Carter turns 2!

Our big guy turned two on June 27th!  We started the day with breakfast with his friends, Maria and Pedro, who cooked him a Mexican breakfast that he (and Taylor and I!) love, and then he chose to check out the Adventure Science Center, or "mooo-seum" as he calls it. He and I spent a couple of hours wandering around and playing, until he decided it was time to go eat a "peanut-butter-jelly" lunch. After his nap, his dad came home early and we headed out to his favorite restaurant (Chik Fil A) where he ate every bite of his dinner and played in the play area until he got kicked (accidentally) by another kid :).  We then headed home for cake (he picked a small one out from Whole Foods) and we ate cake and opened a couple of presents while FaceTiming with his Gigi and GP in Seattle. 

He then ran around upstairs in his playroom with his new baseball bat and basketball hoop from his mom and dad, and practiced casting with his new fishing pole from his Gigi and GP! He stayed up a little too late, hyped up on sugar, but he went to bed happy, asking us to sing "Happy to you" (Happy Birthday to you...) for him before falling asleep. 

Friday, the day after his birthday, we woke up to an early morning doctor's check up (with shots), which didn't start the day off in the best way. He is still a giant- off the charts at 37 inches tall and 34 lbs, and he actually smiled and talked to the doctor a bit before melting down once they started poking at him. Poor guy.  We got the day back on track by heading to check out Thomas and lots of other trains at Philip's toy store.  And we came home to another gift- his first set of Legos- from his aunt Anne and Uncle Bobby!

 We had a small (only 5 people small), super low-key party for him on Saturday with just family and a couple of friends...and a mom-made train cupcake "cake" (clearly made by a rookie! haha). I think he has a little bit of his mom in him, and he gets overwhelmed and shy in big groups at first.  I went a little overboard for his first birthday with balloons and decorations, and I felt so bad when he started crying and wanting to cling to me halfway through the party. He and I snuck away and ended up just sitting upstairs for a little while where it was quiet, and he was so happy to be back in his own space! I realized that I would have felt the same way if all these grown ups were singing and clapping at me amidst lots of strange brightly colored objects! :)
 So we decided to let this party be completely laid back without any agenda...which he seemed to love (as did his tired pregnant mom)!  We asked him what he wanted to do- cake or presents- and he said, presents....and while opening presents, he came over and whispered to me "Happy to you, Mama?" So cute! That was his way of asking for us to give him cake :) Although he was super shy when everyone started singing at him, he smiled the whole time, and after he had played and eaten cupcakes, he grabbed his friend Margaret's hand, and said "Mah-get, go watch race cars on couch?" So we ended the party with him snuggled next to his favorite friends watching his favorite move (Cars).  It was a total success!