It's true--you're two! And it's also true that your birthday leaves us feeling like we've been run over by a truck. Or several trucks. We do lots of celebrating!
First, both sets of grandparents visited, one right after the other, and you enjoyed presents, outings, and lots of love and attention from them.
The weekend before your actual birthday, we had a cookout with a few of your friends and their families.
We may not throw the most elaborate birthday parties, but Mommy hopes to always make your birthday cake. She went simple last year by just making a little smash cake. This year, she felt a little more adventurous.
Like last year, you dug into your cake and savored every morsel. This moment truly seems to be a highlight of your year.
We gave you a hip play kitchen for your birthday. With cherry cabinets, granite counter tops, and stainless steel appliances, your kitchen is more in style than ours! Your sheer delight at finding it made our being up until midnight and the five hours it took to put together the kitchen's 150 parts all worth it.
You cook while Mommy cooks. You say, "May's oven" and point to yours and, "Mommy's oven" and point to ours. You do appreciate having your own cooking space.
Daddy had to work on your actual birthday, so Mommy took you to the Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Pavilion. You love butterflies, but were pretty freaked out by how big some of them were and how close they got. (They landed on people! But thankfully, not on us, or you would have certainly lost it.) This was as close as you would voluntarily get to any of the butterflies.
You gazed across the Sculpture Garden's pool toward the National Archives and contemplated what it means to be two.
Then, we visited Daddy for lunch, or munch, as you call it. There's nothing like celebrating a birthday at the Longworth Cafeteria!
Here are some fun facts that we'd like to remember about you at age two:
- You've been speaking in sentences for a couple of months. Your language development is exploding and we enjoy hearing new words and phrases from you every day.
- You can say your first and last names, but you still prefer to call yourself May, as you've been doing for a few months now.
- You weigh 31 pounds (75th-90th percentile) and are 36.25 inches tall (90th percentile), but we think the height estimate may be slightly generous. The nurse said you're in good health and are developmentally on track. Praise God for all of that!
- You're in the throes of separation anxiety, round two, which makes drop off at the church nursery a most unpleasant experience for everyone involved.
- Your moods vary between friendly, playful, and sweet, to bossy, angry, and melting down all within minutes. You throw fits out of nowhere about the most random, irrational things. It's true--you're two!
- You are utterly confident around and don't seem to be at all intimidated by other children (older and younger) and adults. We hope that confidence never fades.
- Considering you were such a grouchy, unfriendly baby your first few months of life, we're completely shocked that you can be a pretty friendly and outgoing little guy now. You've always been sweet, though. Thankfully, that hasn't changed.
- Your memory astounds us.
- You run like the wind.
- You can be quite bossy! If no one's in the room to serve you, we sometimes overhear you giving orders to and fighting with your toys.
- You've demonstrated musical interest and ability for a while now. You began humming soon after you turned one and have been outright singing, on key, for months. Having already covered most children's songs, beloved church hymns, and our favorites from Les Miserables, Mommy recently taught you some songs from The Sound of Music. You picked up and memorized do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, within a couple of days and now regularly request "the do do song" as you call it. Voice lessons may be in your future!
- Zerberts are still your definition of kisses, which we find incredibly endearing.
- Airplanes, helicopters, trains, and trucks still make your day.
- We're working on colors, counting, and letters. You haven't mastered any of these categories yet, but you're making progress.
- You've inherited Mommy's good sense of direction and spend car rides and walks accurately telling us where Aldi, Giant, deep water (swimming pool), library, church, coffee, choo choos, and DeeDee's (Davis's) house are.
- Months of training and consistent discipline at the grocery store have paid off, and you're now a helpful, obedient little shopper. Yes, you're now allowed to get out of the cart and walk and help! Grocery shopping is a highlight of your week.
- Even though you inherited Mommy's hair, eye, and skin coloring, plenty of people still say you look a lot like Daddy. We think you are a perfect combination of both of us, both in looks and personality. We also think you're super cute!
What a wild ride these two years have been, sweet Mason. We miss having a little baby, but even with your moodiness, bossiness, and tantrums, you're definitely a lot more fun now that you're older. We love watching you learn, grow, and develop, and being a part of all of it. You are our world, sweet boy, and there's not a day that goes by that we're not incredibly thankful to have you as a part of our family.
Happy second birthday, Mason! May God bless you to see many, many more.
We love you bunches!
XOXO,
Mommy and Daddy
