Party Time!

Griffin was sick with adnovirus the whole weekend and the next couple of days leading up to his birthday. His birthday was the first day he was really feeling better. We let him open our presents as soon as he woke up. He had been wishing for quite some time to get the Thomas the Train roundhouse (or "station") for his birthday. He had been to If It's Paper with me the day before and even picked out some firetruck wrapping paper, telling me, "Momma, this is what I want my station to be wrapped in." Well, a little boy's wishes came true and he got the train station wrapped in firetruck paper. He got a few other little presents (and a booster seat for my car since he was now old enough and tall enough), but he was completely focused on getting the station out of the box and building a new train track with it.

We were supposed to have a family birthday dinner at Chuck E. Cheese on the night of his birthday, but we postponed it until the following night to make sure he would be fully recovered and ready to party. He definitely was! He had been asking for months to go to Chuck E. Cheese, and he got so excited when we pulled in the parking lot and he saw the sign. And the inside lived up to his expectations, too--he loved all of the rides and games! My favorite part of the night was when we were about to do cake and Griffin turned to Harper and said, "My momma made me a Lightning McQueen birthday cake!" The sweetest part was that he didn't know anyone other than Harper was listening--he was really just proud of his cake and his momma! It was a very fun and special night shared with Mimi & Papaw Al, Aunt Holly & Uncle Jason, Harper, Weezy, Mamere, Pop & Chaz, Bebe, and Aunt Lacy.

The celebrating continued with a party at the Knoxville Zoo on Saturday for Griffin and his little friends. The kids "fished" for animals, worked oversized animal puzzles, touched an alligator skin, a red panda skin, an elephant tusk, and a rhino horn, and even pet a rat (surprisingly, I did not find this completely disgusting since it was a clean white rat, not the kind of subway rat that comes to mind!). And, of course, there was more birthday cake!

After the party, the three of us, Jason and Harper, Mimi, and Weezy stayed at the zoo for a while longer. The giraffes are Griffin's very favorite so we had to make a stop there, and we checked out the penguins, butterflies, and elephants on the way to the giraffes. We also went for a carousel ride and Griffin took several trips down the slides at the Kids' Cove. We went through the gift shop on the way out, and Mimi and Weezy bought Griffin a special birthday stuffed giraffe. Griffin was wiped out by the end of the trip, and he was asleep with his giraffe before we even got out of the parking lot.

Three years old!

I can't believe my sweet boy is three! His birthday was Wednesday and we celebrated from then until Saturday. I will be sure to blog about the birthday parties (yes, plural)...but first I wanted to take a little time to capture some of Griffin's favorite things right now.

Common phrases:

• "I can do it all by myself!"
• "Watch my silly trick."
• "Do you want to see my silly face?"
• "I need to give you something--a big hug and a kiss!" (this one usually starts with "Momma" but occasionally is shared with others)
• "Why...?" (this is asked about everything!)

Favorite foods:

• peanut butter sandwiches
• applesauce
• pizza
• spaghetti
• ice cream (and most any kind of treat)

Favorite activities:

• Playing cars, trucks, and trains
• Baseball and basketball (we are beginning to add soccer to that list)
• Hopscotch
• Puzzles
• Reading books
• Watching TV (hate to put that in black and white, but it definitely ranks high on the list)

Favorite books:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Griffin has this book memorized almost verbatim and regularly "reads" it to me--so precious!)
• The Little Engine that Could
• Pat-a-Cake book of Nursery Rhymes
• Any book about Lightning McQueen

Just a few of my favorite things about Griffin right now:

• All of the hugs and kisses he gives me!
• How he brings me his "finds" and tells me, "Momma, I got you this rock/flower/leaf to make you feel better."
• How he stretches with me when I get back from a run or walk.
• That he has regained his patience for the stroller and will go on long walks with me. It's so cute how he gets so excited to see the squirrels, chipmunks, birds, bunnies, and everything else we encounter on our walks.
• When he tells me, "Momma, I will cooperate."

So grown up! Griffin is 38" tall and 37 pounds! He is proud of how big and strong he is getting. He asks us pretty frequently if we want to see his muscles. And many of his "silly tricks" look remarkably similar to yoga poses so I know he's building up those muscles!

Happy Birthday Harper!

Harper turned 3 on Friday and celebrated with a Princess bounce house party on Saturday. It was a rainy afternoon, but luckily the rain let up long enough for the kids to get to bounce for a little while. Griffin was ready to jump right in, but Harper wanted me to get in and hold her. (Since I was in the bounce house jumping, too, I didn't get any pics of the birthday girl jumping.)
For her princess party, I thought Harper needed a special princess cake so I made her this castle cake. Aunt Heidi sent Harper a big present from Los Angeles. It was a very neat princess castle, and even the boys were quite interested in it! We stuck around a little while after the other guests had left because Griffin wanted to play with Harper and her new toys, specifically the castle and the "blue princess" (he doesn't know any of their names, but he had no qualms about playing with a princess as long as she was wearing blue). Here's a rare photo of Griffin and Harper with Mimi and Papaw Al. It's not a perfect picture, but it's quite a feat to get two toddlers to sit still long enough to even get a picture!

Happy Easter!

This Easter was so much fun! On Saturday afternoon, Griffin and I dyed Easter eggs together. He got so excited every time we pulled an egg out of the cup and it had changed colors. We had to make a lot of blue eggs since that's his favorite color! The Easter Bunny brought Griffin a couple of new race cars, some new, bigger Lightning McQueen underwear (since he's now officially potty trained!), a Thomas bathtub toy, a Dora book, and some other little treats. Griffin really enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs this year. And since he knows all about candy now, he was also excited to see what kind of treats were hiding inside each of the eggs he found. Griffin and Harper were excited to see their special Easter treats from Mimi and Papaw Al. Finally! A little boy can get comfy (i.e. "barefoot") and blow some bubbles!

Merry Christmas!

We began our Christmas celebration the Sunday before Christmas with dinner and presents at Pop & Chaz's house. Griffin got his own digital camera and a Lightning McQueen TV/DVD player (or, as Griffin says, a "T-teev").
On Christmas Eve, we went to church with my family and then had dinner with Pop & Chaz, Bebe, Lacy & Max, and Richard, Karen, Meredith, & Alex. Griffin got lots of presents including a bunch of movies that he can watch on his Lightning McQueen TV, a Lightning McQueen suitcase, pillow, and blankie that he can take with him when he spends the night away, and a Lightning McQueen dinner set.
On Christmas morning, Griffin went downstairs to find his presents from Santa. He had a stocking full of fun stuff and some new Thomas trains and tracks. Weezy came over with more presents including remote-controlled Lightning McQueen and Mater, a magnetic fishing rod set, and a little pair of cowboy boots!

Mimi, Papaw Al, Aunt Holly, Uncle Jason, Harper, and Aunt Heidi came over for brunch a little while later. After brunch, we all went to Mimi and Papaw Al's house for even more presents. Griffin got more Lightning McQueen stuff, some Thomas books and stickers, cute clothes, and all sorts of fun little boy things!
It was about 2:30--well into Griffin's nap time--when we got home,but he just wouldn't stop and settle down. He just wanted to keep playing with all of his new things. Since he wouldn't take a nap, we made our last stop of the day at Mamere and Grandad's late that afternoon. We didn't make it over there with the camera so, unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Griffin with his great-grandparents.

When we got back home, Griffin opened his presents from us. He was most excited about the box full of Thomas track and trains. With all of the festivities and unwrapping behind us, he finally got to just enjoy being home and playing with all of his fun new toys.

Visiting Santa

We made a couple of visits to see Santa this year. We were invited to a Cookies with Santa party on December 14th at Ms. Sherri's house. I wasn't sure how Griffin would react to Santa this year. We had been warned last year that a lot of toddlers don't do well. Last year, he didn't cry but he was very hesistant about sitting on Santa's lap. At the party this year, he walked right up to Santa and then turned his back to him so that Santa could lift him up on his lap. When Santa asked him how old he was, he said "two," then he paused for a second and added, "two and a half." When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas he said Lightning McQueen and Thomas.
Ms. Sherri had lots of toys set out for the kids to play with and even had a bounce house outside. And of course there were cookies since it was a Cookies with Santa party. It was such a cute, fun event for the kids!

On December 18th, we went to the same little portrait studio that we have used the last couple of years to get more pictures with Santa. Once again, Griffin went right up to Santa and let him lift him onto his lap. And when asked what he wanted for Christmas, Griffin's responses were the same (good thing!).

What a big boy!

Griffin turned 2 1/2 on December 9th. It's amazing how much he has changed in the last 6 months, and he's so proud to be doing so much all by himself these days.

The night before Thanksgiving, we converted Griffin's crib into a "big boy bed." It's really like a little daybed, and he was very excited about being able to get in and out of his bed all by himself. Of course, he got out a lot of times when he didn't mean to. In the first few days, between 3 nights and 2 naps he only managed to stay out of the floor one time. The good news is that rolling out of his bed and onto the pallette (and sometimes even off the pallette and onto the rug or hardwood floor) didn't seem to really interrupt his sleep! And he very rarely rolls out of bed these days, but that is at least partly due to the fact that I have made a barrier with a rolled up sheet and stuffed animals along the length of the bed.

We're also making a lot of progress with potty training. We've been letting Griffin take the lead so far, but we're trying to get more serious about it now (although he's still ahead of my expectations since I'd always heard that boys are harder to train). He wears Lightning McQueen Pull-ups to school every day. We have bought Lightning McQueen, Mickey Mouse, and some other underwear, but we aren't quite ready for that yet. Here he is showing off his "big boy pull-up."

Here he is a couple of months ago modeling his "big boy underwear" over his diaper!

And yes, he's a huge Lightning McQueen and Cars fan! Anytime we talk about him growing up, he asks, "I'm growing up? I'll be bigger than Lightning McQueen?" And he really is growing up--he's about 35.5 inches tall now.