Oma came to the rescue. She had some cute balloon decorations we put in his muffin, and then followed it up with candles.
He was thrilled with the balloons and candles. I think he face is totally priceless after he blew the candles out. So cute!
That afternoon while Pierscen was napping, Kara came over and helped me tackle the cupcakes for P's party. He absolutely loves Elmo and Cookie Monster. My friend in Casper said she made these for her son and he loved them. They seemed like a good idea for us too! Yes, I know we probably could have ordered something Elmo themed from Walmart, or any bakery, but these were a lot of fun to make (even though our hands totally killed by the end from the piping.)
This was the first time I have ever done any decorating - let alone piping. All it required was a grass tip, red coloring gel (the regular stuff won't turn it red enough), big marshmallows, orange candy for nose, oreos, and brown candy for eyes.
I was super grateful for Kara's help. It took the two of us a couple of hours to get them done. Time intense, absolutely. But they turned out way cute. And when Pierscen woke up from his nap, I brought him down and asked him who was on his cupcake. He responded sleepily, but excitedly, "Elmo!!" Test passed. :)
Thus far, Pierscen's birthday has really just served as a great excuse for the whole family to get together. I invited a few people that I haven't seen since I moved to Wyoming - but I didn't really stop to think how many people would be there from just family alone. If I counted everyone that stopped by, babies included, there were 50+ people. Hahaha. It was insane, but awesome. We did a potluck soup night, so food was easy. It was great to get to visit with so many.
Pierscen was pretty excited about his Elmo cupcake. Despite the frosting being so red, he didn't get nearly as messy as his one year birthday cake.
P got some great gifts - books, bubbles, clothes, fruit snacks, and toys.
P had a really great birthday. He has been hilarious ever since. He loves singing the birthday song and now he refers to all muffins as "Birthday muffins." I have found him on many different occasions stacking up items so that they look like a candle on a cake. He will carry it carefully over to me, or whoever he is playing with, and sing happy birthday. I love it.
Some fun things about our two year old...
He loves to count. This video is a few months old. He is a counting champion now. He can usually get to 13, then "mutter, mutter, mutter, TWENTY!" Haha. He has clearly counted to 20 at least once.
He is getting really good at his ABC's too. He knows most of his letters without hesitation. I think those bathtub foam letters/numbers we got him for Christmas have really helped. Now when he climbs into the tub, he picks them up one by one, tells me what they are and tossing them aside.
As a side note, something funny he has picked up lately is, "Oh fancy!" I put on my green Aeropostale hoodie from the Christmas post the other day and Pierscen saw the glittery "NY" in the middle and said, "Oh fancy!" I almost died. He then proceeded to read me each letter and number on the front. It's pretty cool.
He loves to call out the aisle numbers while we are shopping and point out any letters he recognizes. We were standing in line a few days ago and he was looking at one of the signs and yelled, "X!" I wasn't sure what he was talking about until I noticed the "Express" lane. Sure enough, there was an "x".
Every time Pierscen is in the tub or we are coloring, we spell his name out loud as we write it down (or with the foam letters.) Apparently this has paid off. Not a bad thing considering we kind of cursed him for life with a weird spelling and he will be correcting people until he's 100. Might as well start young. :)
Pierscen loves to pray and has taken to praying all on his own. Granted, we usually have to step in to provide some ideas of what to pray about, but for the most part - it's all him. His first few prayers on his own went something like this,
"Heavenly Father, thank you... thank you Father. Father, thank you. Thank you... Father, Father thank you..."
Hey, at least he's a grateful child. Haha! Now he tends to look around the room for ideas. "Thank you shoes... clock... grizzly..." and so on. The two things he is almost guaranteed to mention every prayer is swimming (which we have just recently started doing again on Thursdays) and Logan, one of his BFFs. It's pretty adorable.
P is also really good with his shapes and his colors. Not long ago he pulled out our SAMs Club card and was looking at it and kept repeated, "Diamond," over and over again. I looked at the card and realized that the logo really is a diamond. I credit a Baby Einstein's book for that one. At least I think that's what it is. He was also looking at a cutout of a Christmas tree I had and said, "Christmas Tree. Triangle." That's totally fair!
He talks a lot. A lot, a lot. It's amazing and wonderful.
He is also very sensitive to the emotions of others. A few weeks ago, a lady was talking in church and began to cry. Pierscen looked at her, his face scrunching in concern. He turned to me and said, "She sad." Then yesterday, as we were picking Ryan up from work, P burst into tears because he dropped his water bottle. In the middle of his cry he mourned, "I saaad!" Yes, son. Yes, you are. ;)
Lest I paint him as a total saint, he is most definitely exhibiting the wonderful two year old behavior. "Mine!" "Stop it!" and "Don't!" are often yelled or muttered when others are around. Yesterday at the indoor play place at the mall he stuck his foot out and barred a little girl from climbing up on the bridge. She burst into tears. I made him apologize. Little stinker. Most of the time he is really great with other kids. He loves to make new friends and often yells out as we leave places, "Bye friends!!!" But yes, he is a normal little boy that loves to get reactions, even if they aren't the best ones. He does not love to share all the time and he can be totally defiant when he wants to. He has spent his fair share of time in time out, and even put himself there a few times (for no apparent reason whatsoever.)
As for the stats... (since that's what I put off this post for in the first place)
Since he is now 2, he was weighed on the "big boy scale" standing up, as well as measured. It's a much more accurate way for measuring height.
Weight: 24 lbs 2 oz - 7th percentile
Height: 31.5 in - 2nd percentile
Head: 48.5 cm - 42nd percentile
Tiny child. I was a bit nervous to hear what the doctor was going to say about his height. I mean, let's be honest, kids grow at different rates and ages. Although he is short, I'm not all that worried about it. The conversation went the same as it has every other time we've been in.
"Hmm... he's kind of on the short side. We made need to keep an eye on that."
Seriously, almost word for word the same thing. So I finally asked,
"So at what point do we do something? You mentioned last time that there are tests we could do. When we do actually worry?"
He told me that we could actually test for it (growth hormone levels) at any time now that's he's 2. Technically there isn't a huge rush or anything, but at the same time, if there is something off, then they can start treatment sooner, which means more growth. I asked Ryan if he wanted to test now or in a year or two. He opted for now. Might as well, right? So the doctor gave me the order and sent me downstairs.
I just have to add that P was a total stud at the doctors. The last time we went he developed an intense fear of the thermometer (the one that scans the head). This time he had zero issues. He was an angel for the whole thing.
So I took him downstairs to the lab where I found out that for the 4 labs they would be running (2 hormone and 2 thyroid) they would bill by insurance $648. Whatever they didn't cover would be billed to my credit card. Let's be honest - it's a new year, no deductible met, and it's a high one at that. I'll be paying for this. I about threw up. It's no wonder we have issues in our health care system when each facility can charge whatever the freak they want.
Pierscen was very brave for the blood draw. He did cry, but as soon as I told him he would get a bandaid when they were done, he stopped crying and started laughing with excitement. Hurray for small things like bandaids.
They told me I would have the results in about a week. I left the lab feeling angry, sick, and regretful. $648? Really? Especially when my gut feeling was that Pierscen is just fine. He'll catch up later. Ryan was a lot more level headed than I was. He was still happy that I opted to have it done because at least we would know.
My doctor called me a couple days ago to let me know that all his levels are normal.
Yup.
Okay. Well - at least we know.
So there we have it. Pierscen may be short, but he makes up for it in every other way. He is energetic, loving, friendly, and smart. He makes friends super quick, loves to learn, and will try just about anything. He spends good portions of the day jumping around the house like a frog and asking Ryan or I to "get me!" He loves to be chased, cornered, and tickled. And he never runs out of energy. He loves to sing and be sung to. And he loves, loves, LOVES church. This last week was the first time I actually got him to take a nap before our 1 o'clock church. It was a short nap, a little less than an hour, and when he woke up, he was bawling, "CHURCH!" I'm sure he thought he had slept through it and was completely devastated. Hahaha.
We love our little critter more than anything in the world. We are so lucky to have him.
