Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
She of course opened the biggest present first:
And played with it immediately:
Then she opened a very special present from Grammy Amy and Grandpa Larry:
We sat down and looked at the new book:
Relaxing after everything is open:
Just after supper, Anna and Daddy JAMMED on the Elmo Camera song:
(She's in the high chair at her request... sometimes she just feels like sitting there. [shrug])
We saved her last present for later because we knew that once we showed it to her, she would never sit down and eat her dinner. It's a combination sandbox/wading pool from Grandma Cindy. It looks like a butterfly - one wing is the sandbox and the other wing is the wading pool (which is the lid for the sandbox when it's empty). First I just asked her if she wanted to get her swimsuit on. Her eyes got as big as dinner plates and she gasped for joy! She was flailing all over the place while I was putting her swimsuit on and when we got downstairs, she sprinted to the door, jumped up and down and yelled "WOOHOO! WOOHOO! EXCITED!"
We don't have any videos of the pool (yet!) because at that point we were using the laptop to video chat outside with first Aunt Blaire and then later Grammy Amy and Grandpa Larry. I did take some pictures on my phone, which I'll post to twitpic after I post this blog entry. She had a BALL. Later our neighbor Amanda walked over with her kids Annie (4) and Jonah (2), who also got to enjoy the pool/sandbox for a little bit. After that it was bedtime, though - surprise! - she was so wound up that she got to sleep plenty late.
I think the coolest thing about her birthday is that she more or less understood that it was her birthday. Though she of course has no idea why we're celebrating, she knew that it was a special day for her and she became familiar with some of the traditions. She talked about blowing out candles, eating cupcakes, opening presents, etc. I would also catch her singing the birthday song to herself from time to time!
The Last Hurrah - Party at the Church
As Anna now has a peer group, I decided to throw a little party for her to celebrate with them. I certainly didn't feel like doing the house-full-of-toddlers thing, so I reserved the nursery and Sunday School classroom at the church. We had the party in the classroom but the nursery was open to whoever felt like hanging out in there (or whoever needed a diaper change). It worked out REALLY well for the 2-year-old set, who sure as heck aren't going to follow any kind of structure.
We had six kids there, which was a nice manageable number. All I did in the way of activities was tape down some banner-sized white paper to a table, setting out a basket with a 64-pack of crayons dumped in it, and letting them go wild. That actually went pretty well. Chris also made a CD for dancing (since Anna loves cuttin' a rug) but it didn't really catch on. Oh well, there were plenty of things to do - they sat 3-wide on the piano bench to play a little music, they rolled all over a stuffed bear that was much bigger than any of them... it all went very smoothly.
Then we ate. For the kids I made PBJ and used cookie cutters to make them into heart, flower, and star shapes, plus sliced some grapes in half (no choking!), steamed some carrots (yeah nobody ate those), and got some of those juice boxes that have veggie juice hiding in them too. For the grownups I had deli sandwiches, a veggie tray, and a fruit tray. Then on to the cupcakes. Amy & Dad totally showed me up in the cupcake decorating department... I took the easy route and bought little edible sugar Elmos to stick on top of the cupcakes. I stuck a couple candles in Anna's cupcake, we all sang to her, and she blew them both out - she's gotten really good at it!
It was more work than I thought it would be but it was worth it. We got to meet some of the parents of other kids at the daycare, we got to hang out with some church friends, and Anna and her friends had a great time.
Birthday complete! I wonder what it will be like next year...
