On Becoming Two

Charlie lived this birthday to the fullest, celebrating with pals and family too. We met up with a small group of friends at the Sandbox, a local indoor playground and hung out for the morning. Then, on the weekend, my fam came up to celebrate Bob the Builder style. Yeah, I know I never thought I'd do one of those "themed" birthdays either, but a tablecloth covered with tools and hard hats is the stuff dreams are made of for our boy. Bob and I stayed up late the night before, decorating the dining room and frosting a 'hammer' cake. We had so much fun imagining his reaction to all the decorations in the morning...plastic nails and bolts hanging from the ceiling, balloons the whole deal. But, we didn't actually get to see the reaction. You see, usually Charlie comes into our bedroom when he wakes up the morning. But, on this particular morning, he decided to go downstairs first. Bob had gone to get coffee with our early riser Amelia and I was dead to the world, blissfully savoring my extra half hour in bed. Bob said that when he came in the door, Charlie was sitting on the bottom step of our stairway. So...apparently he had already surveyed the dining room in all its glory. But, as for his reaction, only Bob the Builder knows and he ain't talkin.

Here are some photos from the festivities. Oh, one more note of cuteness. Every time we would sing Happy Birthday to Charlie, he would suddenly become extremely shy. It was so funny! He would put his head down and kind of slide his eyes back and forth, scanning everyone with his peripheral vision until the song was over--hilarious!! I posted a video at the bottom...

PS--We missed you Nana, Grandpa and Uncle Dave :(


Charlie and one of his favorite building buddies, Papa. Papa brought up a wagon for Charlie to work on with him. It had pre-drilled nail holes so that Charlie could pound the nails in himself. He was in heaven!

Here's Aunt Kat with our littlest party guest.

Charlie and his bestest buddy and cuz. It's been so cute to see the way that Charlie mimics everything that his older and wiser cousin does. Although...Aaron may be our main suspect in teaching Charlie to say, "I don't like...." The other day I took the kids to story hour at the museum and just when all was quiet and the lady started to read, Charlie busted out with a loud, "I don't like it Mama, I don't like it."

Even the fruit was apropos.

We had way too much fun making this. Hey, can you think of anything more entertaining to do on a Friday night? Yeah, ok, we know we're not even remotely cool anymore.

The whole gang was on hand to share birthday wishes (and germs). Aunt Kat pointed out that Charlie is licking the ice cream scoop in this picture. Yes, prior to serving dessert.

Grandma and Papa gave Charlie this "manure spreader" to hitch on the back of his John Deere tractor. Mom was so excited because it actually "spreads" if you put dirt or something in the wagon. She suggested that we use oatmeal. We'll have to try that when one of us feels like trailing behind with the dustbuster--or maybe just wait til the weather's warmer...

This puzzle from Aunt Beth, Uncle Scott and Aaron was so appropriate. Charlie opened it and gave a timely, "Whoa" of delight. The funny thing is, he actually tries to use these like they are tools. He'll carry the hammer around tapping on various surfaces and poke the screwdriver into any hole or crevice he can find. I actually found the saw on the edge of the laundry chute in the kitchen yesterday, along with a rather grody sippy cup.

Oh, I hope I'll always remember looking over at Aaron as he gobbled down a third, yes third, piece of Charlie's hammer cake. He was completely oblivious to everything else going on and was just going to town on that cake. Not sure how he even managed to get a small blue dot right between his eyebrows, but along with the blue goatee it was priceless!

The gals, Violet and Mallory.

Buddy Kyle is also a contender for the cake-eating contest. Impressive! This performance did require a wardrobe change.

I love this picture of Kaylynn and her sand angel! Kaylynn in one of the girls I babysit and she is such a joy! She is so into pretend now and I get a kick out of it each time. Mostly it's Cinderella and I get to be the evil stepmother. If I'm not playing the part just right, she'll stop and say, "No, you have to be mean to me. Now rip my dress." It's so funny. She also wanted to play 'Jesus Dies on the Cross' one day, but I had to nix that one. She wanted me to be Jesus and it just didn't seem right...

OK, Britney Spears, pull that car over.

My favorite nephew and the second cutest boy in the whole world.

Amelia here with sweet little Nathan Bajus; Nathan was born just a few months after her. In this pic, they were both looking wistfully at the sandbox and probably thinking, "Dang these baby prisons."

What a good Dad. He's got skills too and can do pretty much any type of home improvement project with Amelia in this carrier--from plumbing to electrical. Seriously!

Michelle and Bethany with their littlest ones.

We got Charlie his first train set for birthday number too. He mostly likes to take apart the tracks after Dad painstakingly puts them all together. But, he does really like playing with it and the "Choo, Choo" is fun to hear.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

I think I'm going to like Charlie as a 2-year-old. I know, terrible twos and all that. But, really, each age has its own terribleness and wonderfulness. The wonderful is what you remember though-- mostly. Tonight, Amelia went to bed a little early and dad was working, so Charlie and I sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watched Monsters, Inc. It's strange, he's actually becoming more like someone to hang out with since he has just recently acquired the ability to stay still for more than a minute. I did have to get him good and tired out dancing to the Johnny Cash Children's Album in the basement, but still he watched the movie for almost an hour. I'm glad he's still low on the mental maturity totem pole though since I did fast forward through about a half hour of the movie so that it "ended" near his bedtime. I know I won't be able to get away with that for long. Too bad there isn't a life remote control. Wouldn't it be nice to pause during those lazy mornings when the kids are squirming and squealing around in our bed and fast forward through the less pleasant incidences--like that post-hammer cake diaper change? Alas, a new year of memories awaits!