And Now He is 2 - Part 2

So now you're two,
I'm just a little bit blue.
No longer my baby, but
at least you're not forty-two.

In just the past week,
"NO", "mine", and "alone" are all you speak.
you want to be big - do things on your own,
hopes to keep you little are rather bleak.

I sure don't want to be stern,
but then you greet me with
Tantrums and trouble at every turn,
what is we are are both supposed to learn?

So now you're two and I have to agree,
you're smart and strong and quite lively!
Each moment of this next year I will savor,
for soon enough, you will be three!

Ben's birthday started early yesterday morning when his sisters anxiously wanted him to open their gifts. Each sister bought him a shirt and a toy with her own money. Ben loved the car from Katie, the stuffed giraffe from Lacey, and the baby "iPod" from Madi that plays classical music. Ben calls it his bipod.

Ben went outside in the morning and came running in to show me this leaf, telling me that it was "cute". He then played with the leaf until it completely disintegrated.

While I was trying to decorate Ben's birthday cake, he decided the sand from outside should be brought inside. He was quite proud of his work. Katie was quick to help me clean up the inside dirt, though Ben was quite offended by our efforts to undo his work.

Ben's 2nd birthday will forever be known as the bubble mower birthday. Uncle Mike & Aunt Karla got him the gift of his dreams. Even when he just looked at the box, Ben knew that there was something inside that he just had to have. The bubble mower was the first gift opened & the one that he did not want to let out of his sight. He walked up and down the kitchen hallway all evening, confidently pushing his mower. Had we known, we would have saved the bubble mower for last, because, though he did oblige us all by opening his other gifts, he was a little less than enthusiastic as he did so. He got lots of cute clothes & toys from mammy, and did seem to really like the toy tool set from her, but nothing seemed to measure up to the bubble mower. Thanks Mike & Karla!

Katie & Lacey played with Ben's birthday gifts from mom & dad since he was so occupied by his bubble mower. [It's OK - really - we're not bitter. We don't feel rejected - no, we bought these gifts with Katie & Lacey in mind, anyway!]

The Cake
After years of making pink, flowery, girly cakes, it was really fun to make a 100% boy cake. I love that I can go to my computer, type in truck cake and within a few clicks come up with a design with exact instructions to create this dump truck cake for Mr. Ben. The girls were all "calling" the donut tires - wanting to ensure that when we cut the cake, they would get one.