2 years old
Nathan turned 2 this past week and I debated about what to do for his birthday. He is too young to appreciate a birthday at any kind of venue, I didn't want to spend the money to rent a bounce house and he doesn't really have many "friends" at this age.
We had been discussing purchasing a big fort swing set for the backyard and decided this would be a good time to get it. Dan found a great deal on craigslist. My plan was to have a Mickey Mouse (his favorite thing right now) themed birthday party and unveil the new swing set. I was going to invite family and a few of his "friends" (really mommy and daddy's friends who happen to have kids close to Nathan's age!)
The whole party revolved around it being a day with good weather and having the swingset complete.
I planned the party for a Sunday evening (4-6pm), the day before his birthday.
First, let me start with the swing set.
IT came in these 4 boxes and they each weighed a ton. (it took all my strength to help Dan carry them into the backyard)
Dan is quite the handyman, he has every tool known to man and enjoys building things. However,I got a little nervous when he unpacked all the wood from the boxes: it looked like we were adding an addition on to the house!! I knew he could do it but I had only given him a week to complete it before the party.
This next box made me even more nervous as it contained 800 bolts!
The instructions said it should take 2 moderately skilled people 20 hours to complete the swing set. Thank good ness Dan is expertly skilled ot make up for my novice skills!
Dan did an amazing job and had the whole thing ready by Friday. I did not want Nathan to play on it before his party so we left the swings and slide off until the day of his party.
Here is Dan on day 1
And here is the finished product! HE even added a sandbox under the fort!
ON to his party.
The weather was a beautiful, sunny 76 degrees.
Since the party was close to dinner I time I decided to serve moderate snacks along with cupcakes and cookies. I made some sausage rolls, chips/salsa, veggie platter, goldfish, cheese/cracker tray, and my mom made a fruit salad. I made cupcakes and mickey mouse shaped cookies which I attempted to frost. (I am not someone who's finished products would EVER be on Pintrest!)
My mom came over early to help me decorate the cookies.
I woke Nathan up from his nap at 3:30 and let him wear a new mickey shirt! HE was very excited about that. We then went in the front yard and waited for everyone to arrive. I didn't want him to see the kitchen or backyard yet.
After our guest's (about 17 people) arrived we let Nathan inside. He saw all the mickey mouse decoration and balloons and was so happy and excited! His little face was adorable!
We then let him go in the backyard to see his new swing set. My expectations where not too high on his reaction. He ran over to it when he saw his swing. IT took him a little while to figure out that he could climb up the fort and go down the slide.
We spent the majority of the time outside playing with him and his 2 friends.
I did not have any games or activities since his 2 friends were 18months and 13 months old, plus I don't think Nathan would have cooperated or had the attention span to focus on a game or activity!
Around 5pm we came inside for Nathan to eat his cupcake. HE was very thrilled that he had fire on his high chair! He did not eat any of the cupcake, he just poked the candle in an out of it until the cupcake was destroyed!
Here is the attempt at my Mickey Mouse cookies. They turned out OK, but they could have been much better. IT was alot harder to frost them than I anticipated.
The only picture I got with the 2 of us.
He still does his goofy "cheese" face for the camera.
After the cupcake we went back outside to play until people started going home. We did not have any present opening, which I liked. I can probably only get away with not having present opening on his birthday for 1 more year! The swing set was enough of a present.
Amber with her Mimi.
Overall, his party was a success!
His "real" birthday was the next day. We sent the day as a family playing on his new swing set, went to the park and then out to eat (Jason's Deli) for dinner.
Of course he preferred the black and red icing cookie over the cupcake!
Nathan: At 2 years old you are in the 91st% for height and 70th% for weight. You have 4 words (sort of ) Hot ("Ha" with your hand out toward whatever is hot) Hat ("Ha" with your hand tapping your head) Down ("don") and Flag ("fla")
You understand most everything we say and have multiple signs to communicate. The Dr. did recommend we have you see a speech therapist. I am not too worried because you understand and follow instructions well. However, we kn ow you are starting to get frustrated because it is more difficult for you to communicate. You try and tell us important things all the time and get upset when we don't understand you. You do lots of pointing and will come pull my leg if you want we to see something in another room.
You love airplanes so much right now. You know the sign for airplane and pretend your food is airplanes alot! We take you to DFW airport and let you watch the planes land from the observation deck. IT is such a joy to watch your little face as the planes go over head!
We let you watch 2 shows, Mickey Mouse clubhouse and Veggie tales. You love Mickey Mouse and carry him (you have a stuffed animal mickey) with you everywhere. You squeal in delight everytime you see a Mickey Mouse!
You still enjoy books and are content ot sit by yourself and look through books.
We go to story time at the library and you are doing better about sitting still and listening to the stories, but you are still a little young for it.
You have 1 friend who you see on a regular basis. His name is Davin and you do pretty good playing with him. Some times you both will just laugh and run at each other, which is funny. Sometimes you ignore him.I look forward to seeing how you 2 become more of friends as you get older!
You are a good eater, however a moody eater. Some days you will eat 25 green beans and then act like they are poison the next day!
Oh the life of being a 2 year old!
I love being your mom and watching you learn and grow everyday!
