Conkey Chronicles: Sam's Second Birthday!

Sam turned two on May 16. We planned a party for the following Saturday (May 21) so his actual birthday was really low key and chill. I decided to let him eat his favorite things and do some of his favorite things.

His day started off with Don and I singing a raspy, morning voice version of Happy Birthday as we got him up. After we got him out of his jammies, he fought getting dressed (like he does nearly every day) so we let him stay in just his diaper all morning.

I made a special breakfast for him. His favorite breakfast (and what he eats every single morning) is old fashioned oats with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a little brown sugar. It is the one thing each day I can (almost always) count on him eating.

Since it was his birthday, I thought I'd spice it up a little. I made some steel cut oats with whole milk and a little butter and brown sugar and he loved it. He also ate a bunch of cantaloupe.

Steel cut oats time.

After breakfast, Sammy and I played a lot of basketball in the living room, kicked the ball back and forth (two of his very favorite things) and then played with puzzles.

We read a bunch of stories and ate some lunch and then Sammy finally got dressed for the day and took a nap.

After he woke up, we went to see our friend, Jack Brainerd, the luthier, who fixed my violin and gave me a bow to borrow. I took the bow back that I'd borrowed and Sam and I stayed and watched Jack shape a violin with an egg scraper. It was absolutely fascinating and smelled so wonderful and woodsy. The violin he was making was out of some type of cedar and it was so delicious smelling. I should have taken some of the shavings home and used them as potpourri.

After we visited Jack, Sam and I took a quick trip to the grocery store to buy Sammy a birthday watermelon.

When Don had come home for lunch earlier in the day, I was talking to him about making a little cake for Sammy. He suggested I get him a watermelon instead since he'd like it so much better. Since it is true that Sam really would prefer watermelon to cake (which I'm thrilled about), I decided to get one. When I told Sammy we were going to buy a watermelon at the store he clapped with joy and bounced up and down the whole way to the store.

We got home and Sam was so excited about showing daddy his watermelon!

Just look at that excited face!

We discovered that Sam still does not like candle flames. He cried when he first saw a candle on his 6 month birthday but I thought he had gotten over it.

When Don lit the candles on the watermelon, though, absolute joy turned into a huge breakdown. He hated the fire on his watermelon.

So daddy helped him get rid of the fire...

and Sam ate nothing but watermelon for dinner (he nearly cleaned out half of the watermelon in one sitting!). We should have tried to feed him something else first because he usually won't touch anything else we try to give him once he's tasted the melon.

Sharing with daddy.

Sammy opened his birthday cards from family. I think it is funny how he is peeking out from behind his card that says "You're two". Funny kid.

After we looked at the cards and talked to grandparents, we went to the toy store. I had bought Sam a xylophone and several wooden puzzles at a consignment sale but Don wanted to get him something so we decided it would fun to make a little birthday trip out of it and let Sammy run around and decide what he liked.

He decided he really loved the train tables with all the little wooden tracks and trains. Don and I looked at the little wooden trains and were slightly appalled at how expensive they were. So, we waffled back and forth and back and forth (spending $25 about does me in! I think so hard about it!) and finally left without buying anything. Sam had such a good time, though, he didn't care at all.

That night, we looked on Craigslist and found a wooden train set with 160+ pieces that we ended up buying. It was expensive but so much cheaper than buying the pieces new. We gave Sammy just a couple trains and some track to start out with and now we will give him a little bit more track and more trains, people, animals, signs, etc. for each birthday and Christmas for several years to come. We can also use them for rewards for potty training (not happening yet, but someday), etc. Sam absolutely loves his "choo-choo" and sometimes when I get him out of bed, he points out his bedroom door downstairs and says "choo-choo?" He can't wait to get down there and start playing.

A quick note about how kids can play with the simplest things and be so happy: I ordered some diapers online and they came in this big box which quickly became Sam's favorite thing. Don cut a hole in the flaps so Sam could stick his head out. Sam and his friends (like William and Adam below) spent hours and hours playing in this box until Sam and his cousin Isaac destroyed it two weeks later. That box was well loved and I look forward to getting my next box of diapers just because Sam will be so thrilled about playing in it!