Baylor's Birthday: The Day

My little boy turned 2 on September 7th ... can you believe it?! Because we had his party the day before, we did whatever he wanted to do for his actual birthday. I let him wander around before breakfast; along the way he grabbed his balloon.

Mollie got to hang out on the counter with him while he ate.

Then he set to work exploring all the new toys he'd received the day before. I just had to snap a picture of him playing with his mat with an oven mitt on his other hand. Too cute!

Then we had a picnic on the porch.

With Mollie going crazy nearby in her jumperoo.

Mollie soon settled down for her lunchtime nap, so Baylor and I enjoyed a little mama/son time over some good food.

After his nap, we were joined by my mom and sister for dinner and fun.

You wouldn't ordinarily think a two-year-old would request going to the mall for his birthday, but that's exactly what he wanted. He wanted to go on an elevator but balked a bit when we suggested going on his usual favorite (at Barnes and Noble), so we headed to Macy's. On our way there, we detoured to some ride-on toys to see if he'd be interested in a ride. At first he just wanted to sit in them.

You know, turn the steering wheels, bang on the lights ... that sort of thing.

Mollie looked on while her brother explored.

He finally came upon this hot dog van and was comfortable and curious enough with it to let us put in some money and try it out.

The buttons all started to work and do different things once we put some money in, and he thought that was the bees knees!

Of course, now that he realized it wasn't scary to be on these things while they moved, he wanted to try some of the others out.

After we finished up on the ride-ons, we headed over to the play area so he could play on some breakfast foods. There were lots of other kids to watch and play near, so he had a great time.

At long last it was time for an elevator ride! No one else was there, so he got to push the button himself. Can you believe how tall he is?!

Waiting for the elevator with Mama.

It started up dramatically, so he held my hand on our first ride up. And my heart swelled.

After our first ride up and down, we stopped for a little "waterfall" action; he calls anything where the water actually falls down a "waterfall". And, of course, he helped me push the button.

We rode up and down again, just him and I, and on our way up he discovered the "open door" and "close door" buttons. It was fine because no one else was wanting to ride the elevator. Unfortunately, it caused a series of events which led to him getting his fingers caught in the elevator door. On the bright side, this was pretty much the only time he cried on his birthday. (And his fingers were okay ... just a little sore.)

Then we went and rode the escalator at Macy's. He's a total champ getting on and off the moving stairs; some people don't even have that mastered as adults!

He didn't care if he had birthday cake on his birthday, but green ice cream was a must!

While Christine and I finished up our mini Blizzards, Mom took Baylor to Barnes and Noble for one last go around on the elevator and escalators.

All in all, I'd say the little man had a good birthday. Hopefully this will usher in the year of the terrific twos! (Knock on wood!)

Baylor's Birthday: The Party

Taking advantage of Baylor's birthday being at the beginning of September, we decided to have his birthday party on Labor Day. As this was our first attempt at throwing any sort of birthday party, we decided to keep our guest list small and manageable, and Baylor tends to do better when crowds are smaller.

My mom made a bunting, not unlike this one, out of extra fabric from my cousins' college quilts for us to have as a reusable decoration for parties. Isn't it gorgeous?!

With all the people flowing into our house, Baylor got a little overwhelmed and retreated to the kitchen to spend some alone time with Aunt Christine.

He eventually joined his cousins and friends at his kitchen and on the porch.

We ate dinner in the garage, both to keep the mess in the house as low as possible and to have as much room as possible for people to enjoy their food. After dinner, my husband - the resident grillmaster/chef for the party - got to relax a bit with his brother while the kids played outside.

And my mom and mother-in-law got to spend quality time with the littlest ones of the bunch.

Our good friend Shaun did a little magic for Baylor, hiding a blueberry under some of his stacking cups and switching it around "magically", before dinner and Baylor hoped Grandpa E could replicate it later on. He still asks for it occasionally now, days later.

My mom brought over a slide for the kids to play on, but Baylor was content just to watch the action from the breezeway.

Mollie is a social butterfly and was delighted to see so much action going on around her.

After playing a bit while we got dinner cleaned up, Baylor got to open his presents. He got a ton of cool gifts, from some MSU gear to accessories for his new kitchen to a new quilt to get nice and warm with to a new world map. He had a little trouble letting go of each gift just to open a new one, but in the end he was thrilled with pretty much everything he got.

Finally, with the kids starting to wind down, it was time for birthday cake. We did a vehicle themed party since he is so into that kind of thing these days, and my sister pulled through with an awesome school bus cake for the little man. Unfortunately, when everyone started singing to him he freaked out and started sobbing.

But with a little reassurance from Aunt Christine, he pulled it together and was able to blow out his sparkly 2 candle.

She also made cupcakes, and he decided to enjoy one of those so his beautiful cake didn't have to be cut into pieces. He hoovered the cupcake as quickly as he could, almost seeming fearful that we were going to realize he was eating a ton of sugar and would take it away.

We did cut into his birthday cake, and it was delicious! Here is a close up of the front end of it so you can enjoy some of the detail ... the windows and gray detailing are made out of white chocolate, the stop sign is a smushed juju b, the lights are M&Ms, and the wheel and front bumper were cookies from Oreos. Isn't my sister talented?!

Everyone seemed to have a good time, and we lucked out with some wonderful weather. All in all, our first party seems to have been a success! Thanks to everyone who came and/or helped out!

Baylor's Birthday: 43 Steps to a Kitchen

My parents got Baylor a play kitchen for his birthday this year, and my sister and I spent an afternoon putting it together a few days before his party. Here's how it went!

We first laid everything out in as close to alphabetical order (each piece was labeled with a letter or two) as we could. It looked pretty daunting as we started out.

Mom had Baylor for the day, but Mollie got to help us out and keep our spirits up with her smiles.

We got underway and kept a steady pace, breaking a couple times for lunch or to feed or tend to Mollie.

It is truly amazing how many pieces go into making a small kitchen like this!

Mollie was a constant source of cheer during our efforts!

Then she fell in love with the plaid on our swivel chairs.

At this point, we were feeling pretty good about our progress.

Then we looked around ... bummer.

Mom called us around 4:30 to see how we were doing; we were only at about step 28 out of 43 total steps and had only reached this point in the construction. And they were hoping to bring Baylor over a little after 5:00! Yikes!

We only hit a few minor snags along the way; a piece came damaged so we had to fix it, a few pieces weren't fitting together properly so sanding and chiseling were involved, and my sister may have accidentally at one point spilled some of the screws from their labeled bins. That last snafu, though, was very easily fixed ... no worries, Christine!

Those last twenty or so steps went pretty quickly, and we soon had the kitchen assembled! And it only took us four working hours!

Baylor got to play with it almost immediately, and he has been smitten ever since.

The laundry center is one of his favorite spots, as I suspected it would be; he loves to help me with the laundry and the timer on his washer/dryer actually dings!

Mollie enjoyed watching her brother play, no doubt anticipating the day she too would get to play with the kitchen.

The dishes are clean!

It was a good start to the second birthday festivities! And I had a lot of fun getting to put something together with my little sister!