Party for the Big Boy!

On Quintin's actual birthdate, we celebrated quietly by playing games with him (Daddy was home on vacation) and, later that evening, doing a video conference with Grammie & Grandpop Smith in New Jersey (they sent down a birthday box filled with treats!). We got doughnuts for his birthday breakfast (his FAVORITE!), and made a special birthday dinner with chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, and lima beans (all chosen with his newly-turned-picky eating habits in mind!). He had a whole birthday week, since Martha, David & Josh gave him their gift (a fun earth mover with a Little People construction worker) at Tuesday night's band practice, and his little friend Sarah Holden (they're just a few months apart in age) brought him a great race track & cars to Wednesday night's church dinner! We planned a small party for the following Sunday, December 13th.

We went with an Elmo theme, complete with an Elmo Live! from Great-Grandmother Slicker. Sesame Street is about the only television program Quintin watches (we also watch Clifford the Big Red Dog now) and he LOVES Elmo! Mommy & Daddy love that since Sesame Street is a nonprofit, the proceeds from sales of their toys & party gear go into educational programming all over the world!

Mommy and Daddy made Elmo invitations (It'll be a long time before Mommy wants to see another googley eye!), and Great-Grandmother Slicker got an Elmo & Big Bird cake (which had to be hidden until the party, since Quintin threw a huge temper tantrum when he caught sight of it at the grocery store & was told he couldn't eat it yet!). We invited our close family over at 3 p.m to celebrate his second year with us.

Although Mommy tried to get him to sleep earlier, Quintin finally went down for his nap just after 2 p.m. and, since he'd not had a great night's sleep the night before, slept through the first hour of his party (Everyone tried to stay really quiet so that he'd have a nice nap!). He crawled out of bed to find Mommy after his nap & looked so preciously confused to see the house full of guests! After a long wake-up hug, he caught sight of the Cars work bench from Aunt Chrissy & Uncle David -- he quickly wiggled down and ran over to open all of its drawers with Bailey (Aunt Chrissy had hidden a Cars themed gift in every drawer!).

While everyone else enjoyed spaghetti, courtesy of Daddy, Quintin ate mostly chips & salsa (it was his big day, so we let him determine his own menu). He and Bailey played with the balloons that Granddad Slicker had blown up just before the party and seemed so blissful that we didn't push the present thing. Once he spotted a Cars gift bag, however, the realization that the stuff lining the room was actually TOYS ready to be opened hit & we were off! He was so impressed by each gift that the unwrapping affair took about two hours (and would have taken even longer if we hadn't been encouraging him to move along so that our guests could get home!). He'd ask Mommy & Daddy to, "Open, please!" -- and wait impatiently while Daddy & Mommy worked to get through the packaging (are manufacturers really that worried about stuff coming out of its box?!). During one such interlude (Daddy was using a screwdriver to remove the remote-control bulldozer Granddad Slicker got Quintin), Quintin spotted the Sesame Street cake out on the table & immediately got up into his booster seat at the table to investigate. We all took a break to light his big number two candle and sing "Happy Birthday." He chose strawberry ice cream to go with his cake, and ate all of the cake and ice cream within minutes (he definitely got Mommy's sweet tooth!).

Later, after our guests had left, while Mommy was recording the gifts & memories from the party into his birthday book, I looked over to find Quintin back in his booster seat in front of the cake -- he was joyfully scooping handfuls of cake and icing into his mouth!

We are so grateful to our wonderful family & friends for helping to make Quintin's birthday such a joyful occasion! Everyone was so patient & willing to let Quintin guide the activities -- we escaped with only a few bumpy moments & not a single I Just Turned Two Tantrum! Everyone picked out such thoughtful gifts, each geared toward his particular passions (he got lots of Cars & Elmo themed gifts, as well as trucks & tractors, and a new train set!). We are very fortunate to have such an amazing group of people in our lives!