Holden and the Terrible 2's Club!

Holden made it! Yes that's right folks- Holden turned 2 years old on Feb 24th! I know I'm a bit slow, as I always am, but I thought it was time to do some catching up!

Holden is REALLY into animals right now and although he doesn't say much, the one thing he does well are his animal sounds! He knows what a bear, lion, tiger, dragon, dinosaur, leopard and cheetah all say! RAWR! hehe No, but he knows a ton of other animal sounds and that's about all that makes him interested in any sort of noise coming out of his mouth. That and CARS! His favorite movie that can keep him occupied for hours...I mean...I bet it could keep him occupied for hours...cough cough! :)) He loves making car noises and racing his cars around the house, especially on the rock fireplace!

So, that said, I decided to make him an alligator for a birthday cake! I found this awesome website that had all these homemade cakes and pics of all of them, so you can take a bunch of ideas from all different cakes and make your own! I had such a blast! I got the idea from my friend Rachel who makes neat cakes for her kids each year. I am DEFINITELY going to continue this tradition because it is so fun for me AND the kids absolutely LOVE it! Here is the cake in process and finally finished!

When I had the alligator finished, I showed Holden and he was so excited he just kept pointing and saying "CHMP, CHMP" his word for what alligators really say!

Earlier in the month we had a party with the Loveridge side of the family, and he was spoiled there with fun things from cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles! What a lucky kid!
The night of his birthday, we just had a small party with our friends, the Smith family. Eva Smith is Holden's best friend and he was so excited to have her over to show her the alligator! Grandma Mercer sent Holden such fun little gifts and spoiled him rotten! Thanks again to everyone for making Holden feel so happy on this fun day!

Holden truly is a great joy in our little family. He is such a happy little boy and is always running around the house trying to be good.

Example, I will find him at any given time vacuuming FIERCELY with his play vacuum- every nook and cranny. Might be because his mom doesn't do it enough! I just need to teach him how to avoid slamming the vacuum into the table, TV center, fireplace, doors...etc...lol but then again, he probably sees mom doing that too when she's in a hurry!

He will also find a bottle or binky and bring it to me to make sure I give it to Gabriel. He will find little pieces of garbage around the house...or maybe it's not even garbage...and put it in the trash to clean up. He even goes around shutting all of the doors in the house...I think he thinks it saves electricity...hehe Hopefully that will transfer to the light switches when he's tall enough to reach those!

As I said before, he is such a happy kid and he absolutely adores his little brother Gabriel. In return, Gabriel adores him. I will do silly things to Gabriel to try to make him laugh and he won't budge a smile. Then Holden will just walk pass, flash a smile at Gabriel and Gabriel is in stitches! Holden has so much fun trying to get Gabriel to laugh and will go as far as running across the room and belly flopping on the floor- anything to make Gabriel laugh! And BOY does it work!

He has such a sweet little spirit and when we are apart for a short time, he will always run to us saying "HIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE" in a VERY high pitched tone. I later realized that I do that constantly when I see him! hehe

He is just starting with a few words like Yeah, and the dreaded NO. Except even when he says "no" I can't help but smile, because he never yells it or says it fiercely, he just says it in a very sweet soft voice. We were at the Grand America enjoying a meal (a VERY NICE MEAL- it was AMAZING!!! ) and the manager, (who was from Iraq but had worked in fine restaurants all over the world for 20 years- obviously knew good food) came up to us and saw Holden eating at his plate. He then assumed Holden could talk and preceded to ask Holden if the food was good. Of course the the only word out of Holden's mouth was a very sweet, small but definite "no". Then Holden continued eating! The man just laughed and said "well, I like honesty more than anything!" We then had to explain that he really couldn't say much but probably didn't understand the question!

Holden has a very special place in our hearts. He loves to dance and do actions to songs! He is full of life and energy and so curious that I can't keep up with him pulling my fingers to take me to show me something or have me help him with something! He loves to give hugs and kisses and he loves us to sing to him at bedtime and he just loves to be wherever we are and do whatever we are doing. We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending us such a beautiful and special little boy! Happy Birthday Holden! We love you!