Happy 2nd Birthday Søren!

His birthday celebration is not until tomorrow, but he did get his special request of pancakes for breakfast this morning along with the birthday song.

Here are some pictures of him sharing his birthday excitement with Elliot.




I thought this would be a good place to capture some of my favorite Søren moments of late.

Yesterday we were playing Little People together and I noticed that we were missing a couple people (two of his favorites). I was worried we may have left Eddie at Grandma's house, and Eddie is pretty much his favorite Little People right now. I mentioned that we were missing some people and Søren got up quietly and walked off. I contented my self to play Little People by myself (well, actually I just remained in the Little People village while working on a shopping list for Søren's birthday cakes - yes cakes, there will be three of them, but really, we are celebrating 3 family birthday's tomorrow, so there is a cake for each person). Søren comes back holding his yellow rain boots, turns them upside down, shakes them, and out come all four missing Little People, two from each boot. Too cute. Then he promptly proceeded to sit down and resume play.

I love all these little moments that show me how quickly he has become a boy. I love watching him from across the room while he makes his toys talk to each other, and feeds the animals. I like watching him spend focused energy problem solving when he has thrown a stuffed animal out of his reach. I love hearing him sing to himself all day long as he goes about his adventuring.

A few nights ago Andrew was reading in the bathroom while Søren was taking his bath and I was with Elliot in the bedroom. Andrew wasn't paying much attention to the quiet babble that was taking place in the tub between Søren and a plastic ladybug, but I could tell that he was putting the ladybug to bed with all the same phrases that I use through our bedtime rituals.

He has recently taken to swaddling his stuffed animals (and Little People) and rocking them and laying them down as I do with Elliot.

He strikes up conversation with people in the grocery store and tells them how old he is and that it is "nice to meet you".

The other day he completely floored me as I was chatting with a friend in the living room by walking through the room singing the complete ABC's - something I had not been working on with him.

He cracks jokes and does things he knows will make us laugh followed by a high pitched "wwwhhaat?", and has taken to pretending he is talking to my mom on the phone saying "Hi babe" (which is often something she says when talking to one of us on the phone).

He likes to give running tackle hugs, and "booyah" kisses, and surprise hugs around our legs when are chatting with each other and don't notice him standing below us learning EVERYTHING.

He has an amazing memory and detailed understanding of all the processes we go through on a regular basis. He is a very adaptable child and loving big brother. He is an amazing kid who I am delighted to spend each day with. I feel privileged to get to know this little person so intimately and greatly look forward to watching him continue to learn and grow. I look forward to hearing his thoughts on life and seeing the things he chooses to pursue. But for now I am just enjoying exactly where he is, for he will never be two again, and it is a most precious age.

Below are some of the self-portraits he has taken lately during his photo shoots, and one from this morning of him declaring himself TWO!