Monday, August 27, 2012

PK is TWO!

This month we celebrated PK's 2nd birthday! We had a small party with family, and had a party with several of PK's favorite things. I can't believe he's two already! Whoa. Let's see if we survive until his third birthday... I'm already questioning that :)

Here are some pictures from his party:
Showing off his birthday shirt- which I appliqued. 
Surprisingly easy! 

Our present to PK!

Which he loved <3 p="p">
His birthday cupcakes. 

Which he loved <3 p="p">
A few days later and he still is playing with his train- success! 

New birthday jammies!

Heading to the pool- he LOVES towers! 
{That's how he says towels)

Trying to help :) 

Now some pictures from a failed attempt at getting any decent pictures of him... it will have to suffice for now :) 





Okay, that last one I like :) 

More about PK and his life: 
He talks! So well! I am so surprised... okay, not. Being home with me all day, he's just trying to get a word in with me :) He says sooo many words! I wanted to right them all down, but there's just too many.  He's very talkative!
He reads the scriptures. Most nights he'll read a scripture for us (where we'll let him repeat all the words). He'll even say Resurrection- it sounds pretty similar actually. 
He prays! He'll repeat all the words we say, and will add in his own people/things to bless. 

Some of his favorites: 
  1. swimming
  2. coloring
  3. reading books/magazines
  4. sweeping
  5. cereal, pizza, peaches
  6. going for walks/getting the mail
  7. trucks, cars,bikes, planes, trains
  8. the refrigerator
  9. the color orange {oh-winge}
  10. Choo Choo show {thomas}
---We've started letting him watch TV- up until now he hasn't cared about it, and I wanted to wait until he was 2 to introduce him to the TV. I've heard so many different reports about TV being harmful for children before 2- which I don't know if it's true or not- but I knew he would watch TV for the rest of his life, so I hoped to hold off on it as long as possible.
I'm pretty much done with morning sickness- but mornings that I wasn't feeling well- he was allowed to watch 15 minutes of TV. Now that we're back to normal, he's still allowed 15 minutes of a show, but only after his nap- so usually around 4PM, and only if the day has gone well. Then, he's allowed to watch TV with Daddy on Saturday mornings while I sleep :) 

---Other things... he plays well by himself now. After some concerted effort on my part, he'll now play in his room by himself. It took awhile for him to stay in there after I left, but now he's fine. He'll also play in  our fenced in backyard by himself- which he does while I'm getting dinner ready. 

---He loves music and we're excited to get him enrolled in Kindermusik! I'm not exactly sure what we'll be doing, but I wanted to get him exposed to music early on. 

---He and I are starting "learning time". I don't really know what to call it. It's just time set aside every morning where we go to the kitchen table and learn. We've starting with colors, letters, and numbers. I'm trying to remember that he is only 2... most of my education focussed on older elementary... so I'm having to reign myself in :) Either way it's been A LOT of fun, and I have been really surprised with how well he does. It's teaching him to sit still and focus, which is paying off in a lot of ways. 

---Which leads me to the next thing... sacrament meeting.
Our goals for sacrament are this: Have him be reverent so that he can feel the spirit {and so we can too!} and so he's not distracting others. Sounds nice, right? haha
Every family home evening for the past few months we've been practicing being reverent and whispering. He's definitely learning- but we have a long way to go. On Sunday, he only had to be taken out one for screaming one time (we're used to like 8 so this was awesome!), and he was reverent for the 20 minutes are so until the sacrament was done being blessed and passed- this was a new record! Usually we're fighting with him after 5 minutes. It will be a long time before I can be fully at ease during sacrament- maybe when all my kids are grown- but for now, baby steps. 

PK has brought us so much happiness. He has the personality of about 5 kids, and the energy of about 10. I love getting to be his momma- he has taught me so much about myself, about who I am and about who I want to be. We're so proud of you, PK. You're gonna be a great big brother :)

Happy Monday!

6 comments:

Alysa Stewart said...

What a cutie! And I love that last photo, too.

Katelyn said...

I tell you what, sacrament meeting had gotten MUCH easier for us as the kids have gotten older (and they're only a few months older than PK). They don't scream or talk very loudly and we can sometimes even manage to have them still sitting on the pews by the end of passing the water around. It does get better, and not that far from now! And good for you for waiting TWO years without the TV. I'm impressed. My kids are watching whole movies now, something they couldn't do at their second birthday.

Alveybunch said...

Happy Birthday Parker! Looks like you guys are having fun in Illinois! Hope you are all doing well.

Dalynne Denhof said...

Happy Happy Birthday Parker Boy! Looks like his birthday was special and super fun! Great job on the train, what a fantastic idea for a 2 yr old boy! :) wish we could have been there too, but please give him lots of hugs and kisses from us and tell him we love him!!!

Hartsheart2heart said...

LOVE this Aubs!!!!! What an awesome parent you are.. and Jeb too!!! So cool that you guys made him his train!!! And LOVED his shirt!!! Aubs, this is going to sound corny, but those are the kinds of things that David & I did for our kids. We would get big boxes & make things for them. The coolest was a refrig or stove box & we made a playhouse for the boys & their cousins. The kids played with that playhouse all summer!!! It was awesome!! I love the innocence of PK's age!!! They are so sweet!! And the reverence & prayers & manners... all of that will come sweetie. And I know that you are nervous & can't relax during sacrament... but try!!! Most everyone in church has or has had little ones. We remember what it was like!!! I have seen these quiet books on Pinterest. Maybe I will have to pin one & tag you in it. I think I have one under my craft folder. Anyway, that might help. When our boys were little, we took a little tote of things that were ONLY for church. This made the bag special. We had some snacks in there & color crayons & paper & a stuffed animal & maybe a car or two... and we would sit in the pew & the boys would sit on the floor and play quietly. If I was by myself, then I would sit in the last row of the pews, cuz the boys were more behaved when dad was with us. LOL.... can't imagine thatk, right??!! Anyway, RELAX and try to enjoy yourself & all of your time with your lil' ones. They don't stay little long enough. I love you sweets & I miss you too!!! Thank you for sharing your life with us. <3

Hartsheart2heart said...

Oh, and I like pictures 2 & 4. They are all good, but those are my fav's. :)