Luke is 2 Years Old!

Yesterday, on 10/4/11 at 4:34am, Luke became a 2 year old!  We tried to make his day extra special.   We have been telling him for a few weeks that when he turns two, he will be a big boy.  We have also prepared him by telling him that shortly after turning two, he will not need his pacifier anymore (he only uses it during his afternoon nap anyway) and he will get to move into a big boy room and get a big boy bed.  We are planning on keeping the nursery as the nursery, and we want to give him a couple of months to get used to his new room before our baby girl arrives. We will start by eliminating the pacifier, and then in a couple of weeks we will also get his new room ready for his move. 

We sang the "Happy Birthday" song to him several times yesterday, and each time after we finished singing it he would exclaim so proudly and loudly, "2!"  He is so happy to be two--after all, it is his favorite number.   Anytime we give him one of something, he always promptly asks for two.   For example, if he asks for a cracker and you only give him one, he very quickly asks, "two" while shaking his head no.  If we have allowed him to pick out a prize at a store, instead of one, he grabs one in each hand and says, "two?"

We bought him a special cupcake for his birthday yesterday and let him blow out his two candles on top.  Also, he got a new play kitchen (a great find on craigslist) and a couple of Thomas the Train toys from mommy and daddy.  He has been so proud of the kitchen, and says to us several times a day, "I cook!"

Unfortunately, we also had scheduled his doctor's appointment on his birthday yesterday.  So, he also received the gift of two shots yesterday.  His appointment went well and he is growing and developing very well.  He tried to cheat on the height measurement though--he stood on his tip-toes and refused to stand flat on his feet when we asked him to.  So, I had to hold his feet down flat.  The nurse and I laughed and she said she had never seen any other child try this! He tried to cheat one other time on a height measurement when we went to Silver Dollar City a few weeks ago and we were trying to determine if he could ride some of the bigger rides (you had to be 36 inches to ride them)--smart little boy!

At his appointment yesterday, he measured 33 inches tall, which is only in the 25th percentile.  He weighed 27 lbs, which is 50th percentile, and his head circumference is also in the 50th percentile. Luke's development is good as well.   He has started to speak in little sentences the last few weeks.  For example, he will say, "Mommy play cars" when he wants me to play cars with him.  It is so nice for him to be able to tell us what he wants.

Something that we started with his first birthday was that we made him a photo journal book that documented important events and milestones that occurred over the span of that year.  We created a book for him again for this year's birthday that began with his first birthday party on October 2010 and culminated with events from September 2011.  The book is actually written in language "to him".  Our plan is to create a book like this each year, and then give it to him when he leaves the house for college.  The last page of the book just listed some things about Luke that we wanted to remember from the year.   I am sure when he is 18 years old or so, we will not remember all of these details and feelings we wish to share with him that we feel are important now, so I am glad we are doing this for him.

I think the book (and even this blog) is similar in idea to what google shared in the "Dear Sophie" advertisement--this is the most precious ad I have ever seen--you have to watch it!  It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it!

I must say, this blog has also really helped us document and remember important events and milestones.  It would have taken me many more hours to create the book if I didn't have this blog as a resource in looking back over the events of the year.

So, to finish this post, in keeping in line with our "journaling" goal (similar to the Google advertisement's message as well), here is another video we want to share with you someday, Luke.  We love you, Luke!  Happy Birthday little buddy!