Almost two weeks ago my baby boy turned 2.  Joe and I still look at him everyday in awe that God gave us such a special gift.

Tripp is so full of life and such a gentle soul.  He has occasional 2 year old tantrums, which last about 2 min. at most but in my completely biased opinion he is a darling little guy.

He cares deeply when someone is sad, gives “Uggs” freely and loves doing anything his father does.

He is 2 going on 10, as most of his friends are a few years older than him.

He is not shy, he loves to be “Mama’s Big Helper” and he loves his brother with a vengeance.  They will be great friends when Huddy is big enough to play.

He greets his Father and friends with a hug whenever he sees them and calls us “Mommy and Daddy” now which melts my heart each time I hear it.

He is ridiculously coordinated, compared to his 1st birthday just one short year ago when he was just learning how to walk.

He still naps for 3 hours a day and sleeps about 10 – 11 hours at night.

He’s still obsessed with his green blankie which he calls, “bankie.”

He talks up a storm and puts many sentences together.  His favorite questions are, “What do-ning?” and “Where go-ning?”

We chuckle every time we hear one of his Trippisms.  A few of them are:

Pillow – Bellow
Tripp – Ipp
Pretzels – Baubles
Bugles – Beagles

And lately he’s been having trouble with his “ch” sound so his version of “couch” and “watch” are pretty comical.  I’m pretty sure as soon as those last 2 pesky 2-year molars come in, he’ll be more adept with these diagraphs.

Some mornings he is so eager to get outside to play that he’ll throw on any shoes that fit over his footie PJs.  His birthday morning was no exception.  We brought him downstairs on his birthday morning to a living room full of presents to unwrap.  He got a new convertible cart/rider from his Grandma/Grandpa Taylor.  He threw his galoshes on and demanded to head out back to try it out.

After a few laps around the backyard Joe pointed him to his gift from us: a basketball hoop.  He loves any kind of sport and now has basketball to add to his love.

Later that day we had a Monkey themed birthday party for 8 of his closest friends at Divertilandia.  This is a Spanish-style indoor playplace that invites mass juvenile chaos while parents look on as they sip cafe con leche.

I put together some goodie bags with custom made Monkey Cookies from Flour Box Bakery.  Anne was such a darling to make these in the midst of her crazy Thanksgiving orders.  Aren’t they adorable?  And no birthday party is complete without a cupcake tower.

I had a custom banner made and the kids were able to set up shop at this great long table.  Another friend made him a monkey pinata and Joe found this adorable monkey hat online to tie Tripp’s outfit together.

My little guy had such a fun night monkeying around with his friends.

Joe and Huddy had a few laughs as well.

I still cannot believe my little guy is 2 years old.

The kids got little lunh trays with Spanish snacks and then got to dive into their cupcakes.

This is my absolute favorite picture b/c this is the moment when Tripp looked over at me with a look on his face that read, “Mom, they’re are singing for me.  This is all for me, isn’t it?”  It was precious and I will remember the look on his face when he processed what was going on.  He didn’t have the words to relay this feeling but I knew that is what he was thinking.

He was shocked to see Divertilandia brought out a cake after Mama had handed out all the cupcakes.  We saved the cake and brought it home to eat the next day.

Can you tell how tired he was after going bananas all night?  Happy 2nd Birthday to my special first born son.  We love you Triple T!