Second Birthday Par-Tee

(Not to be confused with the "First Birthday Paw-Ty".  No, I don't like plays on words.  Not one bit.)

Our little man is two and we celebrated in style over the weekend at the golf club.

Palmer has been talking for weeks about his "golf birthday party" and was so excited that it was finally here, complete with family from all over in town for the festivities.

Aunt Samantha at the wheel for the "golf cart rides":

After such beautiful weather in Texas the last few weeks, we got hit with a cold snap just in time for the party.  Although it was a sunny day, the temps were quite brisk and we had to move the party somewhat inside.

Here's the empty patio where we were supposed to be:

                                   

Instead, we moved the bounce house and putting holes/whiffle balls into a ballroom.  From these faces, I think everyone still had fun.

The decorations...

By the way, the little flags above inspired a recent Dallas Moms Blog post about life's priorities.

"Arnold Palmer's" to drink.  No, I did not worry about giving children the caffeine from the tea.  Don't you people know about themes?

My favorite detail from the party were the cupcakes in jars, an absolute labor of love from my sister's friend, Alessandra.  Alessandra has confessed her affinity for baking before and said she would love to bake as a job, instead of a hobby, if she could make the numbers work. I brought her on for Palmer's party and the end result far exceeded my wildest dreams.  She even hand-made the golf balls out of modeling white chocolate.  Look Alessandra up if you ever have a fun baking idea.

Cake time!

 Happy Birthday, Palmer.  Thanks to all of our friends and family for loving our boy as much as we do.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Second Year Update

Here we already are with a two year old.  And we haven't broken him yet.  Things are looking up.

Let's look back at our dear friend Mr. Elephant (and Palmer):

One Year:

 One and a Half Years:

Two Years Old:

Two-Year Stats:

Height: 36.5 inches, (93rd percentile)

Weight: 30 lbs, 14 oz, (80th percentile)

Head: 48 cm, (30th percentile)

Number of Teeth: 16

Likes:

ALL THINGS TRANSPORTATION:  But especially fire trucks and golf carts.  Palmer is very directionally inclined and is quick to tell me in the car which way we can find a "fire house for the fire trucks that are night night" (Let me translate: I told Palmer the fire trucks sleep at the fire house.) Palmer is also really into trains, or "choo choos", and I plan to get him a train table around Christmas when his coordination is a bit more developed.

Every day when I pick Palmer up from school, I ask, "What did you do today?"  You can almost bet he will say, "CARS!"  I told the teacher this once and she was quick to assure me they don't play cars all day.  Too bad, because Palmer would love it!

BICYCLES:  Thank goodness we live in Texas where the weather is so gorgeous most of the year.  Palmer loves to ride outside in our driveway or sidewalk or back porch on one of his many bicycle options.

PIZZA AND ICE CREAM AND CEREAL:  If you ask Palmer what he wants for dinner, he will probably tell you pizza or ice cream or cereal.  I've noticed he especially loves to eat things out of a bowl with a spoon.  So, yogurt, soup, ice cream, and cereal are clear winners.  And who doesn't like pizza?!?

ALL THINGS GOLF:  The obsession with the golf cart has not died.  Palmer will also tell you if we pass by a golf course.  Rick is good about taking Palmer out to the course for nine holes or so.  Palmer is in heaven on the cart with his own club and ball.  He knows basic golf rules:  Don't touch other people's balls.  Use a driver and a tee at the tee box and a putter on the green.  Rake the sand when you get out.  Wave down the drink lady for a treat.

CAR WASHES:  A quick way to Palmer's heart is to go thru a car wash.  That's a guaranteed 3 minutes of fun.  Palmer is also quick to tell you in the car if we are approaching a nearby car wash.  My car is really clean.

BOOTS: I've mentioned before that Palmer is a huge fans of his boots from Uncle Luke. The highlight of Palmer's weekend might be that he gets to wear them as he can't wear them to school.

SWIMMING: I enrolled Palmer in swimming lessons back in January and he gets so excited on the days we go swimming.  In fact, one day on the way to school I mentioned that we were going swimming after school.  When we got to the intersection of the pool, Palmer said, "This way.  This way."  I told Palmer we would go to the pool AFTER school.  He cried all the way to school, cried as we walked to his room, and continued to cry in his classroom.  I apologized to the teacher and quickly dashed away.

New Skills:
NAME:  At some point, Palmer learned his first name and last name.  Lately, he has been talking in the third person about how "Palmer Jordan and Mommy are going swimming" or whatever.  He also calls me "Mommy Bethany Jordan" and Rick "Daddy Rick Jordan".  He thinks it is HILARIOUS when I call him "Palmer Thomas Jordan".  I love that he thinks I'm funny.

VOCABULARY:  Palmer's language and sentence lengths amaze me every day.  He is a talker AND a repeater.  I love hearing what's on his mind.  And I know the language will grow by leaps and bounds in the coming year.

COUNTING:  I recently heard Palmer playing with his toys and count all the way to TEN.  I had no idea he could count that high.  Then, his teacher told me he counted to TWELVE the other day. 

LETTERS:  Aunt Amanda bought us some cool bath letters for Christmas.  Rick is in charge of bath time and they have been playing with the letters lately.  Rick and I were impressed that Palmer will see an "A" and say, "A Apple", or "M Mommy" for M, or "B Bear for B".  He knows way more than we imagined.

Dislikes:

BROCCOLI AND CHEESE:  Palmer is a great eater.  But, the other day he told me, "No broccoli, Mommy".  Another day I was cooking in the kitchen and he asked for some of what I was chopping.  I said, "Here is your cheese."  Palmer replied, "EWWWW, cheese!"   Well, excuse me.

ART PROJECTS:  Palmer's teachers tell me he doesn't mind art projects, but I don't believe him.  I have a heck of a time getting Palmer to sit down and do a craft.  And when we get crayons at a restaurant, Palmer always eats them.  Yum.

Sometimes, I just want to freeze the time.  My mom will be quick to tell you I've always had a place in my heart for toddlers.  I just love these days.  Palmer is sweet and funny and independent and strong and fearless.  He makes us laugh every day and we love having him in our family.

Happy Birthday, Palmer.

-Bethany

Cabo, Part 3 (of 3!)

I apologize for all of the vacation pics. I know nobody wants to look at other people's vacation photos.  But, like I've said before, this is Palmer's baby book.  So, I have the free reign to put as many pictures as I want up.  You are welcome to write your own blog. :)

Now that we've got that housekeeping out of the way, let's get back to Cabo.  On the golf course, to be exact.

Given the fact that the two boys in the house love golf and the mama likes to hit around, too, it's probably not a surprise that we went out to the golf course in Palmilla on two different afternoons.

The key to getting Palmer down for a nap was, "Hey Palmer, when you wake up from your nap, we are going to play golf!"  Off to dreamland he went...

The course was gorgeous with hilly terrain and vistas of beautiful homes and the ocean.

Palmer adores his daddy and mimics him on the golf course.

 I think Rick enjoyed having a caddy, too.

For safety reasons, Rick has Palmer trained to sit on the tee box when he tees off.

Check out some of the "cottages" up in the hills.

 I usually took the role of the driver and peanut gallery.

However, I did drive the ball from time to time.  Yes, in flip flops.

And so the sun sets on our little vacation...

Back to reality.  

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Cabo, Part 2

Our visit to Cabo was Palmer's first encounter with sand, other than a recent trip to a neighborhood hangout called The LOT, and absolute first time to see a beach.

I'd heard kids either love or hate the sand experience.

Palmer falls into the fan category and enjoyed running around on the beach and throwing the sand up in the air.

Or doing somersaults, which made washing his hair later that night oh so fun.

Palmer made some friends one morning for sand castles.  Although I use the term "friend" loosely as Palmer liked to mess up the castle creations of others more than make his own.  Oops.

We stuck to ourselves on another day and had fun filling the buckets with water and sand.

One of the biggest safety concerns in Cabo is the dangerous riptides from the ocean.  Rick and I let Palmer carefully wade into the water only up to his knees and one of us always had our hands tight around him each time.

Nevertheless, Palmer found the water from the waves hilarious each time they rolled up to him.

 More to come from Cabo...

-Bethany