Caleb turns 2

Caleb is 2 years old!!!

We wrapped up his 2nd birthday party this evening and I think it went well, except for the singing of Happy Birthday, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Caleb had a big day today. It started this morning with a Storybook Walk through Frick Park with daddy. I think it might have been the happiest place in the world. It combined all of his loves, a playground, books and even a bookmobile. Apparently, they set up little areas throughout the park and had story times (complete with carpet squares to sit on). They had crafts for the kids, snacks, face painting and plenty of books. One of the highlights for Caleb was seeing the buses that were shuttling people to and from the parking areas. He kept telling Andy "yeyo skool bus" (that's the best I can do with typing it phonetically).

They were at the story walk from about 9:30 this morning 'til 1. Then we got him home, gave him quick lunch and sent him off to bed for quick nap. G'mas and G'pas and aunts and uncles were coming in at 3 for a little cake and ice cream...or so we thought.

Well, the parkway coming into Pittsburgh was shut down (for hopefully one final time) and that meant even more traffic than usual. On top of that, I'm sure the Pitt football game also added to the traffic. Shortly before 3 we got a call from my dad saying that they were stuck in traffic. Then a little while later, my mom called saying not only were they stuck in traffic but also having car trouble and they wouldn't be able to make it in. Finally at 4 my brother showed up, thinking he was late only to learn that they were the first ones to arrive and then my dad pulled up right after that. During this time, Caleb had not taken a nap but Sadie managed to sneak one in since everyone was late getting here.

The party went really well after the rocky start. Caleb was really excited to see everyone and after Sadie woke up, she was happy to see G'ma and G'pa. We were able to comfortably stay inside since it was so muggy outside, it was nice to be in air conditioning. After some play time and munching on snacks we started opening presents. The highlight of the presents would have to be a birthday card from G'ma and G'pa that played "Celebration" when you opened it. Caleb and Sadie would both stand at the couch dancing to the music and there were a few times where we had to stop with the presents to play the music. G'ma and G'pa also got him Elmo and Ernie bumper cars. Those were quite the hit. Both kids loved chasing them around the dining room. Caleb got a soccer ball from Uncle Jason and Aunt Lindsay that Sadie really liked and grabbed onto several times this evening. Andy and I got him some Thomas tracks and Edward because he's the number 2 engine.

After playing with new presents and coloring new pictures and reading new stories, it was finally time for cake. We set Caleb in his seat. He tasted the icing a bit. Then we lit the candles and began to sing and Caleb began to cry, not just cry sob. We don't know why and can only guess that our horrible singing offended him so greatly that he was driven to tears. Well, I don't know that that was really the case but he was not happy with us singing and attempted to push the cake away, getting icing all over his fingers and then tried to climb into my lap. We cleaned up his fingers and then I held him and he finally let us sing but we could only whisper. He liked the candles but wasn't quite ready to blow them out even though he's spent many meals blowing on his strawberries because they were hot. Caleb got a special cupcake that he mauled but seemed to like and we all enjoyed gluten-free cake and ice cream. The cake wasn't too bad, just very heavy. Gluten apparently makes things lighter.

After cake, we played some more then said good bye to everyone. Both little ones were very tired and happily went to bed.