Oliver Clayton Royal is TWO years old!

After the zoo this morning, Oliver took his nap and then had his first big stack of presents to open. I promise I narrowed down the pictures I wanted to post, however there is still a ton of pictures. I have scattered a few videos throughout the post, so be certain to look for the small arrow to see the video. Enjoy!

Gramps took this picture, and I just think it is the most adorable picture I have seen all day

How did he know he should move his hands like that, Oliver you are amazing!

My little Mozart Oliver in his first recital

Oliver is fascinated with the lawn crews that come to our neighborhood. He knows that first you mow, then you weed eat, then you use the blower and he has sound effects for each. Here, he is pretending to use his gift as a blower and saying blow, blow, blow.

Oliver also received a matching rain coat, but he never did get around to opening much anything else after his big gift that you will see in a few pictures

We waited as long as we could to give this to him, but he became very curious about half-way through the present opening and so here it begins. What is under this blanket?

It's a car table and Oliver is oh so excited about it; just look at that smile!

Here is a video of him playing with his new table.

Oliver loves fire trucks and was very excited to receive this gigantic fire truck and truck book from Grammy & Gramps!

Since we would be having cake at his party on Saturday, I bought some brownies and put two candles in one for him.

He is so excited to eat the cake/brownie, he can hardly stand it.

It turns out the brownies were disgusting...Oliver didn't seem to mind. Cake is cake to me!

Here is a video of Oliver chowing on his cake

Oliver turned TWO, so we went to ZOO!

So the big day that we have anticipated is finally here; hooray, my little boy is TWO years old! When I asked Oliver what he wanted to do for his birthday, I gave him two options: the zoo or the state fair. He instantly responded zoo because he wanted to see the donkeys, the camels and the elephants. Unfortunately, the camel exhibit is no more, the donkeys were off exhibit and the elephant was inside eating his lunch. But it was a perfect morning for the zoo and we made the most of the animals we did see. Oliver enjoyed experiencing the zoo with his Grammy & Gramps. Be warned, this is a very long post!

Can we go yet? Oliver was ready for the zoo, and just waiting for the rest of us.

Since we weren't quite ready, he decided to lay down and wait with a cute smile!

This is Oliver's car seat cozy pose that he assumes when he is tired.

We made it to the zoo. First stop, feed the birds in the aviary.

Next stop, a short pony ride with Daddy -- so much fun!

Oliver loved petting the fluffy bunny in the petting zoo.

I don't think I want to crawl inside there...but, you can!

Oliver practicing his hopping skills with some kangaroos

Daddy showing Oliver the monkeys

The monkeys looking at Oliver

Oliver & Gramps looking for the camels near where they once were

Oliver so cute, yet a little disappointed at the lack of camels

Oliver & Gramps looking at one of three huge Rhinos

check out the size of those horns!

Oliver & Gramps looking for the tiger

here he is!

my silly little birthday boy!

PRICELESS!

Oliver & Grammy walking up to see the giraffes and the elephant who wished not to be photographed as they were busy eating lunch

Back with Gramps now to see an enormous turtle

The turtle came out of his house to say hello!

Hold on tight Oliver, don't fall off!

Oliver & Daddy sneaking up on a squirrel

Mommy & Oliver taking a rest

Time for tickle-kisses from Daddy

Now time for birthday kisses from Mommy & Daddy

Awww...A birthday family photograph (thanks gramps!)

Oliver goes exploring the picnic area by himself (of course I'm not far behind with my camera)

I think Oliver didn't like the placement of the elephant. He kept trying to push it!

I liked the one of Mommy, Oliver & Grammy on the carousel

Grammy, Oliver & Gramps on the ride home

This is the first of three posts for Oliver's birthday. I'll post his present opening and his party as soon as I have time. Happy Birthday Honey Pie! Mommy & Daddy love you!

A birthday letter from Mommy

Dear Oliver,
Happy birthday my sweet boy! What a blessing you are in your Daddy & Mommy's lives. There is nothing in the world I would rather do than stay home with you and watch you learn and develop into your own person. Your language has blossomed over the last few months; you are constantly trying out new words you hear Mommy & Daddy use and you will repeat almost anything that we ask. You are beginning to learn grammar, just the other day while driving down the alley to our driveway, you exclaimed, "Mommy, car coming" and you were right, there was a car coming. You are learning manners, you now say please when you ask for something and you have said thank you for a long time; we are working on bless you, as well as covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze and common courtesies like asking someone how they are feeling.

Counting is something we like to do all day long; I have heard you count to 8 by yourself, and you can count to 10 with help. You love to sing songs and you often finish the last word in most sentences of almost all the books we read.

You are so happy and love to play. You will entertain yourself, but often you request that Mommy or Daddy "come play"; I think it is just because you enjoy our company. You still enjoy cooking, but lately you have really been loving cars, trucks, and tractors. And let's not forget your current fascination with Winnie the Pooh character stuffed animals, movies and anything else. You still love stuffed animals and often we have conversations with your animals.

You still have tantrums, but I think Mommy & Daddy are learning how to deal with your independent side a little better and perhaps that is reducing the number of tantrums. You love to do things by yourself, and choices seem to be the best route in getting you to do what we want you or need you to do. You can't stand tags on your shirts and you will protest and pull at them until the shirt is removed.

You have developed an allergy to something in the pizza we love to eat and the last two times you have eaten it, your mouth has turned red around your lips, but then responds to Benadryl. We have known that you have been sensitive to the acid in tomatoes for a long time, but interestingly enough; the pizza never affected you that way until now. Perhaps Dijorno changed their list of ingredients. This further reduces already small list of things you will eat. Your favorites are still pasta, green beans, corn, V8, corn bread, recently you have started to like all sorts of rice, you still love fruit and of course almost any sweet you have tried (I'm certain there is more, but this was what came to me).

I love that you still want to sit on my lap when we play together or read stories. I love that you rub my back when I am holding you. I love that you still let me hold you in the cradle position as I am telling you your final bedtime story. I love that you tangle your hands up in my necklace while I am holding you. I love how excited you get at the simple things. I love your giggle, how much fun you are, your passion for your own interests, and how a little piece of chocolate can sometimes make everything better when you are having a hard time. I am pretty sure I love everything about you and I wouldn't change my time spent with you for anything.

Happy Birthday Oliver! Mommy & Daddy love you very much!

Love you always and forever,
Mommy

Grammy & Gramps came to Texas for Oliver's birthday

Oliver's Grammy & Gramps came back to Texas for Oliver's 2nd birthday. Oliver has been asking about who was coming to his party for weeks now and he is so excited now that it is so close. Oliver was very happy to see Grammy & Gramps. Here are some pictures of him getting reacquainted.

Oliver playing at the park

This afternoon we went to a park on the Chisholm Trail; Oliver loves to play with all of their fun toys, especially the school bus!

No use crying over spilled milk...literally!

My little guy loves chocolate. This morning Oliver was pretending to make chocolate milk in his kitchen (which he has never had before), when we decided to make real chocolate milk in Mommy's kitchen. I put it in a sippy cup and he wouldn't touch it; he insisted that it needed to be in a glass with a spoon just like Mommy drinks it. Here is a picture and a video of Oliver drinking chocolate milk for the first time and getting it all over my floor.

No use crying over spilled milk, literally! Instead, I took this as an opportunity to move out the table and chairs and mop the kitchen. Oliver had a great time practicing his jumping skills in the empty breakfast nook. As you can see in the video, he is really starting to catch some air: