What a marvelous day for a birthday party. The weather is outstanding
and we've got friends and family with rambunctious two-year olds ready
to break in the back yard in proper fashion. The theme this year
featured Bob The Builder and early in the morning, Daddy and
Gramps were doing just that by putting the finishing touches on the
new play house and the jungle gym. It's a good thing they were pretty
easy to finish off because before we knew it, they were being put to
good use by eager children! When they weren't climbing, they were
chasing tiny and not-so-tiny bubbles and generally making us tired just
watching them. :)
Hard play requires lots of calories and energy so Daddy donned the
chef's hat (courtesy of Grandma Carol!) and started offering burnt
sacrifices to the propane gods of the grille. All of the usual grille
favorites were there...hamburgers, hot dogs, cheddar wurst, and all of
the fixings. If you left this soiree hungry, than it's not because
there wasn't a ton of food. Gramps chipped in with a nice big tray of
shrimp...mmmmm...shrimp. Um, sorry about that...a bit distracted and
all that.
After lunch, it was time to get really good and messy with shaving
cream sculpture and it wasn't just the kids that were getting messy.
And I mean MESSY. It's a good thing the hose was nice and
convenient and the boys were all into the idea of cool water on a hot
afternoon. You know, I rather envy them...
With the occasional squirt, they tromped all round the back yard with
a bit of the follow my leader and then it was back to the hose
for a bit more. I think the fun part for me was watching these little
guys just having a grand time in the water and with each other.
After everyone was cleaned and dried, it was time to present the cake.
I'm telling you guys...want the coolest and best tasting cakes for your
function? It's in the most unlikely of places...Sam's Club. I
kid you not...the cake and frosting isn't sickly sweet and has a wonderful
butter taste to it. Best frosted cake I've ever had, hands down. This
cake featured construction machinery (they might have been a bit blase
given all of the construction going on round here but he seemed to like
it all right anyway).
What a wonderful day and a grand party. Thanks so much to everyone who
came round to make it a truly special experience. I wonder what sort of
mischief a party of three year-olds can get into next year...
Yes, all the way from Port Orange and Ormond Beach, Moby Dodge
has managed to survive the trip safe and sound with passengers and an
incredible amount of cargo. And this is the shorter version of the
Dodge Ram van, people... :)
And we know what Moby Dodge's arrival means, don't we? Yep...
sensory overload is soon coming for two special boys. There is something
to be said for tradition.
Pretty soon after arrival, there was a prodigious pile of presents and
citrus for everyone. And after bringing all of the stuff in (plus for
Gramps and Grandma Carol, a long drive to boot)...it was time to raid
the Chinese restaurant in Clayton (still the best take-out in the area)
for a lot of good food.
Happy birthday, Nicholas!
I can't tell you how hard it is to believe that you're already two years
old! It literally seems like yesterday that you came into our lives
(a little early to be sure but healthy which was all we really wished)
and not so long ago that we had your first birthday party.
It doesn't seem so long ago that you were this helpless little thing...
we had to carry you wherever you went, everything you ate came in a
bottle we had to feed you, occasionally dress you, and do just about
everything else for you. Sounds a lot like your little brother
Alexander, eh?
Now we look at you and can't believe just how big you've gotten and how
talkative you are! It wasn't enough just to start speaking...no, no...
you had to be our little overachiever who actually started stringing
them together into meaningful sentences. The mornings are usually a
litany of daddy, bye-bye, truck, work and the evenings where
Mommy goes to work is greeted with mommy, bye-bye, work. It
seems that every day that passes has a few new words added to the
vocabulary. It may well be the bigger trick to get you to occasionally
be quiet but then Daddy has the same problem so don't worry about it too
much.
Not only has the breadth of vocabulary been growing at an impressive
rate, the creative application of it has grown as much if not more. You
certainly know who your baby is and his name as well as yours
when you decide to own up to it. OK, every kid right now is baby
but we all know who your special baby is. The fact that you love your
little brother and he absolutely adores you is touching in more ways
than you'll ever know. But even with that, I don't think we were quite
prepared for this one incident where you engaged in some seriously
explosive flatulence (as in THE SMOKING LAMP IS NOW OUT
THROUGHOUT THE SHIP!!!)...and then got this sly smile and
and angelic look on your face...and then tried to blame the baby
for it!
I guess that's something we have to work on in the coming year so that
the future years may be less painful for you. A word to the wise: we
aren't quite as dumb as you may think we are! If you keep that in mind
when you're making mischief and own up to what is truly your doing, we'll
get along quite fine. We're pretty good at identifying the perpetrator
by process of elimination. In this case identifying the point source
of the explosion by sound and smell was pretty much instantaneous and
trust me on this one, you didn't have to be the CSI dude to lay an air
tight (ugh, horrible pun!) case for prosecution. It's a process that's
much easier when we know we didn't do it and Alexander wasn't
anywhere near ground zero!
For what it's worth, it was far worse for Daddy when he was growing up.
Bill Cosby was quite right about this...at least with two or more
children involved, there is some element of doubt and you have to
engage in evidence gathering and discovery to get at the truth. The
fact that you figured that out at an early age and tried to exploit it
to your advantage is one more sign of you being an overachiver in the
cleverness department. You see, Daddy never really had that option...as
an only child, there really wasn't any doubt as to guilt when the charges
were laid (Gramps once told me that the Uniform Code of Military
Justice (UCMJ) tends to be applied the same way so he was already
pretty comfortable by extending the concept of we already know you're
guilty so all we're deciding are the terms of punishment to our
family tribunals).
Even when Uncle Ben and Aunt Meghann came along, Daddy was
far too old at that point to try to pin things on them...and besides,
he was always being blamed for their mischief as well. Not that he's at
all bitter about that or anything but I'm going to try to refrain from
dropping the hoary old but you're older and should know better
line on you. I did know better...but when there were two of them
on opposite sides of the house and only one of me...well, you're just
not going to win when the chips are down and explanations are required.
That's the part about being the big brother which stinks on ice...having
to defend the indefensible for things you didn't actually do. Being
the first kid also means that your parents are trying all sorts of
nifty parenting ideas on you and then getting it right on the subsequent
children. But on the bright side, you don't tend to end up with
hand-me-down clothes and toys... :)
But you're getting a free pass on this one because honestly, it was so
darned funny seeing that smile and you trying desperately to pin the
crime on Alexander that frankly we couldn't help but roll on the floor
laughing until it hurt. Very clever...but we're on to you now! :)
Walking and climbing certainly haven't been a problem for you for quite
a while and is the main reason for that jungle gym we built in the back
yard. If we didn't have it, you'd probably be climbing the walls and
everything else. Oh, wait a minute...you actually were! You come by it
honestly, at least. You remind me of the truest words ever spoken by
one of the wits on the back of the EPCOT trams that take passengers to
the ticket booths from the parking lot: you have parked in the
ENERGY parking lot...ENERGY is that thing that your kids will have at
the end of the day but YOU WILL NOT!.
But even the simple things show how far you've come in two years and
never ceases to amaze me. A few months ago, you started carrying your
clothes to the hamper in your bedroom and chucking them in after a
bath (and wait for the obligatory yay, Nicholas and when it
didn't come quick enough, you were more than willing to clap your hands
for yourself...you'd certainly earned the ovation!). And now bath time
is a ritual of collecting the pajamas, drawing the bath, playing and
splashing in it, getting dried off after it, a hug and a kiss (or
several), turning on the ducky night light, brushing the teeth, and then
into the hamper the clothes go. Even when Daddy might think about
missing a step...you never do!
Another thing that is a joy to see is when you're playing with other
children. It's obvious that you love being around them and your sense
of sharing and fair play is quite remarkable given your age. I know of
people many times your age who have problems with being nice to others
but it seems to come naturally to you. If you need proof, we've seen
you in action at the play area at Triangle Town Centre...and we've been
awfully proud telling the other parents that you are our son.
But the thing I've found most interesting is that you've managed to
balance a fiercely independent streak with the occasional curl up in the
lap for a cuddle. Most people never really hit that sweet spot
but you've certainly perfected it.
It's hard to believe you're two years old today. It really does seem
like yesterday to us. When you're our age and you have kids of your
own, I'm sure you'll understand what we're feeling right now.
Tonight's fun was a run round Chuck E. Cheese riding the rides,
eating a bit of pizza, and then riding the rides some more. But mostly
it was some time to relax a bit from the rigors of real life and just
enjoy your birthday in advance of the official party.
Today, we decided to have a nice picnic in the park with all of the
fixings: Bojangles (the authentic
Southern fried chicken), great weather, and of course, Nicholas running
himself ragged on the play equipment available in the park!
This park is pretty nice...it's got a big jungle gym into two parts
connected by a tube bridge and plenty of things to climb or slide or
just stand in place and fiddle with things. And it's in the shade in
the afternoons which is very nice on a very humid North Carolina
afternoon.
And the best part of all is a pretty tired Nicholas who sleeps well
through the night! :)
It's Daddy's birthday today and Nicholas played an integral role by
helping Mommy make dessert...an authentic Key lime pie made with real
Key lime juice. And let me tell you, that pie was awesome!
The secret is that you've got to use the real Key lime juice (which is
stronger and more tart than ordinary lime juice)...it truly makes the
difference. Well, that and the love that went into that pie! :)
Ah, North Carolina in the spring! Nice warm temperatures means tasty
and juicy strawberries are ripe for the picking in the fields.
Daddy and Alexander spent some quality time together whilst
Nicholas, Mommy, and Grammy went to raid a field not too far from
Grammy's house in Zebulon. It was probably just as well that Daddy
wasn't along for this raiding party...his usual picking methodology
involves one for the bucket, five for me. Except that Nicholas
decided that a bucket is not a bucket but rather a but-but!
Nicholas seems to have studied at the Daddy school of Strawberry
Picking though he seems to be a lot better about putting strawberries in
the bucket than I was. That's such a shame...
It makes you wonder why the farmers don't go to
a two-tiered pricing structure. One to cover the strawberries that go
out the door and the other one where you weigh the person in and then
again after picking and charging them for the difference! Daddy would
be in big trouble if they ever put in such a pricing scheme!
But a strawberry picker's work is never done as Nicholas helped Grammy
wash her car. And I bet you won't be able to guess what desert was
that night... :)