Happy Birthday Calvin!

I can't believe that Calvin is 2 years old. The time goes so quickly. Last year at this time I felt so sad that my baby was growing up too fast, but this year I just adore the little boy he has become. I never imagined that motherhood would be so wonderful. I never imagined that such a smart, creative, funny, happy, and adorable little boy would become the purpose of my life.

Calvin woke up this morning very grumpy. He was uncharacteristically whiny all morning. Then he swallowed some marbles and got in trouble. He was a pain.

We decided to take him to McDonald's for lunch just as something fun and different. He wouldn't eat anything, threw several tantrums, and then freaked out at the top of the play area in a play tube, so Andy went after him and found him trying to steal toys from another little boy. We didn't stay long before we decided to get out of there. In the car he wanted his chocolate milk. We hadn't brought a sippy cup, but since it was his birthday I gave it to him anyway. He dripped a bit, so Andy tried to take it away from him. Calvin freaked out and jerked it away, spilling the entire thing all over his clothes, car seat, and the car. We took his shirt and pants off because they were soaked, so he sobbed and sobbed. They dropped me off at school and then headed home. The boy wasn't happy that I had left him and cried all the way home. He then went down for a nap. Andy and I texted back and forth about postponing his birthday until another day when he was more pleasant.

And then a miracle happened. He took a long nap, and woke up happy!

We had mac & cheese and tater tots for dinner.

We opened fun presents.

He read this entire cloud book, cover to cover. The next book we gave him, he took one look at one of the pages, then shut it and said, "the end". Guess that one wasn't such a hit.

Ate delicious birthday cake. Andy has this thing with ice cream cake. Yesterday we went to DQ an BR looking at cakes, but ended up ordering one from the local grocery store. The fancy ones were just ice cream which Andy likes, but I think is weird. But at the grocery story, they were actually cake with a layer of ice cream. That's my kind of cake. So we had chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream with buttercream icing. They decorated it, and I just had to stick candles and zoo animals on the top once we got home. Easy and delicious. The boy loved it. We relit the candles a few times because he loves blowing them out.

The rest of the evening he played with his gifts. The biggest hits of the day were the Little People barnyard, the Little Einstein rocket that his grandparents (Nelson) sent, and a Melissa & Doug puzzle with little doors and magnets hiding behind them.

And then the day ended with the kid insisting on wearing my pj pants. He stumbled around in them for a while, and then went to bed. Throughout the day he got phone calls from both sets of grandparents, and most of his aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a fun evening and I'm glad the day ended much better than it had started.

Happy Birthday Calvin! We love you so much and look forward to a whole new year of surprises with you.