Birthday Boy!

Josiah turned two yesterday, and he's enjoyed two full and wonderful days of fun and gifts! It didn't go entirely as planned to start, though...

On Friday night, Jesse and I set up Josiah's train table with a bunch of new track and put new batteries into his two mechanical engines, which had been dead for a while. (All of his train gear is second-hand off Craigslist -- so wonderful!) We knew he'd LOVE it, so first thing Saturday morning, I kept Josiah hostage upstairs while Jesse had to attend a few sessions of a HOPE board meeting. We did breakfast up there, played games, read books, and opened his first present: Thomas books from Lisa and Jason. We had lots of fun blowing the tissue paper like confetti, and I wish I'd gotten a shot of Josiah's smurf face after he spent too much time with the blue tissue paper stuck on his slobbery visage. :)

Jesse's meeting went almost an hour longer than expected, and I was running out of tricks by the time he called saying he was finally leaving the office. Fifteen minutes later, Josiah and I were expectantly watching out of the upstairs windows when a second call came: Jesse was still at the office, and the car wouldn't start! So we went to get Daddy, and in the interest of not losing more of the day, we abandoned the dead vehicle for the weekend.

Josiah loved his trains when we got home...finally...at 11 a.m. He spent the first 5 minutes completely enraptured, just watching in awe, and then the next hour he was busy and delighted as he explored everything. Lucky boy! Later, after some tickle fights with Jesse (when his badly beaten up glasses finally broke for good, alas) and lunch, Josiah spent some quiet minutes watching "Pop Pop do 'vice'." A week ago Jesse's dad uploaded a special video to YouTube just for Josiah: Pop Pop playing guitar and singing Edelweiss, one of Josiah's favorite going-to-sleep songs. He LOVES it. :)

After nap, Josiah was introduced to his first ever M&M. He's more into savory than sweet, but he liked to suck them for a minute and then spit 'em out after the shell dissolved. We then headed off to a huge pet and fish shop where we looked at hundreds of tanks of fish, lots of reptiles, birds, and small rodent friends. Josiah's favorite part was the deep buckets of feeder crickets! It was a great free excursion.

Jesse's parents arrived just after Josiah went to bed, and so we enjoyed a gift-filled day with them today. I was a bit out of commission for some of it, managing to have one of my worst headaches so far this year (starting around 3 a.m. and not really abating until late afternoon). So, they all went to church without me for the morning while I flitted between devouring far more painkillers than advised on the bottles, feeling miserable in bed, making a big quiche and salad for lunch, and cutting my hair several inches because it felt so unbearably heavy. I'm dangerous with a migraine!




We had been spreading out the presents over these two days but picked up the pace this afternoon, still trying to take time to play with and appreciate most gifts as we went, though. Here he is with his new car rug and cars, opening a train with Pop Pop, and meeting Mr. Potato Head. Thomas and related train items certainly ruled the day -- sweaters, cards, books, engines, bath toys -- and Josiah was in heaven.

Keeping with the theme, I baked his cake in mini loaf pans in order to construct a simple train. He really enjoyed looking at it but wouldn't eat any!

It's hard to believe he's really and truly a toddler. We're very proud of our little boy, especially appreciating that at least for now, he's very kind and very gentle and has a real love for life with a constant twinkle in his eye. But rather than ending on a sentimental note, I'll leave you with a parting shot of Jesse in the gift Auntie Kara and Uncle Matt sent down. Am I a lucky lady or what?