Happy birthday to our little monkey!

Sophie's two!!! She's growing up way too fast! We've eagerly anticipated today for months now. Lydia knows the order of birthdays in our home and talk of Sophie's big day has been much looked forward to.  She even reminded Jon that "today is Sophie's birthday!!" when he came home for lunch.  What I love most about Lydia's excitement is how much it's rubbed off on Sophie. Would she have been as excited about her birthday if Lydia hadn't been so excited for her?  I have no idea, but I feel pretty confident in saying that she would not have been aware that something awesome was coming without her big sister wanting to celebrate her and this milestone.

A few weeks ago I tried to get Sophie to tell me what kind of cake she wanted.  It was pretty easy.  She's been into the Lion King for months now and fallen in love with Simba and Nala. I found a lion cake, showed her the picture and got a very enthusiastic response from her.  Done and done.  Or so I thought.  And then about a week or two ago Sophie started pointing to our calendar exclaiming, "eeee oooooh!!" She was referring to the little pink monkey Uncle Jarom and Aunt Brittany gave her for her first birthday that was featured on the calendar. She loves it!! One of her recent favorites.  She also has monkey pajamas and requests them nightly.  Nothing else is acceptable.  I'm not sure why the thought of a monkey cake hadn't crossed my mind prior to a few days ago, but it hadn't.  Anyway, I found a monkey cake that I thought I could replicate, showed Sophie the picture and got the go-ahead.  I even had her confirm that the lion cake was a no-go.  No problem.  We can do a monkey cake.

So while Sophie napped Lydia and I busily worked on creating a monkey masterpiece.  Not one monkey, but two.  I'll admit that my confidence in turning out an acceptable cake is lacking (especially after last year's bear cake disaster) so having a back up was comforting, but Lydia reminded me that we were having lots of guests and that two cakes might be necessary for when the party started.  Aunt Abby thought it fitting that there were two cakes because the birthday girl was turning two.  Whatever the reason, I felt reassured that we couldn't go wrong with our plans.  Lydia was a big help.  She'd encourage me and then question why I hadn't done a particularly important feature like the eyes.  We made a a great team.

I should mention that before Jon left for work this morning Sophie saw the big balloon bouquet that he'd purchased the night before.  She immediately went into her happy Sophie dance which is my favorite with her!  And if you've been privileged enough to be near her when she breaks into that dance you know just what I mean. The grins, the giggles, the palpable excitement as she bounces while spinning.  I can't get enough. The morning went well.  Lydia went off to preschool despite concerns about missing out on the festivities and when we picked her up, Sophie ran out to meet Lydia in the middle of the street where she gave her the biggest hug imaginable.  I'd have loved for it to have gone on and on except that a car was coming.  And we were all in the middle of the road.  Once home we finished up the morning with both girls helping to bake the birthday cake, and before we knew it, it was time for Sophie's nap.  She didn't want to sleep and fought it well, but eventually she was out. We used our time as well as we could and then Sophie was awake and clearly excited about what was to come, so we crowned her with her birthday tiara and placed her sash over her shoulder.

Before long family started to arrive and we gathered for cake and ice cream.  We lit the candle and sang to Sophie, who was in my arms at this point, and in response to the singing she crawled up my tummy and then buried her face into my shoulder, not especially thrilled to be the center of attention.  She surfaced at the end to blow out her candle, or tried anyway.  After her attempts she and I had to blow with all our might before we succeeded in getting that flame to die out.  Unfortunately Lydia missed out on this part because she'd been overwhelmed by the number of people in our home.  More on that later.  Soph wasn't super into eating her cake or ice cream after she consumed the monkey's ear (a donut) so we moved on to opening presents.

Sophie cracked me up through it all.  First she ripped off a piece of wrapping paper about the size of a quarter and the next thing I knew I was opening her presents for her!  Oops!  But she'd giggle or gasp and just get so excited about everything she opened.  When she opened a Lion King book she jumped up when she saw Rafiki, and squealed when she opened another Lion King book that came with puzzle pieces.  Her dress-able bear and squawking monkey brought grins and giggles and through it all she got better at ripping off wrapping paper. We had quite an assembly line going with Sophie handing Lydia torn paper and Lydia handing it to Aunt Stacey who collected it in a plastic bag.  Despite Soph's improvement, all the little ones wanted to help her discover what was waiting for her on the inside of the wrapped boxes and they did their best to help speed things up.  We had to pass around Milo the Mouse (A Use-Your-Words Feeling Book) because it was so much fun to rotate Milo's facial expressions and find what he was feeling when he made a mess or found a bubble bath.  These books and animals and the blocks she got will be hours of fun in the coming days. She wasn't too sure about the bubble blowing lawn mower, especially when Conner turned it on and let her know how it worked, but I'm sure it will grow on her and when we're all outside and the bubbles are flying it'll be much more enjoyable.

Things calmed down after presents.  Jon measured Sophie on her awesome growth chart, we chatted and played for a while and then Lydia, who you'll remember didn't want to join the multitude at the start, stood guard at the front door and tried her best to block people from taking off.  The party wasn't over as far as she was concerned and maybe if nobody could leave it didn't have to end.  A special thank you to Uncle Isaac for taking our family picture and for coaxing a smile out of Lyds with the promise of staying to play for a few minutes.  The girls loved that and Jon and I were able to get some cleaning done too!

Things were going so well until we asked the girls to get their pajamas.  Lyds pulled out her Dora jammies and suddenly Sophie was asking for "Memo" (Nemo) pajamas.  She'd been drinking out of a Nemo cup earlier and that's the only trigger I can think of for bringing on this demand/meltdown.  This little tantrum confirmed how tuckered out we thought she might be after all the excitement.  She got so upset and worked up that nothing I tried calmed her so I went looking through her 2T clothes (which haven't been transferred to her closet yet) searching for an acceptable pair of pajamas when I found some princess ones.  They eventually became a suitable substitute for Nemo.  This little lady has some serious opinions about clothes.  She's our little fashionista and prefers to pick out her outfits each morning especially if I try to find something for her first.  She lets me know if she doesn't approve of what I choose and moves on to other things right away.

I love how much sweet Sophie loves books.  She's a little book worm and several times a day I find her gathering a stack of books for me to read to her.  It's one of my favorites about her.  One of many.  Her sense of style kills and impresses me.  Her hugs make me melt; I cannot get enough of them.  I love that occasionally she's besties with her big sis (when she isn't tormenting her) and wants her to read to her, or hide with her or surprise Dad with her.  It warms my heart when she runs up to Lyds, grabs her by the hand and pulls her somewhere for an exciting adventure. I love her sassy personality, her nicknames for Dad and her animals, the animal sounds she makes and her learning to speak.  Learning to speak on her terms.  She won't ever try to say what we want her to say.  I figure she'll say it when she's ready. I do love that she says, "Bye Baby" everyday at lunch as Jon heads back to work.  Not sure how that started, but I think it's adorable.  Some of her favorites lately include swinging, sliding, dressing up like Rapunzel, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, singing Popcorn and Daddy's Homecoming, stashing her treasures in one of many special hiding places (a wicker basket, the pantry or a certain kitchen cupboard to name a few) and hide and seek with her sister.  Some of her favorite books include Flat Stanley and the Haunted House, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, There's a Monster in my Closet, Pinkalicious  books,  Goodnight Moon and Pirates Don't Change Diapers.  Among others.  She's so much fun and so full of surprises.  I love this little firecracker and what she adds to our family.  We're so lucky she's ours!!!