Happy Birthday Harvey!

Harvey turned 2 years old this past Monday. We opened some gifts at home on Sunday after church. He opened his gifts slowly and carefully. Rowan wasn't very patient an kept trying to help him. She was a little overbearing at times. It was hard for her to understand that this was his birthday and these were his gifts. She kept telling us that he should share with her. While she is correct in thinking that sharing is courteous, she didn't understand that one cannot force another person to share their own birthday gifts.

Harvey got a full Packers outfit from
Grandma and Grandpa Weisensel.
We can't wait to put these clothes on him
during football season.

Harvey also got a box full of cars from the Weisensels.
Notice the third hand (with the band-aid) reaching in and swiping a car.

Harvey received a Transformer and a Lightning McQueen car from us. He loves both, but we found that it's still a little early for him to have the Transformer. I did not realize that the limbs of the toy were capable of popping off. Harvey wouldn't eat them, but Ursula is getting so close to crawling, I would fear for her safety.

Harvey also got a classic Big Wheel from us. He loves to scoot around on it.
I think he will be able to reach the pedals
with his feet next summer.

For lunch, I made a yummy home-made baked macaroni and cheese dish. We all love this version of mac n cheese. Harvey was so excited about his cars that he felt they all needed to congregate around his meal. It was too cute!

The next day, I took the kids to our biggest park in Watertown. There is a large play structure there and since it's mostly surrounded by water, there are a lot of ducks & geese to feed.

This is a great place for kids to play, but the stairs and tunnels are all built for little people. I had a hard time keeping track of where my kids were.

Here's Rowan teaching Harvey (by example) how to swing on your tummy. It was really cute to see them swinging side by side. A couple times Rowan tried to push Harvey to get him moving more, but that resulted in his falling. I wish we had swings in our backyard.

Harvey is doing very well starting his 2nd year. He is about 30 pounds and has all of his baby teeth. He can say a lot of words and will copy a lot of new words that he hears. He is running and jumping and throwing a ball overhand. He sleeps well at night and still takes one nap a day. He is pretty good at eating although he will turn up his nose to a few things on occasion.

Harvey is starting to show independence. He wants to play alone sometimes and that bothers Rowan. We have seen many fights that were instigated by Rowan and/or Harvey. Although they are not doing it in fun, we sometimes enjoy watching them wrestle on the floor. Most of the time it will end in a parent breaking up the fight or Rowan getting smacked with a train (of the Thomas the Tank Engine variety).
Harvey has also brought his screaming tantrum to new levels. His volume and pitch are higher than ever before. One time I really thought that he would lose his voice. Because his words are still hard to understand, I usually don't know what kicks off the tantrum.
I'm really looking forward to the day he grows out of this. I realize that may be a while.

Even though he is testing us, our Harvey is still such a lovable little man and he does beam one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen.

Happy Birthday Harvey!
We love you to bits!