Choo, Choo- Look Who's Two!

Austin turned 2 on Thursday. It's hard to believe that he's already two! He's been slowly easing into the "independent" stage the past month or so. One of his favorite things to say is "No, I do it!" He likes to say that when he gets in his car seat, brushes his teeth, pushes the button on the blender with me, and even when he helps me stir while cooking.

A little over a month ago he decided he was done with his crib. He just climbed out (for the first time ever) and refused to get back in for naps or bed. We already had a "big boy bed" in the room, so the transition was easy, for him at least. I've accepted it now and it's not that bad. He doesn't nap all the time now since he can get out of his bed and play, but it's fine. It also takes a few minutes longer to put him to bed because Jason or I have to lie down with him for a few minutes. He always says "Bi bo be" when he wants me to lie down with him longer.

He has also decided he likes the big swing now and not the baby swing. He prefers to hold Karissa's hand in the parking lot when walking into a store, not mine, but I'm still allowed to hold Karissa's hand on the other side.

He calls Karissa, who he adores, "Diga" and Victoria, who he thinks is the funniest person on the planet, "Adora". He loves to hug and kiss each of them when they are sad, it is so cute! He is such an affectionate little boy! He follows their lead and will hug perfect strangers who come to our door. He also likes the little baby girls in our ward. He is especially fond of a little 7-month-old girl named Genny and always says, "Baby!" when he sees her.

He loves having his daddy around now. They are pals!

On his birthday, we went to playgroup at the park in the morning, played with friends at our house while I had a meeting here, opened presents, had pizza and cake, and watched part of a movie.

He loved getting bubbles for his birthday, one of his favorite things to do.
He also loved this dump truck and another excavator truck that he got from Gramms and Abuelo.

We got him these Thomas pjs, which he picked out himself. He was so excited holding them in the store. I tried to convince him to get the shark ones because they were shorts, not pants, but he saw these and would not budge! He also got this little lawn mower that blows bubbles when pushed, besides making a loud lawn mower-type sound.
As soon as he saw his cake, he said "Choo, choo!" He knew exactly what it was! He picked out the peach rings for the wheels, rather than choosing the store-bought cookies, much to his daddy's dismay!
Happy Birthday my cute boy!