Beckett's 2!

Beckett had his second birthday July 19. We waited until the weekend and celebrated it with my family in Denver. Just like last year I didn't get him really any gifts- I left that up to grandma. I buy him things throughout the year, so I can get away with it. Maybe next year I'll have to start getting him birthday presents. I did attempt to make a rice krispy cake in the shape of his recent love of trains/tunnels. As always it did not turn out as well as I had imagined. This usually kills my desire to attempt anything like it again- for at least another year. During our stay we went swimming at the neighborhood pool. This was only his second or third time at a swimming pool. The first time was a year ago and he freaked and wanted nothing to do with it. He has been to the ocean a handful of times and loved it. He likes playing in our sprinklers. So this time he was a little nervous at first but quickly had fun playing in the pool with grandpa, his uncle Alex and dad.

So here are some pics from our trip that my parents took- I forgot all my memory cards at home.

Beckett's favorite toy at grandma's house- he's better at steering finally.

The ugly train cake I tried to make for Beckett.

Beckett telling you he's 2 years old as he holds up 5 fingers.

He loves balloons. We took his elmo and truck balloon back with us. Dan tied his truck balloon to the back of his bike and after riding around for awhile it broke off and blew away. A month later he still talks about it, "Bye-bye truck balloon".

http://video214.com/play/tDL8Lr6Tznb3L0wmNZ63Jg/s/dark

Check out the photos I took of Beckett at two years old in the slideshow I made that's linked above. Beckett didn't show off much in the biking videos I have in the slideshow. I had some better biking videos/photos that got deleted when my hard drive crashed. Oh well!

2 year stats (Staying true to his normal growth):

height: 33 1/2 inches (25%)

weight: 23 lbs (3%)

head: 51 cm (95%)

Some things about our two year old: (So like usual it's more like a novel about Beckett.)

Beckett is obsessed with trucks (especially trash trucks), tractors, trains (he loves Thomas the Train), tunnels, and Booms- he talks about these things non-stop.

He loves putting on chapstick.

He has a big vocabulary that surprises us everyday- he doesn't really put more than 2 words together yet. His words pretty much sound the same and I'm probably one of the few that can understand him.

He loves to say prayers and will shout out "Amen!" for everyone to hear in church- sometimes in the middle of talk or prayer to hurry them up. He tries to say the prayer on our meals all by himself which is usually "food, Jesus, Amen" every now and then he'll add another word.

He is still an adventurous boy climbing on everything- jumping or diving off. He thinks it's cool to climb on the table or counters and then jump up and down on them. He also gallops/skips everywhere.

He doesn't love sandals because his feet get dirty with sticks and rocks in between. He likes spotting bugs and trying to kill them- he can be slightly scared of them sometimes.

He loves riding his bike. He can be really fast to where I can't hardly keep up with him when I run beside him. Unfortunately he gets distracted easily so his riding can be a bit scary. He's starting to lift up his legs when he rides. He loves doing wheelies, going off the curb and attempting ramps and other things his dad does. He tries to keep up with Dan and a couple of his neighborhood friends (who are like 10 and 12). He loves our next door neighbor and always calls for him to play- they have a little girl Beckett's age but he prefers to play with Ezra the fourth grader.

His last baby tooth is cutting through his gums right now- this past month he was getting 3 molars at once. I was hoping that was why he's been a bit more fussy- but I think it's just the trying two stage!

We switched him to a toddler bed and he's done really well with it. He's only fallen out of bed once and usually stays in his bed until I come and get him. Every once in awhile he gets tired of waiting and will get out of bed and knock on his door (because thankfully he still can't open our doors yet). In the mornings or after a nap he sometimes will have a few books in his bed that weren't there when I tucked him in.

He's very good at possessions- "mommy's", "daddy's" or "Beckett's". According to Beckett the white car is daddy's and the 4-runner is Beckett's- mommy doesn't have a car.

He likes to be independent and pretend to be in charge. He's great at saying no, telling people to sit and "Shh!" (which essentially means stop). He bosses his friend Lua around when he's playing "No, Lua!" even though Lua is not over our house.

He still loves nursery at Church- they say he's the most unboohooy kid. I'm thinking that might be changing though.

He likes going rabbit hunting because both grandparents and our house has wild rabbits hanging around.

Beckett is still super social and will say "hi!" a million times to anything that moves. He's also pretty polite constantly saying "thank you". He also loves saying "Bye!" Which is usually followed by "See-ya!" and he's now adding on "Ose!" (trying to say adios!) So usually when departing you'll hear "bye, see-ya, ose!" He is constantly wanting to go places and see people, asking for all his friends all day. One of places we do go every morning is to the church so I can workout with some other ladies and he can play with their kids. So he asks multiple times a day if we can go to church.

He loves to be silly and do the opposite of whatever you say.

His favorite activities are playing hide and seek which he's getting better at and building "tee pee tunnels". He unfortunately has turned into a bit of a TV junkie since he can put a movie on all by his self now. His favorite is Thomas the Train.

He still is predominately left-handed and left-footed, but will use his right hand every once in awhile.

He used to only say "two, three. Go!" when counting but now he usually counts "one, two, one, two..." Sometimes there's go mixed in or not very often he'll say "three" and sometimes "five, six".

He loves the songs with hand actions like "open and shut them", "popcorn popping", "if you're happy...", "do as I'm doing", "head shoulders..."

He knows the letter B and can spot it anywhere. When trying to say the alphabet he currently says "A, B,B".

Beckett amazes us with his memory. Some of the words he knows I question if I've ever even taught him. He remembers the most trivial things and constantly talking about them. I know that's common for little kids to remember random things- but I didn't realize it started so young when he can hardly even talk. For example he is constantly talking about giving Ezra doughnuts, grandpa Mickelson tapping his fingers on the table, Grandpa Hill's owl, April gave him the stuffed puppy, Alex gave him Elmo, Emmett's shirt that had a baseball bat on it last week and Lua said "no, no, no, no!" the one time and he thought it was hilarious.

I figured he wouldn't be potty trained for another couple years but not too long after he was 18 months he showed a huge interest and would cry if I would change his diaper and not let him go on the potty. But I didn't want to push him and I know he's not quite ready since he still can't pull down his pants/diaper, open doors, get on the toilet... without help. Plus potty training doesn't sound fun- eating up all your day. So I haven't officially started anything. But he was doing real good telling me when he needed to go (most of the time), he'd go pee every time I took him and even stay dry almost all day long (depending on how diligent I was about taking him). That's how it's been for about 4 months now. I was hoping maybe we could get him out of diapers before the new baby comes. However recently he's digressed a bit with potty training and doesn't ever want to go- so maybe it will be a couple of years from now.

He currently has been wearing pull-ups for the ease putting on and off quickly. The pull-ups usually come with 2 designs and he always has his favorite and does not want to wear the other design. For example it had to be Diego with the soccer ball not Diego with the lizard. He is pretty good at sorting them out according to his preference.

He knows mommy has a baby in her tummy and knows that Beckett and daddy don't. Anytime he sees a baby he is reminded of this and then immediately tries to lift my shirt to see my tummy. He likes to give "the baby" kisses. However, I do also get lots of elbow jabs, butt bumps, and other abuse from Beckett (most he does unknowingly). I'm sure he doesn't really know what a baby in mommy's tummy really means.

I've started watching a 2 month-old for a friend every other week and Beckett loves it. Beckett will call for Emmett in the mornings. He's a great helper, observing how to take care of a baby and trying to assist. He brings, diapers, gets the baby's pacifier when he cries, gets the burp cloth and tries to pat his back when we're feeding him, etc. This is probably partly why Beckett thinks getting your diaper changed is now cool again. He tries to tell Emmett what to do like fold your arms during the prayer. He has gotten a little jealous and tries to sit in my lap while I'm holding the baby or frustrated when I can't fix his toy at the exact moment he wants because I'm feeding the baby. Beckett just loves having the extra company around. The biggest problem is trying to keep Beckett away from the baby- he is constantly trying to hug and kiss him, or try to lay with the baby under the play mat and sometimes wants to try to pick him up. I'm sure Beckett will be a great brother- a little bossy, jealous but super excited for a new pal. It might be a little different when the baby is always going to be here.