2yr Doctor's Visit

Little Ted had his 2 yr old check up about a month ago.  He is about 34 inches tall and weighs 27 lbs.  That puts him at about the 40th percentile for height and in the upper 40s for weight.  I'm not sure how many inches his head is around, but he's still around the 95th percentile in head size.  In other words, he still has his mommy's big head.

Baby Crazy

After we left Corpus Christi, Little Ted went into "baby" withdrawal.  By "baby," I mean his cousin, Matthew.  ("Baby" is Little Ted's name for all kids.)  While cousin Matthew was around, Ted was his shadow and wanted to do everything his cousin did.

Feeling sorry for Little Ted, I thought I could cheer him up by showing him some baby videos on YouTube.  That was a mistake - now he is obsessed with watching baby videos.  His favorite is below - the trailer for the Babies movie.

Beach Trip

While we were in Corpus Christi, we took Little Ted for his first visit to the beach.  When we got there, he dragged me to the shore and wanted to go farther into the water than I was willing to take him (no fear, this one).  He also loved the sea gulls and wanted to chase them down.  Unfortunately, mommy wasn't quite well enough to be up for that.  So he spent most of the time getting sand all over himself.  Poor thing - he even had sand on his eyelashes.  But I guess that's part of the adventure of going to the beach.  :-)

Little Ted's 2nd Birthday

Little Ted turned two on July 15th, exactly one week after my surgery.  We had a small celebration at home, and we saved the "official" party for our Corpus Christi visit the following week so we could celebrate with family.

My mother-in-law put together a very nice party, and lots of family was able to come.  We had good food, cake, and a pinata - what more could you ask for?

Below are some of my favorite pics:

 The Birthday Boy (with his cake hat) and daddy

 All smiles after hitting the pinata

 Cake time!

 Eating cake with Grandma

And this is the best of them all - Four generations of Teds!

You can see the rest of the party pictures in the slideshow below:

Grr!

Little Ted doing one of his favorite things - growling.  In fact, he has it down to an art form.  He's also very good at snarling.

From July 2011

My favorite part - he even entertains himself with his growling.

Oldie but Goodie

This video is from March, and it shows Little Ted enjoying one of his favorite pastimes, playing in the dirt.  Of course, we don't have actual dirt in our "backyard," so the potting soil from the planters is his substitute.  What can I say; all little boys love dirt.

From Videos

Cousins

As some of you know, I had surgery about a month ago to have my gallbladder removed.  My mother-in-law came out to help take care of Little Ted (thank you!), which meant that he had a playmate to enjoy, his cousin Matthew.  The two had a good time, as you can see from these pictures.

OK, so I think Ted actually had a better time than Matthew, but Matthew was a good cousin and patiently put up with his baby cousin's constant desire to follow him and do all the same activities.

As for me, I'm all recovered now.  We are all happy life is back to normal - 4 weeks is far too long to be out of commission.

On his birthday . . .

Little Ted enjoyed a Popsicle (his new favorite treat)

And opened presents

And ate cake

All in all, it was a happy (and sugary!) day.  More on the "official" birthday celebration soon.

Aloha

About two month's ago, Little Ted got to wear his Hawaiian outfit (a gift from Aunt Carol) to a Hawaiian themed rehearsal dinner for our friends, Bryan and Amy.  After we arrived, he quickly stole the show.  A slideshow was playing in the background, complete with hip-shaking music, and Little Ted went to town.  He was so busy dancing that he didn't have time to stop to take pictures, something he typically enjoys doing.  As a result, the pictures I took of him aren't that great, but you can see how cute he looked that day.

Birthday Idea

Little Ted's birthday is just over a week away.  If any of you wanted to get him a gift but weren't sure what he would like and/or need, let me make a suggestion: our little house is practically bursting with his toys, and he's got a good supply of clothes to last him until the end of the year.  In other words, he has plenty of stuff.  Another option would be to contribute to the IRA we have set up for him to help him out when he comes of age.  If you'd like to contribute, simply send a check our way, and we'll make sure that it gets to where it needs to go.

Of course, if you've already gotten him a gift of the toy/clothing/book variety, he will certainly enjoy that, too.  Like all little children, he loves presents.

Stuck

Little Ted has recently gotten into the habit of dumping over his toy box in order to locate the one or two items that he wants to play with.  Since he hasn't quite mastered the art of picking up his toys yet, you can imagine that these dumping sessions keep mom pretty busy.  Maybe that's why this mommy chose to ignore her son's screeches for help and instead went for the camera.  You see, during one of these dumping sessions, Little Ted managed to get himself stuck in the toy box.  He got my attention, and I just couldn't resist catching the moment on film.  Part of what made it so funny was that he didn't appear as concerned as he sounded; his "resting spot" gave him a good view of the TV, and he called for help as he enjoyed his cartoons.