Oliver turned 2 last Sunday. It has taken me a week to find the time to sit down to post this but Oliver's adoring fans (a.k.a his grandparents) are clamoring for photos, so here they are with a run down of the day's activities.
Back in the fall I had grand plans for a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party. My friend Tessa has a fabulous train bundt pan and I found these great unpainted Thomas trains that I thought Oliver and his little buddies could paint at the party and take home as favors. It all seemed so wonderful until I realized: I frankly just don't feel like making that effort. Terrible! But, really, he's only 2 for crying out loud and, really, is he going to care?
So, instead we invited my mom (Nana) to come down to celebrate with us. We decided to have a little family "party" at the airport Observation Park, which is one of Oliver's favorite spots these days. There's an observation deck where you can watch the planes take off and land, and there's a small playground and a few picnic tables. It's little boy heaven! So, on the morning of his birthday Ollie woke up early and helped me make cupcakes. He loves scooping and dumping the ingredients into the bowl, but got overly enthusiastic about mixing the dry ingredients and flour got EVERYWHERE. Actually, what happened was that he decided that mixing with his hands would be a lot more fun than with a spoon. We made orange-vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter cream frosting. They were very yummy!!
We took the cupcakes and his presents to the observation park in the late morning. All was going swimmingly until we tried to light the candles. It was very windy and despite our best efforts the matches kept going out before the candles were even lit. Ryan insisted that the best way to do it was to strike two matches at once "because that would make more heat". (What?!?) I disagreed (strongly) with this technique. He countered that I should have brought more matches. I told him (using a combination of verbal and nonverbal cues) that I thought he was an idiot. He told me (likewise employing grunts and rolled eyes) that I was a big jerk. Tensions mounted...there were only four matches left. Ryan decided to try lighting the candles in a less windy location...namely the public men's bathroom. GROSS!! Furious, I followed him in there. So did Oliver who started exploring (with his hands) the fascinating world of urinals and toilet stalls. Ryan did manage to get the candles lit, but as we were moving out of the bathroom one of the candles tipped over and landed, ironically, still burning, on Ryan's hand that was cupped around the flames to keep them from extinguishing. He didn't want the candle to go out, but his hand was literally on fire. He started calling desperately to me to help him. It was a birthday party low-point to be sure. My mom, who had diplomatically stayed out of the fracas up to this point scooped Oliver up and took him over to the playground. Completely defeated and ashamed of ourselves, Ryan and I just sat at the picnic tables and laughed at how truly pathetic we were.
We decided that enough was enough and we would just punt the birthday "celebration" until later. After dinner we invited some neighborhood kids over to sing happy birthday and Oliver was finally able to blow out his candles and open presents. Obviously I'm glad that we didn't try to undertake anything more elaborate this year. Maybe it will be the kids, and not the parents, who melt-down at next year's celebration.
But to get to the heart of what we should have been commemorating, we are so happy and feel so blessed to have this sweet, happy, curious and playful little boy in our lives. Each night before we go to bed Ryan and I talk about the cute and funny little things that Ollie does. We go in to peek in on him after he has fallen asleep and our hearts almost burst with love for that little fellow. We love him so much and are so glad that he's part of our family.
Watching planes take off and land could not be more engrossing
Oliver and Nana "take off" down the runway
Building sand castles
He IS wearing underwear...but even his tiny Japanese underwear get pulled down when his pants sag. The kid needs suspenders.
9 comments:
He is absolutely adorable!
Okay, I laughed so hard and then the plumber bum shot! well, that just put me over the edge. that was an awesome post. He is absolutely adorable. Okay we need to start up talks again about meeting up somewhere. It's obvious, Ollie and Walker need some guy time! :)
I love your post. I laughed so hard. I wonder if we took notes on how often parents melt down vs. kids how embarrased we would be. I love the bum crack shot, my kids have never had that problem they are well endowed in the rear department!
I was cracking up when I read this post. I am glad to know that you and Ryan are real, and that we are not the only ones that get frustrated with each other over stupid things. As others have said, Ollie is so adorable.
What a great post! The bum shot is priceless and will be good bribing material when he is a teenager. Happy Birthday Oliver!
He has the sweetest little face (and bum). And I love the story about you and Ryan too. Happy birthday Ollie! When are you going to come to Utah so we can meet you? :)
What a great post, I can totally picture it as if I was there. And I have been "there" or in very similar situations. And as always, you capture the cutest pictures ever! Rachel
anna! what a fabulous post! you guys are too smart for your own good sometimes, huh? yeah, i struggle with that too - what can i say? :)
happy birthday ollie!!!! :)
Hilarious! I laughed and laughed at the candle-lighting plight, and loved the cute shot of Ollie and your mom being planes together. The plumber crack photo is perfect!
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