Jonah's birthday

Jonah turned the big T-W-O today. This is the last birthday that he won't really understand that it's his special day, and the last birthday that I'll be able to get away with buying him an opera dvd as his birthday present. I just can't stand listening to Barney or Bedknobs & Broomsticks anymore, looking forward to hearing La Boheme in the minivan.

We did all of Jonah's favorite things today: Gymnastics - well, that's really Genna's thing, but Jonah loves turning the lights on and off in the restroom there; grocery shopping - Jonah loves those shopping carts with kid cars in front (they are so ridiculously large that I couldn't even turn the cart around in the grocery aisle and had to back out of the aisle); chicken nuggets for lunch - Jonah actually ate two whole bites of chicken with his half cup of ketchup; nap time - Jonah hates nap time, but at least I could bake him a birthday cake during this time; licking the frosting beaters - what kid doesn't love that; organic mac-n-cheese and green beens for dinner; and birthday cake. Jonah only had one 3-minute temper tantrum today, so I'd say he had a good birthday.

On one hand, it's really hard to believe that Jonah is two. I have vivid memories of when he was born so it doesn't seem that long ago. On the other hand, I barely remember what life was like before Jonah, so it seems like he's been with us much longer than two years. I can't say that I'm sad that he's two already. Infants are hard on me - all the sleep deprivation, the annoying breastfeeding, always having to keep track of how many "months" old he is (I hate when other parents ask and I have to guesstimate), the diapers, having no idea why he's screaming, the sleep deprivation, and the sleep deprivation (did I mention the sleep deprivation?). I'm actually looking forward to the next couple of years. I have a distinct memory of when Genna was about two and a half and feeling that she was so much easier and so much more fun. I'm hoping the same is true for little chunky boy Jonah.

"G'morning momma! I can now unzip my jammies all by myself now!"

Presents arrive from Auntie Zoe & Uncle Rance

Reading my birthday card on the potty

"C'mon, mama - let me turn the lights on and off in the bathroom just a few more times. It's the only real fun I have while waiting around for my sister to finish gymnastics."

This is just from licking the icing beaters. Jonah hasn't even had the cake yet.

Happy Birthday! As an aside, the cake icing was a disaster. I tried to make a French buttercream with a Betty Crocker hand beater. After 15 minutes of beating and the beater about to overheat, I was ages away from a stiff peak. So the light and airy strawberry buttercream turned out to have a dense meringue texture. Fortunately the kids had no problem eating it.