Eric Turns Two

Eric was pretty into his birthday this year!  One thing that fueled that excitement was his birthday countdown poster.  This year Olivia made it and I thought she did a great job (save for the rudeness on the back!) ;)

We started off the festivities with a cookie cake for his friends the day before his birthday.  He was so happy to see me when I arrived and patiently waited for us to sing happy birthday before he would take a bite of the cookie cake.

The next morning was his birthday and he woke up to lots of presents and decorations!  

He was SO happy to have his own scooter!

And he got lots of toys for the play kitchen too!

And of course a glazed donut for another "happy birthday!"

We spent the whole morning doing his favorite thing - playing at home and not going anywhere!  But after naptime, we loaded up and headed to Hyatt Lost Pines for our annual Memorial Day trip with the McGuires!  

That evening we did a final bday celebration for Eric.

The kids were happy to see each other and explore the resort!

We all did pony rides one day!

And of course enjoyed some pool/beach/lazy river time.  Eric really loved the beach and lazy river, so I think this will be a fun summer with him!

Like last year, the Leitch's were at the resort on the same weekend.  But this year all the kids got along so great with Harris/Davis and Olivia/Gwyneth running around the resort together!  It is always tricky adding in another family/friend group to our mix, but Davis and Gwyneth fit right in!

I think Eric had a good time and must have been happy to not go to school and be with his family for 4 straight days, but he was constantly asking to go back home.  And not the hotel room -- "our home!  Go back our home!"  I'm not sure what was going on with that, but I sort of get it.  He did fall asleep the minute we left the resort and when he woke up and discovered we were still 30 minutes away from home, he LOST IT!  None of our usual tricks worked so we had to pull over to console him and calm him down!

And finally, we wrapped up Eric’s birthday with a family get together at our house.  The birthday boy had a blast.  

We did a Daniel Tiger theme because he is obsessed with Daniel and I think he loved it.

The food was a pretty easy choice since he doesn’t really eat much – we ordered pizza (which he ate none of) and Olivia, Uncle Drew and I worked hard to make a snack tray of his favorite snacks (he ate 2 oreos maybe).  

He was pretty happy when he saw it!

A big hit was the personal cooler of Sonic ice!  This kid is obsessed with ice (its what he eat many nights for dinner) so when Matt got him an entire cooler full of ice, he was in Heaven.  And he was happy to share his ice with his family.

Olivia was the perfect little hostess, outfitting each guest with a party hat and blower!

Eric happily greeted all his guests as they arrived - telling them all sorts of stories about the day!

Of course he got lots of good presents including fireman dress up clothes, a new bubble tractor, a Baby Shark toy, a baby shark sprinkler mat, some Daniel Tiger instruments, and a little tool kit!

Poor Matt had a long queue of presents that needed batteries!  He was less than thrilled with the role...

And Olivia liked pretending the guests were on fire and spraying them with water

And then it was time for cake. He was SO excited about his cake. We picked it up that morning and he was very worried it would get squished (this is a classic example of Eric trying to import things that happened to Daniel Tiger into his own life. I kept reminding him that Daniel’s cake got squished, not his!). 

Happy parents that we survived the past 2 years!  While Eric has brought us so much joy, the past 2 years have been pretty stressful with work and some personal issues.  But we made it and hopefully things will settle down a bit!

To say we are obsessed with this guy would be an understatement.  He is sweet, funny, curious, smart, outgoing, and cuddly.

He love love loves his mamma and I’m more than happy to oblige his requests to hold him (“bup” = up) and put him to bed (“no dada.  Mamma take me.  Mamma put me down!”).

Eric is really chatty!  He talks to us the whole time we are in the car and asks questions about all the things he can see.  (He is also car sick like his sister, so he got changed to forward facing a few weeks before his 2^nd bday!).  He likes to look and comment on the traffic lights (“still red mamma!  Okay now green!”).  But he also gets scared of lots of things! ;)  If a horn honks or a siren sounds, he will say “That noise!  That scared me!”  Or if a bird flies by “That bird!  That scared me!”  And as he says it, he will clutch his chest.  Its pretty cute.  He can basically articulate everything he wants/needs.  He either talks about himself in the 3^rd person (Rheric do it!) or uses “my” to describe himself (“My do it!  My open it!  My hold it!). 

He still doesn’t eat much.  He will sometimes eat a buttered bagel or pancakes for breakfast.  Or sometimes Cheerios.  Every now and then we can get him to eat a tube of yogurt.  Peanut butter is a favorite so he will either eat it plain or on toast/cracker.  He is always up for snacks and treats of all variety!  He and his sister are very similar in this fashion.  He recently learned the word “yucky” so he will tell me everything I offer him at lunch/dinner is “yucky.”

Sleep is also still somewhat elusive.  He goes down pretty easily around 6/6:30.  He has his routine of mil, books and rocking but he will go to sleep pretty easily once you get him in the crib.  But after that it really is a toss up of what happens during the night.  Most nights he sleeps till 4:30/5 and then starts calling “My mommy!  I want my mommy!  My mommy!  Milk! Milk!”  And again, maybe not the best parenting but one of us will usually go give him milk and then he will go back to sleep till 6ish.  But sometimes he wakes up much earlier (2 or 3 am) and wants milk.  Most of the time we try anything other than milk.  I’ve often given him peanut butter and ice which usually will satisfy him for a few hours.  But you just never know.  He’s pretty stubborn, so if he wants milk, he will usually stay awake until we give it to him.

The other day he woke up in the middle of the night and was desperate for milk.  I said no but offered him peanut butter on some crackers and water.  He happily agreed and I told him “Okay Eric but after that we have to go back to bed.  Deal?”  “Yes!  Deal mommy!  Deal mommy!”  And he was as sweet and happy as could be while he was eating it.  Then he told me he was “all done” and ready to go to bed but “first ONE rock!”  So we sat down to rock and he said “mammimal game” which is “animal game” where one of us makes the sound of an animal and the other has to guess it.  He said “My go first” which he always says and he usually starts all rounds with “moo” but this night he said “jump jump.”  I guessed rabbit, bunny, frog, kangaroo.  All got a no from him.  Finally I gave up and he says “green toad mommy.  Green toad jumps.” 

He can count to 13 and knows most of his letters.  He loves books and will sit and read for an hour if we wanted him to.  His favorite toy is the play kitchen.  He loves to go upstairs and make “nacks” for all the stuffed animals and dolls.  He will sometimes play with his animal characters/barn/trains if he’s in the right mood. 

He loves his Daniel Tiger and cherishes the time he gets to watch the show.  His favorite thing to do is come home, “get cozy” on the couch or his chair and watch an episode.  And, while he watches, he of course, wants milk…warmed up…in a bottle.  We know we need to get rid of it, and we plan to.  But we also feel pretty confident that a few more months to get us through the summer won’t hurt him!).  He also likes to co-opt stories from Daniel Tiger as his own.  One day he told us he needed to go to the doctor.  We asked why and he said he was “all scratchy” as he touched his face.  We looked and didn’t see anything but I mentioned to him that his 2 year old visit was coming up so he could tell Dr. Dondlinger about it then.  The next day he asked again to go to the doctor because he was “all scratchy.”  I again told him we would see Dr. Dondlinger next week.  He then goes “No! Dr. Anna my doctor!”  As he continued to melt down Olivia told us there is a Daniel Tiger episode where Daniel is allergic to peaches and gets “all scratchy” on his neck and then goes to Dr. Anna.  This kid!  He got a huge smile on his face as she outed him. 

He also claimed to be “sad” one morning after watching an episode where Daniel is sad.  But possibly the best one is when he gets “mad.”  He usually never actually gets mad but he will just declare himself “mad” and then he will “roar” and take a deep breath and count to 4.  Just like the song.  And afterwards he will smile and say “My calm now!” 

He likes school but, like Olivia, not as much as staying home.  I remember Olivia at this age would be sad to go to school in the mornings and Eric is too. He usually is yelling at me “No school.  Stay home!” as we carry him out the door.  And usually in the car he will announce "My gonna cry.  Like this.  Mamma!  Mamma!" to inform me that it won't be an easy drop off!

Unlike Olivia, Eric doesn’t seem to have good friends in his class.  By this age, she and Cate were bff but he doesn’t really have any friends that he talks about at home.  When we ask him who he played with or who he sat by, he will either say Eric, Olivia, mama or dada.  Or he just won’t answer you.  I'm not sure what's going on there.  He really likes kids - including kids his own age.  He's OBSESSED with Grady McGuire (but then again, who isn't?!).  So maybe he just hasn't met the right friend yet?

We had a conference with his teacher recently.  She said academically he’s very bright - one of the top 3 in the class. She said he knows all color, numbers to 10 and animals. He’s a good helper and listens great. He’s a leader in the class.   While he does not have 1 best friend, she said he is not a loner.  Rather, he will play with whoever is playing with the toys he likes.  His favorite toys are the kitchen, library and animal matching game. (No surprise!!).  She said if she had to pick she would say his 2 best friends are 2 little girls - Amelia and Alexandra. (She said not surprising since Olivia is his big sis!).  She said the most worrying thing about Eric is his eating - or lack thereof. 🤷🏻‍♀️I said I’m working on it!   She said he’s also very easy going - almost to a fault. She said his “friends” take toys from him and the teachers have to force Eric to say “No thank you. That’s mine.” That’s not what we see at home with Olivia - he is not afraid to tell her no! - so that was sort of interesting.

His teacher is really good about sending update throughout the day and we love when we see one featuring Eric!

We are so in love with our TWO year old.  And while he has moments of “terrible” we are pretty excited about the year ahead!