Where does all the time go?

I can't believe that my baby boy is 2. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were celebrating Nicholas' first birthday. He has grown and changed so much over the past year. He no longer looks like a baby, he is a little boy. It has been hard for me to see him growing up. He is my baby and always will be.

The past couple months he has started speaking so much. He is learning new words all the time. The girls love to teach him new ones. It is like living with a little parrot. It is fun to listen to him and sometimes he surprises me when I ask him a question and he answers me. Even with his plug in his mouth, he still talks. I am dreading the day we have to get rid of the plug.

Nicholas is quite mischievous. He is into everything he isn't supposed to and usually laughing. As soon as you spot him, he takes off running and laughing so hard. The next time you turn around is he right back in it.

He loves cars right now, especially the movie "CARS". He got a garage for his first birthday and you will frequently find him in their with his cars running them down the ramp. It keeps him very occupied. He got a few new cars for his birthday from mommy and daddy and Madelene.

He loves playing with balls. He has quite the powerful throw. He mostly throws left handed but does an occasional right handed one. He got a basketball hoop for his birthday and loves it. He ran right up and dunked the ball.

Nicholas is very in touch with his feminine side. Because he loves his sisters so much and he wants to emulate them, we frequently see him putting headbands in his hair, carrying around the singing barbie and singing along, feeding baby dolls or taking them on stroller rides. The girls reaction to all of this is that he will be the best daddy some day. Victoria wanted to get him his own doll for his birthday but settled for some dinosaurs and a horse.

Not sure if this shows his mischievousness or love of my lipstick but I laugh every time I see this picture

Nicholas loves to work out in the yard with his daddy. Nathaniel lets him pull the cords to make them start and Nicholas is in heaven. He got his own lawn mower from Kara and he loves it. Victoria tries to take it for a spin around the house too and Nicholas just yells "mine" as he runs after her. He definitely understands that these new gifts belong to him and no one else.

One of the biggest challenges we have with Nicholas is getting into the craft closet and getting into the markers and spreading it all over and then coloring on the walls. Grammy and poppy got him his very own smock, book and paints that are just for a toddler. He loved them today. This will provide lots of fun for him.

Nicholas loves reading. Loves it! He would have you read non stop to him all day. He gets to pick out his stories before nap and bedtime and he will pull a book out, look at it, if he wants it he will put it on the night stand, if he doesn't it gets pushed back in and he keeps looking. He rotates favorite books and this weeks is the belly button book. He loves being tickled on his belly button all through out the book. Nana and papa got him a cool wizard book that has lots of neat pictures in it.

Nicholas had a fabulous birthday. He had one of his favorite dinners, grilled chicken. This boy can eat a lot of chicken. He is a meat and potatoes kind of kid. Vegetables are a challenge for him but he surprised me by actually eating some steamed carrots. He really doesn't like fruit either. That one is strange to me.

Nicholas loved opening the presents. He got right in and started ripping the paper off. Victoria was helping too. He really enjoyed seeing all his new things and got excited over every one. Thank you for the fun presents!

For his cake Nathaniel and I made a car cake. My mom is usually my cake maker but this time it was all us. I bought what was supposed to be black coloring but when I went to open it Sunday afternoon it was green. I really hate when people put things in the wrong spot. Being that it was Sunday I couldn't just run to the store so Nathaniel got busy mixing lots of colors together and somehow ended up with a pretty darn good black. After lots and lots of mixing we got the blue thick enough to do little stars all over the car. It turned out so cute. He was so excited when he saw it. He even blew the candle out all by himself. We then had some yummy homemade strawberry ice cream.

Nicholas had such a fun birthday and has enjoyed all of his new treasures today. Not sure if one is favored over the others but he definitely loves them all. I can't wait to see what the next 12 months will bring with him.

***Please ignore the seriously dirty shirt in the photos. We had linger longer (pot luck lunch) after church today and of course forgot the bib. ***