he'll be in a nighttime diaper only. His favorite foods are clementines and chocolate covered granola bars. He was crazy about egg nog over the holidays and Martin joked that on the one day I was away Arthur drank egg nog like it was a breast milk substitute.
Martin and I are so happy that Arthur is just exactly the way it is, because it makes having two kids a little bit easier than it could be. We are also so happy to be well out of the baby stage, having had our fill of sleepless nights and nap routines. The future is bright and we look forward to taking this guy on adventures and building a rich life for him at home.
Martin's Note: Arthur is 13kg, 89cm. I agree with all the above, Arthur is a really cool little guy who I love spending time with. As his bedtime has been slowly shifting later and he's sleeping in later, I find I'm missing our morning walks quite a bit. Though not so much in the last few weeks. It's been rather cold here and we don't have a good way to keep him warm. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do together in the spring and summer. I also look forward to seeing how much he will be able to do at the parks. He was pretty confident at a year and a half, I'm betting a 2.5 year old Arthur is going to be hard to keep up with! We love you tons Arthur, here's to another great year.
Happy birthday to a wonderful and precious grandson, you are so precious and sweet. Grampie and I couldn't love you more. We look forward to our next visit and the fun things we are going to do.😍😍😍
Posted by: Joanie Christensen | 01/12/2018 at 04:55 AM