Happy 2nd birthday, Jace!

I remember Jace's birthday last year like it was yesterday. I had been freaking out leading up to it because I was unsure if Flor and I were ever going to make it out of Ecuador. The thought of missing my baby's first birthday was devastating to me, but everything worked out and Flor and I came home on the 25th, just in time for his birthday on March 1st. And now, I can't honestly believe that it has been a whole year more. Crazy to think that we have been home with Flor for over a year now and also crazy that our baby is two!

March 1, 2011

March 1, 2012

Now:

Crazy kiddo!

"I sit in Flor's seat!"

With his bestie Hudson

Helping take care of baby Josh

Some things about Jace at age 2:
He weighs 32 lbs and is 37.5 inches long if I remember his height right? Geez why did I not write that down? Above 90th percentile on both- no surprise there.

*Jace is equally as independent at this age as Hallie was at age 2. HE has to be the one to put himself in bed, to walk places on his own (no carrying this kid), get his own cup, shut the fridge himself, etc. Gets a tad bit tiring, but what do you do?!

*Jace is speaking quite well and uses simple sentences. His favorite of course is "I do it!". It is funny to see such similarities between Jace and Hallie, even down to phrases they use. Hallie used to say "rock a minute" all the time and Jace does the same thing. Weird, because I don't think either Devin or I say that. Jace insists on "rocking a minute" every night before bed in his rocking chair. He then wants you to pat his back over and over and give him approximately 100 kisses before he will stay in bed. He likes to come up with reasons to get out of bed if you can't tell. :)

*Jace loves his family members and is Hallie's little shadow. They have such a great time together and have some pretty inventive play. Whenever anyone steps out of view, he asks, "Where Daddy go?" Or "Where Flor go?" etc. This gets fun because we get to tell him over and over where that person is. He also has been asking daily where Hudson is because of his time staying with us recently. We explain every.day. that Hudson is at his own house. I love that he is curious though and keeps track of what is going on in his world.

*Jace can be the sweetest little thing. He melts my heart when he says, "I you mommy!" (I love you Mommy) and "Thank you mommy!"-- which he says often. He is quite polite. On the other hand, I have never met a kid who can throw fits quite like this one. Hopefully it is a short-lived phase! We can hope, right?

*Jace LOVES anything that moves. Cars, trucks, planes, trains...you name it, he loves it.

*Along with speaking, Jace still uses some sign language- but he verbalizes what he wants and uses the sign, probably hoping that doing both will get him what he wants quicker?

*Jace knows and likes to point out body parts- such as eyes, nose, hair, ears, head, teeth, etc. We haven't moved below the head yet, so perhaps we should do that.

*He Looooooves Mickey Mouse and must take his Mickey to bed and naps with him daily. He likes to make sure that Mickey is tucked in and sleeping when he is. He also likes stuffed animals of all types and is still addicted to his blankies. He likes one in particular best, but generally any with the minky feel are his favorite.

*Jace, also like Hallie, loves puzzles. He can do basic puzzles and really likes helping Hallie with her harder puzzles. He also jumps on board and helps Hallie with her chores, such as unloading the dishwasher.

*Flor and Jace have come to a point where they do not play as well as they used to-- rather they fight more often now. Devin caught them in a drag out fight the other day, where both were pulling hair, biting, pinching, you name it. Whew...that's gonna be fun. Generally, they are sweet with each other, though. Jace makes sure to give Flor hugs and kisses when she goes out the door to school and when she goes to bed. It's even on his rotation of excuses to get out of bed ("Give Flor kissies!").

*Potty training. Well, this has begun in our household. I really thought that Jace would train much later than Hallie did (she was about trained by the time she turned 2), but he has shown a lot of interest recently, so we took the plunge and bought him big boy underwear. He reallllly loves wearing his underwear and actually does quite well most of the time, but he does still have a few accidents every day. Most of the time he makes it to the potty, but it is still a process. He is still in diapers for naps and bed time. I have gotten brave enough to take him on some short errands in underwear and he has done fine. One day, I went to Winco and Target and we were gone for over two hours, but he told me he needed to go at Winco (and did) and then was fine until we got home. I think that is a good sign...What we learned is that Jace is highly motivated by jelly beans. :) All it took was telling him that he could have a "bean" every time he used the potty and well, he learned to squeeze something out every 10 minutes or so, so that he could get a new "bean." Funny kid.

Here is Jace's birthday video! I didn't do one with Hallie at age 2 (we started at 3) and now I know why. This is clearly a bit of a joke, but I am sure I will still look back at it later and laugh.

We sure love you Jace Christopher!! You are such a sweet and charming boy and you bring us such laughter and happiness! Happy 2nd birthday handsome boy!