Paxton at 2

Another year has come and gone, and Paxton's had his second birthday.  Seriously, how is time going so fast?  I swear it speeds up more and more every year ... didn't we just have Christmas 2010 and now 2011's is only a week away?

Anyway, Paxton's birthday was on a Friday this year so I took the day off work to spend some quality time with him.  And by quality time, I mean a trip to the dentist, grocery shopping and some other equally exciting activities.  I'm rather surprised he survived all the excitement!  Auntie Kinsey assures me that Paxton did really well for a 2-year-old during his first dentist visit since he didn't cry and he sat in the chair all by himself.  He was pretty excited to see "Annie" when we got to the appointment and was all smiles for her.  However, once Dr. Goth arrived Paxton clamped his lips shut and wasn't opening them for anything!  Dr. Goth sort of pried Paxton's lips open, but Paxton wasn't going to unclench his teeth to let him look at the backs of his teeth ... no way, no how!  But, Dr. Goth said that Paxton's teeth are a really nice color on the fronts so he's not worried about cavities or decay on the backs.  And the boy is only missing 4 molars that should come in within the next year ... joy of joys.  After picking out a "treasure" with Auntie Kinsey we made a flying trip out to Raymond and back so I could pick up my Uppercase Living stuff and get some "Happy Bum Cream" for my friends' kids.  (Seriously the BEST diaper rash cream EVER is from the Raymond Pharmacy.  It's magical.)  Once we got back to Lethbridge, we did our Costco run which really is one of Paxton's favorite things.  He loves to sit in the cart and look at everything and everyone.  Most of the time I don't even have to put the seat belt on him since he's content to just sit!  After Costco, I met up with my friend, Kim, and dropped off some bCharmed stuff to some girls at work (yay for super cute new jewelry!).  And then it was off to meet up with Grandma Daryl for lunch.  We had Chinese and Paxton was doing really well with the rice and deep-fried wontons.  However, then he tried some cabbage from the chow mein and there was no going back.  Apparently cabbage taints everything else around it.  Kids are so weird.  More grocery shopping at Wal-Mart was on the docket after lunch and then it was home to get a quick nap in for the boy.  Phew!  Busy day : )  Paxton's birthday was also my work "Holiday Party" so Paxton got to have a "date" with Auntie Kinsey while we were out ... and I made her come over early to do my hair.  Best babysitter ever!

Paxton's birthday party was on Saturday the 3rd.  We kept the guest list really small, mostly because I just didn't have the energy to do anything else.  My Mom, Kinsey, both sets of Jay's parents and our friend Kaity with Paxton's girlfriend, Lainey, were able to make it.  Paxton got pretty spoiled as usual and then it was cake time.  I actually made a chocolate cake complete with icing and it was pretty yummy if I do say so myself.  However, being the complete airhead that I've become I completely forgot to serve ice cream with the cake!  And I'd even made a special trip to the store on Saturday morning to get the stupid ice cream!  Silly, silly me.

I can't believe how much Paxton has changed in the last year.  He is a joy (most of the time) and we're so lucky to have him in our family.  At 2 years old, Paxton:

- weighs 32 1/2 lbs and is 37 inches tall.  This puts him in the 90th percentile for his height and weight!  His head is 50 cm around which the doctor says is a good size but she didn't tell me what percentile that puts his head in.  The doctor says she has no concerns at all about Paxton which is great to hear!

- calls his Aunties "Annie."  It sometimes sounds like he says "Honey", but either way it's pretty stinkin' cute.

- loves shoes whether they're his or not.  He often comes clunking into the room wearing a pair of mine or Jay's shoes or a combination of the two.  When we were at Jay's Dad's house last weekend he even came into the living room with Auntie Mandy's shoes on and they had a bit of a heel on them!

- is super sweet sometimes.  When I had bronchitis last week he'd come over whenever I had a coughing fit, touch my knee or my arm, look up at me and say, "Ok Mom?  Ok?"  And then he'd wait until I answered that yes I was ok before he'll go back to whatever he was doing. Absolutely heart-meltingly adorable!

- says "choo choo" whenever he sees a train ... or Santa's sleigh and reindeer.  I guess it sort of looks like a train?

- gives kisses.  He's pretty good at blowing kisses.  He'll usually give me kisses on the lips when I ask for them and alternates between saying "yummy" and "yucky" afterward.  Paxton usually won't give Jay a kiss before bed but thinks it's pretty funny to give me one instead : )

- is sort of potty training.  Some days he does really well and is all about sitting and going on the potty.  Other days he couldn't be bothered.  But we're remaining positive and I think we're moving in the right direction with the whole thing.  Hopefully he'll start disliking dirty diapers soon and that'll speed things along.

- is talking a lot.  He seems to add new words to his vocabulary every day.  And people who aren't me or Jay can understand him now!

- loves to run.  He'll run in circles around the island indefinitely if he's got someone to chase him.  And of course said running MUST be accompanied by high pitched giggling and squealing.  I think it must be some sort of exhaust system or something that little kids come equipped with ...

- can plug the snowflake lights in, and unplug them, and plug them back in, and unplug them, and you get the picture.  *sigh*  I bought a little rug to put over the extension cord today in hopes that this would sort of distract him from the cord, but alas it doesn't seem to have worked!

- hates the snow.  The first good snow we had this year we took Paxton out with his snow boots on.  He got snow on his boot and tried to brush it off with his mitten which led to him falling over and getting covered in snow.  It was not a good situation.  He says "yucky" whenever there's snow on the ground and will try to avoid walking through the snow at all costs.  If he's out when it's snowing he tells it to "Go 'way!"  I guess maybe we won't be needing the new snowsuit he got for his birthday this year after all.

- loves puzzles.  He got a bunch of puzzles for his birthday and can almost do this one by himself.

It's supposed to be for ages 3 and up.  That's right.  My kid's smart : )  He also got one of a train that makes a train noise once all the pieces are in it.  He seems to be a bit leery of it since I actually put batteries in though.

- loves the "Shrek" movies that have Puss in Boots in them.  Coincidentally Mom and Dad really hate Shrek 2 and 3.  He says, "I want Puss" pretty much every morning when he gets up and when he gets home from daycare.  This also led to a vocabulary lesson between Paxton and Dad a week ago.

- absolutely loves chicken fingers/nuggets and fries.  I'm pretty sure he would eat them for every meal if he could get away with it.  Yesterday we had them for lunch.  I had 3 chicken fingers; Paxton had 4.  Ya, he likes them that much.

- loves the 2 Christmas spin me story books Grammie gave us a while ago (they have little wheel things on the side and if you spin them then stuff in the pictures moves).  They're his new favorite potty books as well.  Apparently watching things spin helps with the b.m. 

- loves to dance.  It usually involves some swaying, some yoga-like moves (downward facing dog anyone?), a lot of jumping around with the occasional pirouette thrown in.  He also likes to head bang to Christmas music, and not even "snappy" Christmas music.  I was sitting at the computer last weekend and all of a sudden Paxton pulled a chair up to the computer desk, climbed up on it, braced his hands on the desk and started head banging.  And it was to like "I heard the bells on Christmas Day" or something like that.  I just about died laughing.

- wants my iPhone a lot.  He likes to throw a fit and tell me that it's "mine" when I take it back.  Grrrrr.  Paxton can look through the pictures on it by himself and has a puzzle app that he can do himself.  The puzzle app is on the easiest setting so he only has to move 2 pieces to complete the picture, but still, pretty good I think.

- likes to touch my necklaces and says "ees pitty" about them.

- knows who Santa is this year.  I don't think he's figured out that Santa brings presents yet, but he'll point at pictures of Santa and say "Santa!"

- has figured out the unwrapping thing with presents this year.  We were at Jay's Dad's house last night for Christmas and he started unwrapping his present before Grandpa got in there with his camera.  Pretty funny.

- thinks everything is "funny."  His newest thing is to do a fake laugh and then say "ees funny."  Yup, he's a pretty funny kid.

- has been pretty good with the Christmas decorations this year.  He definitely knows what "don't touch" means.  Paxton stayed over at Grammie and Pa's house a few weekends ago.  They told me that he climbed up on the back of their couch in the basement so he could see all the nativities in the window.  He'd say "oooo, no touch" then "run" to the other side of the couch and repeat.

- throws more fits and is whinier than he used to be.  I'm told this is just because he's testing the boundaries.  Mom does not appreciate this new found independence. 

- likes to line things up ... puzzle pieces, mega blocks, the bins from his toy shelf.  A little OCD anyone?

- likes to build towers.  Good thing he has a bunch of mega blocks!

- is not good at sharing.  Apparently he's great at daycare, but if we're at our house or our friends' houses, he totally hoardes the toys and does not want to share with Carter or Alexander.  *sigh*  He seems to have made an exception for Lainey when she was here for his birthday.  Ah, young love!

- is one of my favorite people in the whole world!  Even when he's making me mad I still love him to pieces!