will's second birthday, in pictures

So now I have a two-year-old. It's still sort of unbelievable to me, that two years have passed by so quickly. Will has celebrated being two by forming even more complex sentences (“That’s Daddy’s car in the driveway, on the rocks”; “I want to read a story and go to bed with my elly” -- yes, my Will actually said that second sentence!), at least doubling his use of the phrase “That’s mine,” and throwing even more theatrical tantrums for our viewing pleasure. He’s also been singing “Happy Birthday” to himself ever since his actual birthday on Sunday, which I really need to get on video, because it’s super adorable.

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with a small family party. I say “small,” but it was actually about 20 people crammed into our house. Despite the close quarters, it was a very successful party. And the weather was relatively mild, too; I told Will, who was born on the heels of a blizzard, that it was probably some of the best weather he’d have on his January birthday.

Here are a few pictures of the day:

We started off the morning with a batch of birthday pancakes. Days and multiple vacuumings later, I’m still finding random nonpareils all over the place, but the birthday boy absolutely loved them (and I think making these pancakes is a tradition we’ll continue on both his and Andrew’s birthdays from now on).

Here’s Will’s cake, lovingly crafted by me. For whatever reason the bottom layer photographed very yellow, but it really was more of a neon green.

Will, seeing his cake for the first time. It’s not a flattering picture of me, but I just love the expression of happy wonder on his sweet face.

Listening to everyone sing “Happy Birthday.”

He of course went for Buzz Lightyear first. Mmm, delicious buttercream Buzz legs.

He did such a great job of opening his presents, and he thanked every single person. And not one single gift was wrapped in Christmas paper!

Opening his gift from Andrew: his very own phone, so he won’t have to steal his brother’s anymore. He is skeptical.

This gigantic Buzz Lightyear (Will’s gift from Joe and me) has since caused lots of dramz in our house. Andrew absolutely loves it, and wants to play with it all the time. Needless to say, Will’s not down with this arrangement. As a result, we told Andrew he could have his own Buzz if he’s a good boy at school this week. He has been so far, so it’s looking like he’ll be getting a  Buzz of his own in a couple of days.

(I even wrote Will's name in black permanent marker on the bottom of Buzz's foot, a la Andy in Toy Story. I cried a little bit while I did it. Is that dumb?)

It was at this point in the present-opening process that Andrew started flipping out because he didn’t have anything to open, so Will consented to letting Andrew help him open one of his gifts. You can see that this was pretty exciting for Andrew. I think his birthday is going to be really fun this year.

Since Will’s been coveting Andrew’s bicycle ever since Christmas, my dad and stepmom got him his own tricycle. He calls it “mah bike,” and he absolutely loves it.

It’s so hard to believe he’s gone from this perfect newborn, on his birth day...
 

...to this sweet chubby-faced baby, at one-year-old...

...to this darling, irresistible, two-year-old boy.

I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures we have during this year of his life.