Happy Birthday "Two" You!

Tomorrow is your second birthday but since we are leaving in the morning for a little vacation, we are having a quick birthday party today. Not that you don't have enough to celebrate these days...

Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa came to help us finish painting the outside of the house (something we started three years ago) and to help build you a play structure. Mission accomplished! The back of the house matches the front and you have something to keep you busy while we weed or water or if you are just too naked to leave the yard. Grandma did a great job of keeping you busy so it was like a little holiday for me, too! And they brought you presents from them and Ryan, Jared and Leslie. You scored a Little People house complete with a family and Fluffy the Cat™. A doctor's bag with all the tools to keep us up and running. (You especially like checking our heart and blood pressure.) The Little People airplane with pilot and passengers. And a little baby that you like to make sit in the laundry baskets. To top off the fun times, we went for supper to East Side Mario's one night, to the lake to feed the geese and ducks and probably best of all, you, me and Grandma picked up ice cream to finish off the long weekend on Monday night.

After Grandma and Grandpa left on Tuesday, I got to spend the week with you. And Skye. We had quite the time our first day. You fell asleep just after 11 and only slept for forty minutes, but you were in good spirits so we went shopping, coming home just before 4:00 to crawl into bed and nap until Dad came home to wake us. It was just like the winter I was home with you - a year and a half ago I guess. You still had a 4:00 nap, your third of the day, and most days your dad would come home to find us still snoozing. That's the life. So we had a good week shopping with Nana, going to the library, playing on Lily's park.

Dad had Friday off so we went for breakfast and got lumber so Dad could finish the roof and sides of your tower. We napped while he worked. That night was cool so we finally dragged out our bikes and went for a bike ride. It's been so hot and muggy all summer that we spend more time at the pool than exploring the neighbourhood. It's just nice to switch it up. You rode well in your bike trailer, placated by candy bribes near the end. One thing I am really enjoying about you as you get older is your ability to sit nice in your stroller, carseat and bike trailer while we go places. Since you were about ten months old, you would howl and try to lunge out of everything so you could walk or run or just be in Mommy's arms. Now it's pretty cute when you try to pry your carseat straps off while saying, "I stuck. I stuck!" You also say that when Dad holds you or hugs you against your will - which is fairly often.

And yesterday was Folk Fest. The day we went anyway. I've been telling you about it for a couple days. You were very excited as your buddy Creeson would be there. ("Creeson. Hold hands, hug and kiss.) And it turned out to be as good and better than you anticipated. We got there right at 6 but it was already so busy. We found a place off to the side where we spread out our big blanket and kept our eyes peeled for Creeson and his mommy and daddy. In the meantime, there was this sweet little girl who was trying to impress us with her cartwheels. It worked with you in a big way and you quickly latched onto her. So much so that at one point you disappeared, following her and her mom down to the stage to dance. Her dad had to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that you wanted to go dancing. So we went up and the band was Mother Mother. I have been gushing about them for months and have been so excited to finally see them so we danced and I took some video. (You and I even met them afterwards at the merchandise tent where they were signing autographs. We told them a little story about seeing their poster at a presentation at my conference in Atlanta. And we took their picture because I think one day they could be borderline mainstream...) Anyway, it was so wonderful to see you in this huge crowd of people as you danced and ran and squealed with delight. You would occasionally check to see where I was, maybe giving my a leg squeeze. But you were free and just sucked in that freedom.

Eventually we found Jamie and Creeson and Mike so we brought them over to our blanket. Creeson was so pleased to see you and you were his main motivator for coming like he was yours. Apparently he talks about Yee Yee (Lily) quite a bit these days after they came over last Friday morning for coffee. So after sharing some mini donuts with him while you got reacquainted, you were all over that little boy hugging and kissing and stroking his cheek with the back of your hand. Well, that was when you weren't placing your hands on his neck in a kind of strangling action. With Mike and Jamie settled in, we found out that they knew the little girl's daddy so we officially met her; Avery wasn't much taller than you but she was 5 so there's lots of hope for your height. While Creeson got his bearings and stood fairly still, you ran wildly on the grass by the fence with Avery, her big brother and a little boy with red hair who was also sitting nearby. I couldn't believe how independent you could be, rarely checking to see where we were. When you wandered too close to the mud, I came to tell you to stay out of there. Avery took your hand, looked up at me and told me she would look after you. That made my job easier. Soon Creeson warmed up and the three of you ate Cheezies and orange popcorn in between boughts of trying to push the tree over, exploring the ashtrays and running just under every passerbys feet.

As the night went on, Avery had to stick closer to her parents so it was just you and Creeson. You were both just goofy. Creeson was maniacal and when he touched something or ran into the mud, you would chase him, shaking your finger and saying, "No, no, no, Creeson. Don't touch. Careful." Ah, Lily - the voice of reason... Almost sounds like how Mommy natters at Daddy. Anyway, you both stayed on that high until we finally packed everything up, wrapped you in a blanket and took you home - at almost 11:30 p.m.! Late night for all of us.

*UPDATE*
We had your birthday party so here's a movie of you and your butterfly cake. You were very impressed that it was covered in Smarties! I took lots of pictures of you today. I will have to post a bunch from the last few days and from our holiday sometime after we're back to our old routine.


Happy Birthday TWO you! from lily and mama and Vimeo.