Fe fi fo fum

It's official. I no longer have any babies, just 2 kids. Thursday marked Nathanael's graduation from Babydom and the second anniversary of his birth. Dad came home early from work to celebrate the special day and he baked Natey some cupcakes complete with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. The poor kid could have tried for half an hour to blow out his candles and never succeeded. Better luck next year, Natey.
I think Natey liked it.

A little too much. He crammed the whole thing in his mouth. Like he tends to do. Funny story....For Valentine's Day Mimi brought each of the boys a small box of chocolates. Each box had four chocolates. As soon as the boxes were delivered, I let the boys open them. Natey immediately grabbed one chocolate for each hand from his box. I told Sam, "only two pieces, Sam." His reply, "how about just one?" I told him that was a great idea. Meanwhile, I placed the two boxes on top of Nathanael's high dresser, figuring he wouldn't get them, and I went downstairs to clean up. A little while later Sam came downstairs with the lid to one of the boxes and said, "look what Nate did." I ran upstairs knowing good and well what must have happened. Sure enough, there was a chair in front of the dresser, an empty box lying on the floor (which happened to be Sam's box), and a missing gremlin. I quickly located Nathanael in the playroom, mouth crammed full of chocolates, and chocolatey drool running down his face. He had to spit the chocolatey evidence, which he was so quickly trying to devour, into my hand and eat it in smaller bites. What happened with his cupcake was quite similar.

After cupcakes, Natey opened a few gifts and then we attempted a photoshoot with the only impromptu party guest, cousin Max. I say attempted because it was a failed photoshoot....as have been all photoshoots involving the cousins.

Natey got a special birthday dinner at Red Robin (both kids were terrified of the costumed bird. Perhaps we ought not go to Disney Land....) and then a trip to Toys R Us to buy a new basketball goal (our old one broke but the Mexicans that took it off the curb while it was waiting for the garbage truck didn't seem to mind). All in all, I'd say the kiddo had a good second birthday.
We didn't want the celebration to end prematurely, so off to the doctor we went this morning for two vaccines and a finger prick. He got a lollipop, so not even a single tear was shed. And guess who is still in the 99th percentile for height? Well it certainly isn't me! Natey, of course. He's made it up to the 75th for weight. Too many cookies, Corduroy.

The last two years with Nathanael have flown by. He's a special kid. He loves his brother, even when his brother doesn't deserve it. He can often be found comforting Sam when Sam is crying, hurt, or doesn't feel good, as can be seen below.
He laughs alot and makes us laugh even more. He loves to rock out on his guitar, just like his big brother. The other night after a bath, he escaped before even getting a diaper put on and we found him jamming on the guitar, his naked booty dancing around in circles. He loves to sing and does a great job singing along to many songs. Some of his favorites are Popcorn Popping, Once There Was a Snowman, and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He is very verbal and loves to put a "y" on the end of most words. "I'm stucky." "Wanna snacky." "Milky", which we often confuse as monkey...they are indeed so similar. He does a stellar elephant impression, complete with trunk motion. We love elephants around here. He likes to have sleeping buddies in his crib, which the following picture does not even begin to fully capture.
Each night (or nap, for that matter) he runs down the list: bb (bear), ducky, puppy, dog. And in addition to these friends, who are quite easily lost among the mass of toys in the playroom, he has typically two blankets, a small pillow, and a pillow pet.
The kid is a nut. Plain and simple. And we love him to bits.
The end.