Finally an update

So much to update! Kaleb's 2nd birthday was wonderful. We had a party for him at Chuck E Cheese with his cousins and my family. Frank and Annette were visiting Alysa and Anders in Maine at the time, but we celebrated with them before they left. We did cake and another gift on his actual bday, I made him mini cupcakes which he loved :)

As of Kaleb's 2 year mark he was counting to 14 (he hit 10 at about 21 months), singing his ABC's as of 22 months, knows all his shapes and colors, and is reliably saying please and thank you. He speaks in full sentences and generates his own unique thoughts, which is amazing and hilarious at times. He runs, jumps, climbs, stacks, colors, and all the other major physical milestones. At his 2 year check up he was 35 inches tall and weighed 28.8 pounds. Based on this the doctor estimates he will be 6 feet tall as an adult.

Aside from the standard milestones, the developments that most impress me and warm my heart are the signs of emotional intelligence I already see blooming in Kaleb. When someone yawns he'll ask if they are sleepy and need some rest, if I cough he asks if I"m okay. He is a chocolate fanatic which makes sense given my insatiable need for brownies, which I never crave, while I was pregnant with him. I let him have mini-snickers probably once every 3ish days on average, those things are really small! But when he has his coveted treat he will take a bite, and then offer some to me. What a kind little dude!! He seems to be in tune to the well being of others around him and I am really enjoying watching that side of him develop.

Christmas was beautiful this year, our family traditions continue to be honed and developed and it makes me warm and fuzzy to think that I get to establish traditions for my own little family. We do Christmas Eve with the Bashlor side, Christmas morning is with our family, and then after nap on Christmas Day we head over to celebrate with the Remsburgs. Kari, JB, and Avery came up this year for Christmas and stayed the week after so we had plenty of fun spending time with them. I had the week between Christmas and New Year off this year and Kyle had most of it off as well, we took full advantage of all our family time together. It was a really great holiday season, with Kaleb old enough now to understand some of what is going on. Next year will be awesome, Kaleb will be old enough to anticipate the excitement and he'll have an 8 month old little brother to share it all with!

Next year I'll be adding a new tradition at home, and I'm super excited about it! I will take all of our Christmas books and wrap each one individually, then place them all in a box or bucket near the Christmas tree. Starting Dec. 1st, each night the kids will get to pull one wrapped book out, unwrap it, and that will be our Christmas bedtime story for the night. Thanks to a very generous gift of books from my parents this year, and my already somewhat overboard book habit, we already have more than enough books to do this :)