At 10:31 a.m. on October 24, 2015, my sweet baby Duke was born. 8lbs 1oz, a screeching pterodactyl cry, and the sweetest round face I’ve ever seen. He’s been LOUD since the beginning. He’s happy, excitable, funny, and sweet. He’s also super sassy, challenging, and stubborn. He’s 2.
Duke made us parents and it’s clearly become my favorite thing. Raising 2 wild boys is so much more than I ever could’ve imagined- more fulfilling, more loving, more chaos, more noise, more snuggles. Duke reminds me to smile more, be in the moment, pay attention, and play. He provides a perspective I desperately needed.
October has been a pretty crazy month for us so I was giving myself a healthy dose of mom-guilt that I hadn’t done enough for Duke’s 2nd birthday party. We didn’t have any family coming in town this year so we knew it would be a small get together with my parents, my sister and brother-in-law and 2 nieces. Dennis and I had gotten the bright idea that Duke needed a power wheels Ford F150 to match his daddy but we couldn’t find one in store in town so we ended up driving to a nearby town at 9:30 on Friday night to pick up the gift. I am so glad we got it for him because he seriously loves it and it should last him many years of crazy driving all over the yard. We just need to teach him to keep his eyes on the road! Anyway, party day was Saturday, so while Dennis put Duke’s gift together at work, I hung out with the boys and picked up the house to get ready to decorate during naptime.
We did a Mickey Mouse themed party because Duke loves “Mou” as he lovingly refers to Mickey. I found some super cute decorations at Walmart and loaded up on streamers. My sister and oldest niece came over to help get everything setup while Duke snoozed away. I prepped some of the food for grilling later and my mom brought some yummy sides. When Duke woke up a little before 4, Dennis went upstairs to distract him while we finished setting up and waited for a couple people to show up so he could make a proper entrance!
He was a little confused at first but seemed to get used to all of the attention being on him pretty quickly! We played and hung out until it was time for dinner and as soon as someone said “I think we should open presents”, Duke bolted into the living room and immediately tore into a gift. It was hilarious. We literally couldn’t even get up from the table fast enough and he had clearly just been waiting for the moment he could let loose on some wrapping paper.
Duke was spoiled with some awesome gifts- a heavy duty Case tractor, Maui character doll that sings, clothes, a Magnadoodle, magnets for the fridge, balls, a personalized puzzle stool, and toy animals. We took him out to the garage to reveal his truck after he opened everything inside and proceeded to crack up as he took turns driving around the yard with my nieces. I never thought the truck would make our backyard seem so small but we’ve since expanded his territory to outside the fence and I think our crash rate has decreased significantly.
Yesterday, on the real BIG day, we woke Duke up with a balloon avalanche. He was super excited and I could tell he knew the day was special. He had an awesome day at daycare and came home to drive his truck a few rounds before we had a yummy birthday dinner of pancakes, eggs and bacon….just a few of the birthday boy’s favorite things! We capped off the night with brownies and singing and a couple small presents.
At 2 years old, Duke is constantly working on expanding his vocabulary and getting excited about communicating more with us. I can tell he gets frustrated if we don’t understand what he’s trying to say and I can see his little mind working to figure out how to pronounce a word before he repeats it. If all else fails and we truly have no idea what he’s trying to get at, he’ll grab our hand and show us exactly what he wants.
Duke loves snuggling, tickles, playing and messing with his brother. He’s a pretty picky eater which I constantly struggle with and loves milk. He has quite the crew of sweet friends at daycare and picking him up is still the very best moment of the day with him. He squeals with excitement, jumps into my arms, and promptly looks for the treat bucket. Duke loves to dance, sing along to music or make up his own tune, and spends hours each week pretending to build things on his tool bench or cook in his kitchen. Next on my list of things to buy is this because he absolutely loves being in the kitchen and wants to help with everything {or spray water all over the counter}. Life with Duke is so much fun and while part of me is in awe that my sweet baby is 2 already, I honestly can’t wait to see what’s in store for us this year!
Happy Birthday sweet baby Duke!
-T-
