Happy 2nd Birthday Charlie!

Hurry Up with the Cake!!

Charlie wasn't too sure about that candle...

I told him he would have to blow it out, but he kept sniffing at it!

He mostly wanted the little car stuck on the top of the cupcake...

Earlier that morning he opened all the family presents...

The long awaited Octopod!

Sound the Octoalert!

Then we opened the Gup A!

Charlie had a really nice second Birthday.  It almost went as planned.  The night before he developed a really bad ear infection, something we haven't had since he had the tubes put in a year ago.  It is still going strong and we are headed to Children's next week to have it looked at by the ENT.  Poor little guy.  Since the tubes drain it though, he isn't in any pain, which is great. 
  On his birthday morning we got up and he opened his presents from the family.  He got lots of books, lots of Octonauts stuff and lots of dinosaurs.  He was in heaven.  William and Charlie played all morning with all the toys, which was great since we needed to get ready to party.  We had a lot of people this year, 14 kids and all the parents so it was hopping!  We bounced, played, ate and ran around till it was time to go home.  Everyone had a ball.  He got lots of great presents and we felt so fortunate to have so many people around us that care so much about our little boy.  We will miss so many good friends we have gotten to know here.   Since the big day we have just been dealing with a cold and continued ear fun.  We went to his well child exam today and he was:
36.3 inches tall
28 lbs 2oz. 
49.8cm (head)
which means that he is long and lean.  He eats well, but seems to be putting all those calories back out by running around like crazy all the time.  He was on track for everything, and has caught up on his lack of talking and then some.  He talks constantly now and has started more and more phrases.  He says "What happened?"  "Where he go?" etc.  He is great at understanding anything you say, and can follow directions when you tell him to do something.  He loves Cars, Dinos, and Thomas.  His favorite foods are asiago bagels, pesto pasta, hot dogs and chicken noodle soup, and yogurt.  He will eat just about anything though.  Especially if it's on your plate.  He is sleeping better these days, but is still waking up once every other night.  We need to work on getting rid of the binky, and eventually the bottle.  I am taking my patented "no rush" attitude towards it though.  He won't be a baby forever, and he won't go to college with it.  My sweet Charlie can stay little only so long, and I want to relish every single moment! Happy Birthday Charlie!  We love you!

Because It's Fun to Compare...

In my mind I thought that Charlie looked like Jason's side, but now that I pulled this out and actually am seeing it, I am shocked by how similar he looks to Jason's side!  This is actually Jason's older brother, because I don't have any pictures of Jason at 2 but Jeremy and Jason look very similar.  And apparently, so does Charlie!

Spring Blossoms...

We went to DC to see the blossoms but had to stop by the museum and see the bugs...

Then we cooled our heels at the fountain by the Art Gallery...

Charlie was soaked by the end...

There are so many trees in bloom. it is lovely and makes me sneeze all at the same time!

Charlie wasn't so thrilled by the idea of reaching up to touch.  "There, I touched it!  Now put me down!"

The boys have been outside for hours now that the weather is nice...

Today they found some violets!

My two crazy boys!

Trains, etc.

We went to the B and O museum again and rode on the first mile of track again...past all the scary stuff.

Will and I played around at the glasses store while getting his lenses replaced...

William has found his crafty gene...

We took the boys hiking on Teddy Roosevelt Island, and they had a great time climbing all around the monument...

Will wanted to know if a badger lived in this log.  I told him I hoped not. 

Sorry for the lack of order...

This train ride left much to be desired.  It was so slow and unexciting that it's the first time the kids didn't ask to do it again...

They have an dress up area at the museum.  Will was apparently a conductor/cook/Jet from West Side Story...

Easter and Critters...

We started off Easter weekend by going to the petting farm.  Will found lots of eggs in the Easter egg hunt and Charlie followed around the farm's cat and played in the corn bin.  Will got his face painted and was thrilled!  Will and I dyed eggs the day before, it just gets more fun every year!  Charlie added a new word to his vocabulary this year "Choc-ick!"  He loved his basket and all the goodies.  The boys both got books and Charlie got a stuffed cow, which is his current favorite animal.  William got Optimus Prime and lots of candy.  They both had a good Easter.  Grandma and I had to work so we missed out on church once again.  I am hopeful that next year will be different!

This past week, William decided to practice writing his name on his door in red crayon.  Thankfully, it was washable.  This escapade was followed by a lesson in graffitti removal....He tried to blame it on Charlie, which ended up getting him in more trouble than if we had simply caught him drawing on the door!  If you want to blame it on the other guy, don't sign your name!

William 5.0

William went in for his 5 year well child visit today.  He is doing great!  Right on track with all his milestones and he is actually growing despite rarely eating.  Here are the new stats:
Ht:  4 years 42.3inches  5 years 44.3inches (77th %)
Wt  4 years 39lbs 8oz  5 years 45lbs (77th%)
Apparently, he is a square. 

We discussed the Kindergarten situation with Dr Rahman and she also agreed that keeping him out of Public School for one more year is wise.  William has really improved with practice on his handwriting and he is enjoying his workbooks more all the time.  At 5 he loves Starwars, How to Train Your Dragon, and Dinosaurs.  He is still a very, very picky eater, living mostly on dairy products and cereal bars.  He loves being read to, and though he is catching on to reading, he tells us he doesn't want to learn because he likes us reading to him.  So sweet.  He and Charlie have the classic love/hate relationship that siblings have.  There are moments like in the picture above, where they are sweetly snuggling, and then there are moments where the very sight of the other infuriates them both.  He loves the outdoors, playgrounds, science experiments, cooking and his favorite thing by far is jumping.  Our bed will never be the same.  Nor will the couches.  We love you William.  You scare us to death with your death defying activities, but our life wouldn't be nearly as exciting without you!