Cody's Second Birthday

Hard to believe we celebrated Cody's second birthday!  I kept thinking about Bret on his second birthday...the first birthday we celebrated in this house!  Bret was certainly a different two-year-old, especially considering how much he could already talk; it seems like he was a lot older than Cody is!  ;)

When we were in Iowa over Labor Day weekend, my Mom brought some presents over for Cody:  a pair of jeans, a pair of shoes, and a little wagon.  Jason & Julia gave him a "Bizzy Bear" book.  Cody just loved being the one who got to open the presents, and he seemed incredulous when we told him those things were "his."  When we were home a couple days later, Cody saw the shoebox with his new shoes and jeans inside, and got all excited, "My?  Sthoo?  My?!"  He had to open it up again and tried to put on the jeans and shoes.  Later, we were eating breakfast, and I said, "When you're all done, then you can go outside and play with your wagon.  It's in the hallway waiting for you."  I think Cody didn't even realize we had brought it home for him.  He looked so surprised and excited!  "Uhh ah-gah, my?  Uh ah-gah, my?!"  As I finished unpacking our things later that day, I got out his book, and when he saw it laying on the piano bench, he picked it up and hugged it to himself, "My!  Book!"  ("Book" is one of the very few words that he says absolutely clearly...all the way down to a crisp, clear "k" sound at the end!)

We took a few pictures before bed the night before Cody's birthday:

And, of course, we put the birthday pillowcase on the Birthday Boy's pillow:

Cody was hilarious on his birthday!  He loved all the hullabaloo, and getting special treatment.  At first, he would just say, "No?" when we called him the Birthday Boy, but when he began to realize the perks that came with being the Birthday Boy, he went along with it.  :)

We started the day off with a bunch of balloons (thankfully I remembered to have Jordan help me blow them up before he left for work!), but I totally forgot to make pancakes!  At first, I thought, "Oh well, he's just a baby, so he won't ever think of it."  Of course, I didn't factor in Big Brother and Big Sister, who ABSOLUTELY DID remember that particular birthday tradition.  ;)  We made it over that particular hiccup, though, and had a great day!

Serena and Bret absolutely loved celebrating Cody's birthday!  They danced and cheered and sang and shared and generally made Cody feel very important.

I weighed and measured Cody for his 2-yr-old stats, and he appears to have averaged out quite a bit!  He was 28.5 lbs (56%) and 34.25" (51%).  He grew 6 pounds and 5 inches in the last year!

Cody's birthday party

Cody's birthday cake

Birthday boy all full of cake!

While we were eating cake, the kids had a winking show-off session.