Lex is really starting to explore his boundaries.  I’ve been finding him in random precarious positions lately.  (no child was harmed in the making of this blog)

(he pulled the red stool over to the counter by himself so he could reach my laptop)

In other news, Lex’s cold seems to be getting better.  And his sleeping seems to be heading in the right direction…although we’re still getting up at five in the morning, so there is definitely room for improvement!  Tim’s been home sick these past two days, but he is on the mend now too.  I’m hoping everyone will be well for Lex’s birthday party at Gymboree on Saturday.

Ho Ho Ho!  We went to a holiday bazaar last weekend and Santa was there!  Lex was terrified and refused to sit on his lap, so we took a family photo instead.

Lex had a fever over the weekend, but thankfully he is now on the mend.  His sickness really wreaked havoc with his (and our) sleeping schedule.  Naps became nonexistent, so he crashed really early in the evenings…like 5:30 pm.  But because of that he was waking up at 4 or 4:30 am.  Yikes!  Today I saw a glimmer of hope though.  He took an afternoon nap and went to bed at his usual time.

This morning was Lex’s official 2 year doctor visit.  He is 26 pounds and 34 inches long, which puts him in the 25th percentile for both height and weight.  As usual, the doctor thought he was adorable.  She said most two-year-olds are screaming during the entire visit…not flirting with her.

This family picture was taken the night of Lex’s party:

We’ve enjoyed having Tim’s parents here this week.  Here’s Lex and Grandma watching an Elmo video together:

Lex showed his grandparents his favorite places at the zoo on Wednesday:

I’ve never seen the lions up this close to the window…thank goodness for strong glass!

And here’s the lion swatting at a random zoo visitor.  Yikes!

Shirley and Wendell headed home to Boise this morning.  We’ve appreciated their help with Lex this week.  And I’m sure that U-haul appreciates their business…once again they had to rent a trailer to haul home their newly acquired furniture.

Our little boy turned two today!  Tonight we celebrated Lex’s birthday with a family dinner, and then in a few weeks we’re going to have a party at Gymboree with all of Lex’s friends.

Lex’s ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery:

Lex was amazingly accurate at blowing out his #2 candle.  But he loved it so much we had to re-light the thing three times so he could do it again.

Lex loves Elmo…

Once I showed Lex how to unwrap a present, he started ripping the paper on his own.  And he was so excited with every present…he just wanted to stop and play with each new toy.

A fire truck from Aunt Amy!

Tractors from Grandma and Grandpa!

Tim and I got Lex a used play kitchen off of craigslist for Christmas.  But instead of trying to hide it in the garage for two months, we just gave it to him early:

Here’s some pictures from the Gymboree Halloween party that Lex attended on Saturday:

Lex wasn’t so sure about this craft activity:

But the final product was a cute spider picture:

Decorating a trick-or-treat bag:

Lex thoroughly enjoyed the glue:

The Boise grandparents arrived later that afternoon:

And they brought Lex a table that’s just his size:

We didn’t take Lex trick-or-treating this year, but we did take him outside at night so he could see all the neighborhood kids walk by in costumes.  He seemed to really enjoy that.  And we tried to keep our tired boy up a little later in preparation for the time change (but on a side note, we ended up awake by 4 am on Sunday anyway).