Birthday - The Deuce

April 2010 was one of the rainiest in recent history but the sun decided to shine for Sylvia's second birthday.





We awaited our guests with a big pile of balloons at the ready and practiced our mini-horn skills. (movie)

Akio and his 'rents were early arrivals and was rewarded with fresh scribble paper and crayons.

The sun beckoned and the group moved outside to crawl on the play structure,

slide down,

dig for slugs,

and hunt for cake.

After the crowd blew out the candles, Aurelia cut the coconut treat on a chair handily offered by her hubby. She made due and we all enjoyed the flaky
confection.

Sylvia was again the receiver of wonderful generosity, including a super wiggly rubber snake. Thanks to everyone who joined us for such a fun day in the sun.

Every 365 days...there must be a pattern

As a new parent, it has begun to dawn on me that childrens' Birthdays seem to reoccur with some regularity. As evidence, our buddies Nina and Jake invited us, for the second time even , to their son Akio's party.

(Aki investigates some ribbon. Almost as fun as the gift itself).

(Jake in the fray).

(Cupcakes. Great idea!
If you look carefully you'll see they stack is supported by Legos. Cool!)

(Time for some serious eating).

(no caption required).

(Cute but Jake keep yer boy away from my daughter).

Party Girl

A few days after Sylvia's official birthday, she was host to her first party. After much cleaning of house (I'm always sure the guests will be inspecting our upstairs back closet) and baby we (Aurelia, Linda, Ted, Ian and I) greeted Sylvia's buddy Akio and his adults, Nina and Jake. The group quickly got down to the important business of blowing bubbles and eating puzzle pieces.

Just minutes later the party really got started with the arrival of Lena and her adults, Dana and Brett.

During the party ted and Lena took time out to discuss the relative merits of balloons versus puzzles,

(Lena clearly prefers balloons)

Linda and Sylvia enjoyed the crowd,

and Ian perused our increasingly large collection of sleep propaganda, this one titled, "I'll See You in the Morning."

Our generous friends and family gave Sylvia some sweet gifts. Thanks!

Here Sylvia models a new dress that will fit this summer.

There are many birthday cake legends in our family. Some follow the mode, first perfected by the Greeks, of "My birthday cake was so natural is had no sugar, was made from raw oats and water and the icing consisted of tofu and sad songs." Others consist of various recollections about how, in our youth, we managed to strike our cakes with blunt objects (Ian-Hammer), had allergic reactions to an ingredient (Fidel-Strawberries) or ate twice our body weight in one sitting (Miguel-no just making that up).

I am happy to report that Sylvia's cake contained sugar (not too much), flour and nary a shred of tofu. As the movies below show, she seemed to enjoy it. Happy birthday sweetie!

Put Your Kid to Work

Each day finds Sylvia more mobile than the day before. While she has not achieved a true crawl, defined as using legs and hands in concert, she is able to caterpillar forward at a decent clip.

Such movement brings it rewards. Sylvia now has new places to play and new furniture to nibble and hang on.





Not shy to take advantage of Sylvia's new skills, her parents asked her to take on a few chores. Below she works on the family bed.















As old as Sylvia seems, her buddy Akio is even older. The Noodle and I got gussied up and, gift in hand, trundled to Sylvia's first party. Akio was a gracious host and shared his cool toys with Sylvia.





He also shared his cat Milo who, while being both good natured and patient, eventually had to make his escape.











Aki gets ready to blow out his candles with the help of his beaming parents, Nina and Jake.








Akio scored a bunch of great gifts but none so full of professional promise as these block given to him by an architect who shall remain nameless.

The most vocationally explicit package I've seen on a kids toy so far.

OK, Aki, get to work.




Sylvia, Monkey, and Party Balloon sign off.