Benjamin is TWO years old!!!!

On Wednesday, June 26th, my very sweet, wonderful, amazing baby boy turned TWO YEARS OLD!!! When in the world did that happen!?! It's obviously been quite the whirlwind kind of year for our family, but WOW! - that happened fast! I know every mom thinks their kid is the greatest (I'm a teacher - remember? I know this is a fact! :) but I am thoroughly enjoying every moment of watching this little baby grow up. The past 6 months have been especially amazing as Ben has learned SO many new things. First of all, Ben has learned so many new words and phrases and I think his communication skills are outstanding! His favorite phrase lately is "Where daddy go?" or for that matter "Where (insert any word) go?". He can ask for what he wants and has started pulling us by the hand to show us. My second favorite thing about this little guy is how amazingly sweet he is! He is such an extraordinary big brother to Julia. He comforts her when she is crying (he rubs her head saying "It's okay baby"), stops playing for just a moment to go give her a quick kiss and say "hi baby" before returning to his activity, brings her a bottle and shares his food, and most times shares his toys. We recently went to meet two new babies and he was so gentle and loving. He rubbed their heads gently and gave kisses.  With the second baby we met, he was giving her a stuffed animal and a blanket so she could sleep. He even "held" her for a minute. And when she started crying, he quickly ran over to say "It's okay baby!" Another thing I love about Ben is how nicely he plays with his toys. (Don't get me wrong, we have moments of throwing and a new favorite word is "Mine!" - But most of the time, he plays nicely!) He LOVES his dinosaurs. He just sits or lays on the floor for the longest time making them move and "talk" or roar....he also loves to "scare" us with the dinosaurs. However, he thinks it is so funny, that by the end of the game he is doing more laughing than roaring. :) And he also loves all the little animals that go with his barn and zoo. The animals like playing with the dinosaurs as well!  Another thing I love is how well Ben is doing using "please", "thank you", and most recently "you're welcome". He even picked up on asking "help please". We got Ben a train set for his birthday and there were three boxes. The first night we just opened one, then cleaned up to go to bed. Ben grabbed another box, brought it to us and said  "Help, please!" I loved it so much, I almost opened it because he was so darn cute carrying a box that was just about as big as he was! However, it was 9:00 and way past bedtime!   - Okay, I will stop going on and on about how AWESOME this little man is and get to the birthday part! :)

Eric was on overnights, so we just relaxed around the house in the morning while daddy got some rest! After nap time, we headed over to Stick Boy for Ben's birthday lunch ( If you don't know, this is our favorite bakery in town. We go there quite a bit and we took both Ben and Julia the day after getting home from the hospital. Our tradition is to make sure we take them there on their birthday and get a picture outside to show how much they've grown!)  This trip was extra special because Ben got his very own cookie! Here's a prime example of how sweet this kid is. Eric asked Ben if Julia could have a piece of his cookie (because Eric ate all of his and didn't share!) and Ben said "Uh-huh" and broke off a piece. Julia's face lit up and she got so excited. So Ben took a bite and then broke off a piece and handed it to Eric for Julia. He continued to take a bite and share a bite until his cookie was gone! Love this guy!!!!! Here are a few pictures from lunch!

Before lunch Ben was playing with his dinosaurs, and I noticed he left them like this! LOL! :)

 I know it's about Ben, but Julia looked cute just standing here drinking her bottle one handed! :)

 His very own cookie (that he shared with Julia!)

 He looks like Popeye here! 

 A little collage with his zebra (he's a giant now!), 

His very first cookie (that we ate for him), his first scone, and his first cookie (that he ate),

And pictures in front of stick boy - a few days old, one year, and two years! 

(If you click on the picture, you can see it a little bigger)

It's funny how everyone always commented on how small he was and now everyone says how big he is! 

Our next stop was the doctors office for his 2 year check up - no shots! Aside from some dry skin, he looks amazing! He weighed 31 lbs (83%) and was 37" (97%!!!!). After a great visit, we went to Sunni Sky's for some ice cream. I realized we did this last year too - so I guess we have another tradition to add to Birthday Day! :) Last year Eric was feeding him, and now he's sitting all by himself! 

We also made a trip to the grocery store, skyped with the grandparents, and just relaxed. On Thursday, we took him to Toys R Us to get him his very first train set! While daddy took a long time contemplating which sets to get, Ben and Julia had a blast playing with the train table set up in the aisle! When we got home, Ben and daddy played a little bit before bed! :) He is loving his train set so far & I am sure lots of daddy and Ben playtime is in our future! 

It was great to spend the day together and I hope this next year goes by a little more slowly! Just one more month and our baby girl will be one, and I will once again be in awe at how fast that happened! 

As a side note, we had a great time in Chicago ( a two week vacation) with two of the most amazing little travelers! Ben was wide awake and all smiles until 11:00 pm on the way there, even when we were parked on the highway for an hour and a half! I would love to blog about it and add the hundreds of pictures that were taken - but let's be honest - I have two little ones and I am going back to work on Monday. It's not going to happen! LOL! :)  If you are interested, there are lots of photos on facebook and I did make a photo book. Let me know if you are just DYING to see all the photos from our trip, and I can email you the electronic version! :) However, my sister-in-law Melissa got a few great shots of Ben during the party we had, so I will add those! :) Also, there are few cute pictures I snapped with Ben and his zebra and a few others I got on our trip! 

My 2 year old with his zebra

 Trying to get away!

Fun at the Splash Pad!

 Entranced by the candle! 

 Special ice cream cake Aunt Kaelin made...Bubble Guppies Style

(This made Eric happy because he wanted Ben to have a bubble guppies cake!)

 Another day at the Splash Pad...He was so excited

 Love this face...even if he was trying to get away because he didn't want to leave!

 One of the great shots Aunt Melissa got!

 So happy!

 I got this great one of Ben's puckered lips ready to blow the candles out! 

 Just relaxing on Father's Day! He climbed right up and got comfy! 

 I took this one at Lincoln Park Zoo...I got lucky that he went right over to the statue and stood long enough for me to snap this picture...and he kept his hat on all day! :)

To sum it up, in case you haven't noticed - We are totally and completely in love with this sweet little boy. He amazes us on a daily basis and we cannot possibly imagine our lives without him. What in the world did we do before he got here??? (Oh right, sleep, movies, restaurants! ;) 

Happy 2nd Birthday Benjamin!!!!