Grady is TWO!

So we are going to pretend its not already May 1st, and just tip toe backwards a few weeks to celebrate Grady's SECOND Birthday!!!

We started with chair pictures of the birthday kids, of course :) Which...when dealing with a two year old boy....are not as fun as it might seem....but always worth the ten minutes of sweating and pleading with both kids to look AT the camera WHILE smiling :) 

I have SO much to say about the last year of Grady's life.  Such a rollercoaster.  Luckily, I enjoy most rollercoasters, and we are pushing through, learning to love and embrace the twists and turns, and SUPER grateful and feeling extremely blessed that all of his progress has been in a forward motion! Progress is progress! Even if its slow and even if we have plateaus more than Id like, Grady is making big progress and we are going to have a big story to tell when God answers all of our prayers and gives this sweet boy lots of words and sentences and happy days ahead!

Love that they took a breather for some sibling tickle time lol

The leg cross KILLS me. lol

2012

2013

2014

At Two Years Old:

Favorite Food: bananas, spinach ("leaf!"), chips and salsa, fake cheese

Favorite Books: anything Cars or Planes or trucks or trains, "Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site", "Steam Train, Dream Train", "Thank You Prayer", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "Minnie's Rainbow" (also Whitney's favorite at this age!), a Nemo book for Tag pen.

Favorite Movies: Cars, Cars 2, Planes, Finding Nemo, Polar Express (yes, even in April)

Favorite Toys: Mack truck from Mac and Gramps, and all the Cars cars that go in it, blue Disney truck from Aunt Gerry, monkey blankets, Bruce the shark from Uncle Jay, trains and cars and books

2012

2013

2014

LOVE these two silly kids!

We carried on the birthday balloon bedroom tradition for the third year! Whitney loved it the last two years, and Grady loves balloons, so we figured it was his turn to get in on the excitement! Eric blew up dozens of balloons!

We sneaked into Grady's room and littered it with balloons :) 

And the next morning, we heard him say "Bawoon!" as soon as he woke up :) He was so happy :)

He instantly grabbed two blue balloons....his favorite color! BLOOOOO!!

Blue Bawoon!

And I love that he has mastered "CHEEEEESE!!" for the camera!

Isnt he the cutest little boy on the planet?! 

In a nutshell, Grady is a HAPPY kid.  Probably one of the happiest, most compliant toddlers I know.  I am continually amazed when he follows directions and holds my hand when walking through a store or parking lot.  I am so proud of his love for his sister and how nicely he plays with his toys and books.  He has an incredible attention span, but is easily distracted when we have to give him a shot or give him an alternate toy when sister wants her wand or flashlight back.  He is gaining new words and sounds every week and while it is soooo hard on my mommy heart to watch him struggggle to get new words out, he is such a happy, smiley, willing, strong learner who tries and tries and smiles and claps for himself when he gets it right. 

Because we planned a Disney vacation instead of a birthday party this year, we didnt have any big plans for Grady's big day.  Poor Dude got to go to the health food store with me while Eric took Whitney to her soccer game.  Exciting!!!! lol

Then we all headed to our church's Spring Carnival for some Easter egg hunting, games, and family fun!

Then he got to take a nap before opening his gifts from us :) 

(Note: big sister tried extra hard to let the Dude open his own gifts.  It was so hard to wait two more days for her own birthday!)

He LOVES the movie "Planes", and was excited to get the figures from the movie.  He also LOOOVES the movie "Cars" (well done, Disney!) and we found a great Cars birthday cake.  Unfortunately, due to his gluten and dairy issues, he couldnt eat the cake, but we used the decorations on a Grady-safe cake and he loved them! 

Hugs for the tractor from Cars! 

 Grady LOVES his Mac and Gramps and his sister with a fierceness I could never deny.  Once a week, he cries when we leave Whitney in her classroom at school.  He misses her!  Throughout the week, if he hasnt seen them for a few days, Grady asks, "Grah?" (gramps) with his arms in the air like, "where is he??"  He RUNS into their house and into Mac's arms and gives the best hugs.  A solid Grady hug is the best remedy for a bad day.  He still LOVES to be cuddled and rocked at bedtime and I eat it up.  He reaches for his rocking chair and says, "Rah! Rah!" (rock!) until I agree to sit down and rock him longer.  Yet, when the rocking is done, and its time for bed, he lays down without any fuss or fight, gives kisses and amazing hugs, and settles in to sleep all night.  He wakes the next morning with smiles and happiness.  Does it get better??  

Doesnt he have the best hair color ever?! Love. 

He hung out with his new planes, making them "fly" and giving them hugs :) 

And my favorite? When he found our camera, brought it to me, and gave me the best smile saying, "Cheeeeeese!!" When I asked "do you want me to take your picture??" He shook his head yes and kept saying "cheese".  The best.  I LOVE this age!! 

He can entertain himself for a long time, but gets so excited when we follow him to the blocks or dump out his cars and start to play with the stuff he loves.  He holds our hands and drags us into the playroom saying, "plaaa!" or "on!" when he wants to play or watch a movie.  He can sort all the shapes in his shape sorter, point to colors blue, green, red, purple, and yellow on command...and Im certain Tiger football season will insure he knows ORANGE soon enough!  He brings us books, saying, "laaah! laah!" for "lap" when he wants to sit in our laps and read books.  LOVE.  He doesnt have any endings on any words. YET.  But he has a TON of words and he talks enough to get his point across.  We can understand him and his teachers understand him, and we are working on it a lot. His teachers say he is so happy and gets along so nicely with all the kids in his class.  They ALWAYS say, "he had a GREAT day!" or "he had the BEST day!"  He LOVES circle time where they read and sing and do hand motions to classic songs.  He loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle and Row, Row, Row your Boat at bedtime.  He knows all of his body parts and while he understands that "pee pee goes in the potty", I am pretty sure we have at least another year of diapers in our future.  

I am so blessed to be this kid's "Mama"! He is the sweetest, most gentle, calm, cooperative, HAPPY, and amazing little boy I know.  He teaches me so much more than I could ever teach him, and while I didnt thnk I would ever be knee-deep in special diets and biomedical protocols, I am proud to be his mommy and I know God has HUGE plans for Grady.  Someday, he is going to tell his awesome story.  The first two years have been awesome and I cant wait to see how the rest unfolds.