This Little Boy of Mine

On July 2 James turned two!  I know I'm woefully behind, but whadaya gonna do?

His birthday bash was pretty low key… in that the gifts I ordered from Amazon didn't even arrive in time!  Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa are much more on the ball, so he had something to open.  

Check out this bad boy cake.  It was DIVINE.  Chocolate, nutella, strawberry cream cake.  Grandma and Emily made it.

We were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa in town to join in the festivities… sorry you're pretty much decpitated in every photo, Grandpa!  My bad!  We also had friends visiting from the states, Josh and Kristen.  And because I am that awesome, I have no photo of them at the party either.

So, at two years old, here is the run down on James:

*He's not much of a talker, but he is a pro at singing the "Star Wars" theme songs at the top of his lungs, thanks to the indoctrination by his dad.  Ben bought him a Darth Vader Pez dispenser the other day, and when I gave it to him he immediately launched into the Darth Vader theme song… you know, the formidable song that comes on when ever Darth enters the scene with his storm troopers in tow… that one.  James furrows his brow, grits his teeth, lets the spit fly and with all the seriousness a two year old can muster just belts it out… it's pretty amazing.

*His favorite word to say is "truck"… and he probably says it about 350 times a day. "Car" comes in a close second with "choo-choo" not far behind.  Oh, and "appa jus" when ever he's thirsty.  He does try to say his sisters' names, which is always endearing… "Kukaline" and "Emly" are about as close as he gets.

*He loves his little Thomas the Train magnetic toys and will play with them all day… as well as his toy trucks and cars… basically he's infatuated with all motorized vehicles.

*James loves to stand on the balcony and watch the construction that's going on behind our building…. the cement trucks, the cranes, the hammering and drilling.  The headache I receive from the relentless noise is somewhat more tolerable when I see that he is being thoroughly entertained.  

*James LOVES to play with a ball and when ever we head out to the park he wants to either throw it or kick it back and forth with me.  However, if there is an older boy around, or another daddy, he immediately ditches me to play ball with them.  Come on, I'm not that bad!  If we go out to the park by the basketball court, he will make his way over to the court and try to weasel his way into a basketball game… you know, a two year old trying to join in a pick-up game… the boys are usually pretty nice to let him "play" a bit.  But, I love how he's not shy about wanting to join in with the others.

*I got to say, it's so much fun having a boy… and so different than the experience of having little girls… trucks, balls, trains, shouting, hitting, aggression... all of that… it's amazing how it really is engineered into their hardwire.  

*James adores his dad above all else in life.  He much prefers him to me (what is with that??) and I'm quite convinced there's no bigger display of enthusiasm than when Ben comes home from work.  When J hears the door open, he immediately drops what he's doing and runs as fast as he can to the door sceaming all the way, "DAAAAAADDDYYY!"  I mean, it's LOUD!  And super adorable.  

*But, I will say he does have a soft spot for his Mama… he prefers going to bed with me rubbing his back in his crib while I sing You are My Sunshine, Hush Little Baby, or Teach me to Walk in the Light.  And in the mornings, oh I love the mornings when I go to get him out of his crib… he just cuddles up to me, lays his head on my shoulder and hugs me tight… and I'm usually the first who has to let go.  It is the sweetest thing ever. 

Speaking of sweet, here are some great pics from the last year: