Bates Family est. 2008: Jack's Golden Birthday!

"Happy Birthday to MY birthday!!" He sang this to himself all day. When I asked him how old he was he kept saying either 1 or 3 laughing and teasing me, not willing to ever say 2...he still won't. Little stinker. He's been such a sweet boy these last two years and has been my little snuggle bug. The past couple weeks I've seen a little more naughty come through. Purposely teasing Sawyer and being defiant to directions from mom or papa. It's funny he used to call us "mapa" when both of us were around, and now he's resorted to using that only for papa.

Jack 2-year-old Stats

Height: 35 1/4"

Weight: 29 lbs.

Head Circ: 49 cm

I tried to do a little birthday interview with him and was semi-successful. I think the 'real' interviews will have to start when they turn 3 and up. Here's what I got from him this year though:

How old are you? '1' (I said no, you're 2!) Then he replied '3!'

What is your name? ME! (I said, Jack?) and he nodded yes.

Where do you live? Florida

When is your birthday? Today

What do you want to be when you grow up? 'My water, my grow up.'

Who is in your family? 'Jesus, me, you'

What do you like to eat? Cereal

Favorite

Color: Green

Toy: Train

Song: Twinkle Star

Animal: Bear

Book: Train

What does papa do for work? 'Work helicopter!'

What does mom do for work? 'Helicopters!'

Lots of other questions asked, but turns out interviews bore 2-year-olds.

Jack has never really liked cake, so this year I made him an ice cream cake. It went over well, obviously the train candles did too :)

Family!

Birthday activities included leaping onto the lovesac. There goes Jack! He's a daredevil like his older brother.

We had a pleasant day and I think Jack enjoyed himself. It just so happened that our friends from Cedar were driving through on Jack's birthday so we got to celebrate with Jake and Dax too!

I also wanted to record a few things that my handsome 2-year-old is up to these days...

He LOVES dogs. He has the cutest little giggle/laugh thing he does when he gets a food/treat he especially loves, like ice cream. I need to catch it on camera. He's a sly child. He's patient and persistent. He's content for the most part. This kid LOVES to get read to and to look through books on his own. No adult will be left alone if they are sitting down. Jack will be there with a book saying 'Read it please?'

Look who unloaded the bookshelf...again. We've (kind of) convinced him to get one at a time now.

Probably one of his favorite presents - a shovel!

He still loves my hair. It's semi-torturous for me because he's always grabbing it and pulling on it. He also is sucking on that bottom lip still. He's a light sleeper like me (unfortunately). If you turn on a light or make a peep it will usually wake him up. Plus he doesn't transfer well from his car seat. And he's been able to climb out of his crib and playpen since he was 17 months so it's been a test of patience (still is) to get him to stay in bed. He'll come in to our bedroom at least a couple times throughout the night and want to get in bed with us. Since that means him pulling my hair and kicking George in the face, just this week we decided we wouldn't let him in our bed until 7 a.m. So when he comes in our room in the middle of the night we tell him he needs to go back to his bed. He actually does. It's so nice.

A family shot, obviously Jack was cooperating.

This is what happens when you take too long to start reading a book. Somehow he got both legs and a book into one of my hair ties. Impressive, haha!

Testing out the giant sand feet at the zoo.

I started this post the beginning of April. I'm happy to report he now transfers well when sleeping! It's so nice because it seems like he frequently falls asleep in his car seat. He just graduated swimming again this year. He took a refresher course and is confident in the water doing the swim-float-swim sequence. It's so fun to watch him!

He does the cutest copycat. Whenever I say 'That's what I'm talking about!' He repeats it, perfect accent and all.

He decided he wants to use the potty this week too! I wasn't really ready, but unofficially started up and his first day he got the important one in the pot!

He loves his older brother and for the most part they get along well. If Sawyer is sleeping, Jack has a hard time leaving him alone for too long because he wants to play with him.

Passed out, barely hanging on to the couch.

Hanging out in the tree. He's a climber.

I hadn't even put them in their swim gear because it was a cool day and I didn't think they'd get in the water...wrong! They had so much fun playing with each other.