Happy 1st Birthday to James!

Happy birthday to my wonderful James-y boy! He has been a joyful, peaceful boy from day one and we all LOVE him! He has recently started clapping and thinks it's the greatest joke when he starts clapping. He likes to bounce up and down when he hears music. He's super cuddly and cute. Every day when I get him up from his nap he cuddles into one shoulder and then looks at me and smiles and cuddles into the other. I love it! He still is all boy; he loves to play rough with Daddy any chance he can get. He's pretty shy. When we're at home, he's super playful, but the minute we leave the house, he gets fairly reserved. He's not a crier when I leave him with anyone else, but he just gets kind of somber. He is a very sharing boy still. He's fine to let Annie have the toys he's playing with, and he even seems to offer them to her frequently. He really does love her - it's pretty cute. The other day at story time he kept crawling over to her just to be by her. I love these two kids!

We celebrated with a "very hungry caterpillar" theme because since he was born we've lovingly referred to James as our "very hungry caterpillar" (Eric Carle's book). He loves his food - just two nights ago, I made a spicy Thai dish and he couldn't get enough of it. When he sees blueberries, he sort of pants like he's desperate. So along that theme, we had blueberry pancakes and blueberries for breakfast. Then we headed to the church gym for an "open gym", where we all bring trikes, etc. and let the kids play. After naps today, we outside today (it was SO nice) and let James swing for a long time. He has recently decided that he loves swinging.

Then tonight we had a pizza party, talked with grandparents, opened presents, and ate cake. All in all, a great day! Annie was VERY present (and restrained, as you'll see) in all of these activities.