James is TWO!

My baby boy is TWO. I still cannot believe it. This is the day he was born and one of the first pictures of me with him. It is pretty obvious that I was immediately in love.

And this is on the morning of his 2nd birthday. Still in love!

Here is the first picture I took of him on the morning he turned 2.  He is such a sweetheart and was bringing me the flowers that he made at school for Mother's Day.

So to you, James, in honor of you turning two, I wanted to tell you all about yourself.

People hesitate to call little boys beautiful, but you are beautiful. Gorgeous dark hair (that is starting to grow back out), beautiful dark brown, if not black, eyes. A smile that lights up a room. Your mommy thinks you are just perfect, inside and out.

You have the sweetest, most loving personality. You give THE best hugs and kisses. You always love to hug and kiss everyone before you go to bed at night. And now before anyone leaves the house or before you leave somewhere else, you say "I want hug, I want kiss" and have to get some loving from everyone. It pretty much has the same melt your heart reaction from everyone.

You love your sisters. You love to chase them around and do a great job of keeping up with them and even running the show from time to time. You love to do whatever they are doing ... playing games, watching shows sitting right beside them on the couch, playing dress up, talking about princesses, etc. And yes, I have been known to snap a photo or two (or 20) of you wearing their princess dresses, jewelry or swimsuits. That's ok because you are all boy too. You are the best 2 year old scooter rider I've ever seen. You can dribble and throw a ball (with your left hand!) with remarkable accuracy. You love to play soccer, run around outside and get sweaty. And you love playing with cars and trains. So you are just a very well rounded little boy.

Your favorite shows to watch are Team Umizoomi and Bubble Guppies. Your favorite characters are Elmo, Cookie Monster and Mickey Mouse. (And I love how you say "Mel-mo," "Cookie Monker" and "Mi-ey Moush.") Your favorite stuffed animals are your "doggy" that is pretty much in your hands or by your side all day and your Curious George that you like to sleep right beside you at night. You love all your other stuffed animals too though, and I just last night I stood at the door and heard you kissing them all goodnight. Your favorite books are the Curious George Goodnight Book and Guess How Much I Love You. When it says "I love you all the way up to the moon and back." you LOVE to point at the picture of the moon and call it a banana and then giggle hysterically as I tickle you and say "silly boy, that's not a banana, that's a moon." You did that one time and thought it was SO funny that it has now become our nightly routine. Sometimes you just turn straight to that page to say it is a banana because you love for me to say that and tickle you.  Speaking of, your most ticklish spots are your shoulders and armpits as I've discovered. You have the best belly laugh/squeal I have ever heard!! I want to record it and listen to it over and over.

You love to sing songs. Another one of our special times is when we rock and sing songs. Your favorites are Twinkle Twinkle and You are My Sunshine, and you sing every bit of those along with me. And you love to dance too ... both by yourself and with me holding you and spinning your around. "I dance, I dance, I dance" means you want me to dance with you. I love nothing more than to sling you up on my hip, grab your hands and bounce and spin around while you grin and laugh your head off. Such a happy little boy! And quite a little monkey too. You have learned how to flip upside down and want everyone to watch you do so. And after learning how to jump off the diving board at the pool, you now want to jump off everything ... beds, couch, ottoman, chairs, stairs, etc. We are working on NOT doing that and knocking on wood that we have had no injuries yet!

Your #1 favorite food might be tomatoes. You will eat them until I make you stop. You also love blueberries and watermelon. And every morning, you want a cereal bar for breakfast. You don't get one every morning, but it is definitely your favorite breakfast food. You also love mac & cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and lots of other things. You have become a bit of a pickier eater lately, but so did your sisters at this age. You have been known to say something is "ucky" if you don't want to eat it. I think part of the problem is you are so active that you just don't want to sit still in your chair long enough to eat. But if you see anyone else eating something that looks good, especially ice cream, you drop everything to run over and beg for a bite!

Your favorite color is blue, and from when you could barely say the word, you would point out everything blue that you saw and get so excited. You pretty much know all your colors and love to identify everything you see. You have an amazing vocabulary for a 2 year old, but I'm sure having two older sisters (and a mom) who talk all the time has contributed to that. My favorite words to hear you say are balloon ("bawoooooon") and blanket ("banklet"). I love hearing you say "Nad-line," "Ann-bel" (it just changed from "ba-bell" recently) and "El-wi-ot." You wake up in the morning asking for your siblings and can't wait to get downstairs to see them.

You are THE best sleeper ... the easiest kid ever to put down for a nap or at night. All you need is your doggie, paci, a hug and kiss, and down you go without a peep. I can count on you to nap from 12:30 until 2:30-3:00 or sometimes longer. And you go down around 7:45 at night, sleep through the night every night, and usually wake up around 7:00 in the morning, although you have been known to sleep until 7:45 or later when I have to wake you up for school. I thank God and you every day for how easy you are and how well you sleep.

I love when you say "I sit you," which means you want to sit by me and snuggle.  And you have even started saying "I want snuggle."  I can never say no to that. And at night, you say "I rock you" and want us to rock in your chair for a few minutes before bed. Of course!! And it always cracks me up when you say (usually repeatedly) "where daddy go?" or "where madeline/annabel go?" You have to know where everyone is at all times. And you always say your sisters' names like it is one long name. I guess that's because they are always together so you assume they are a team.

You recently started going to Montessori School and are loving the "Byrd House." But you also love your days home on the weekends with all of us or during the week with Miss Lindsey. And while you recently showed some new 2 year old attitude and ability to scream, throw a fit and say "NO!", are are really just so happy and easy (most of the time) and love everyone. You get so excited when you see your grandmommy or granddaddy and even know when we turn on the road going toward their house. And you light up when you get to see your Jaboo, too. And all your relatives. You are full of hugs and kisses for everyone, and really have always been that way. You are such a little sweetheart.

So that is all about you when you turned 2 years old. It seems like you have new words or tricks every day. You are so funny and smart. I cannot wait to watch you grow and learn this year.

For your birthday breakfast, I let you pick anything you wanted to eat.  Here is what you picked ... a cereal bar and banana of course ... your favorite breakfast food!

Here is you in pictures ...

You are a lover boy.

You are a daredevil and love to live on the edge.

You are the best big brother.

You are the best little brother, too.

You love to watch tv. 

You love cupcakes ... and anything sweet.

You love to play ball.

You always like to look cool.

You love Elmo.

You are an outside boy in all kinds of weather.

You are not afraid of a little pink.

You love your little stuffed friends and loveys.

And your big stuffed friends.

You love to stack things and are very good at it.

You enjoy chilling out and relaxing.

And have I mentioned that you love to jump?  On or off everything!

You love to play, laugh and have fun.

And those eyes ...

And that hair ...

Those are some of my favorite pictures from the last few months.  Yes, my dear James, you are a very special little boy.  Your mommy loves you more than you will ever know!  

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