William turns two

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since my little guy entered this world with a bang. Most of the time, he is a gentle and kind little boy, who likes to give hugs, say new words, play outside, snuggle with his baby chicks, and arrange and rearrange flowers. But he can also turn into the naughtiest little boy in a flash, running with wild abandon in any direction he pleases, even if that might be out of a store's automatic doors into the street or through a busy airport terminal or out the front door towards the woods in a diaper and bare feet, hardly noticing the prickles in his feet until he is caught.

These extremes define my William's character - eager to make enormous messes,

Yogurt schmogurt.

but equally willing to do hard work that is not asked of him like unloading the clean dish washer or pushing the wheelbarrow full of manure even though the wheel keeps sinking through the mucky meadow.

For his birthday I made his favorite cake, that we call Fairy Tale cake, with layers of white chocolate pudding and white chocolate frosting and added his favorite thing to the top - an airplane.

I guess you could say he liked it.

I guess you could say, he really liked it.

I try to keep the kids' birthdays simple for as long as possible, so we just celebrated with our immediate family and did all of William's favorite things, like eating pasta with homemade marinara sauce and edamame, catching tadpoles from the pond, a bike ride and walk down the road, a ride in the paddleboat, and playing with our new toys.

We catch dozens of tadpoles, newts, and fish in the pond.

William is obsessed with water. He points it out whenever he sees it, and on our walks he must stop at each place there is a stream to admire the flowing water and perhaps toss in a pebble or two. With his boots on, there isn't a puddle he won't stomp in or drain with dozens of trips with his bucket. Before we child proofed the bathroom doors, it was not uncommon to find him standing on a stool at the sink, water running profusely, with his hands in the water.

William's new airplane can go on land or water.

Airplanes and trains are his latest obsession. There's hardly a plane that goes by that he doesn't spot, no matter how tiny. It's a treat to take him to the airport viewing center to watch the planes take off. He feels disappointed by landings though and always wants to know when the airplanes are going to go up, up, up again.

William's favorite toy, was not his basketball hoop as I'd hoped (big sister seems to have taken over that). It is his bubble maker. He and "sis-sis" made bubbles for an hour with great delight after dinner.

Uh, oh! A hole in this bucket means no more carrying tadpoles around in it.

William wears his new "2" shirt from Mommy, with an airplane embroidered on one side and the number two on the other. The fabric is leftover Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt.

It's hard to believe that my baby's baby days have already passed us by but he's such a fun little person to have around, we love his big boy character and sense of humor. Next time you see him, challenge him to a funny face contest, I dare you!