Truman's Birthday

Truman's birthday was a big deal at our house even though we kept the celebrations a little more low-key than usual.  We decided not to throw a big party this year.  I had endless amounts of guilt about this decision, but in the end I think it was the right one.  Even without a big party though, we were all so excited for our little guy to turn two.

The night before his birthday Matt and I set out all of his presents.

The next morning Matt and I woke up to Truman's little voice on the monitor.  Then we heard Audrey run into his room to wish him a happy birthday and talk to him.  Just as we were motivating ourselves to go get him we heard some rustling, a thump, and the sound of little feet running down the hall.  We were surprised when our door burst open and in ran a very proud Truman with Audrey trailing.

Truman decided that his second birthday was a good day to learn to climb out of his crib.  Oh dear.
This is all very new to us because Audrey never tried to get out of the crib.  We realize we probably need to get him a bed now.

We let the kids watch some "shows" while Matt and I got ready.  Truman now loves to watch shows, much to my chagrin.

They do look so cute all snuggled up in bed.

After we got ready for the day I took the kids out for a special treat.  We went to Safeway and got doughnuts for breakfast!

Before I let them eat the doughnuts though I did give them some scrambled eggs, which both kids ate quickly so they could have their doughnut.

They thoroughly enjoyed the sweet treat.

I love this cute little two year old face.

I love it even when it's dirty.

After breakfast we spent some time outside riding bikes.

Poor Truman is forced to ride Audrey's pink and purple tricycle (which we did not buy her, for the record).  He doesn't care at all but I'm sure someday he'll look at these pictures and ask why we didn't get him a red or blue one.

He does love to ride bikes!

The rest of the day was pretty typical.  That night I made a special dinner and we invited Grammy over to share it with us.

We had things I knew Truman would like.  I made spaghetti and meatballs for the first time ever and they turned out great!  We also had corn, peas, and homemade rolls.

Truman and Audrey loved the spaghetti but neither one would try the meatballs!  The nerve!

After dinner Truman finally got to open his gifts.  Audrey chose this one for him.  It's a remote controlled car and Truman has had a great time with it.

I was impressed by how well Truman did with all the gifts.  He got the hang of opening them pretty quickly and did not want any help.

He got a book about "tucks" from us.

We also got him this Elmo doll.  Truman is obsessed with Elmo despite the fact that he's seen Sesame Street maybe one time.  He loves Elmo and whenever we go to Costco (or anytime he sees an Elmo doll) he immediately starts asking to go see Elmo.  He likes to make him sing and then stick his fingers in the mouth.  He'll say, "Eh-mo, bite me!"  It's really cute and really funny and is his favorite thing.  We didn't spring for the new expensive Elmo, but this smaller version sings and moves his mouth too.

He was happy for his new firetruck and also got the new Winnie the Pooh movie. 

The last gift we gave him was a basketball hoop, which we have since decided to return and have replaced with one that goes over the door.  We don't have a lot of free space in the house and the free standing hoop would take up too much room.  The new one will just stay on the back of his room or closet door.

Finally it was time for birthday cake.  I made homemade vanilla cupcakes, some with fresh blackberries in the batter, with yellow buttercream frosting and sprinkles.  Truman is partial to the color yellow.

I love how he got a little grin and a little shy when we started singing to him.

He may not understand the whole birthday thing yet, but he knew it was a special day for him.

He blew out his candles all by himself but I was too slow to get a picture.

Then he pulled out the candles and went to town on his cupcake.

We planned to do a little more celebrating later in the week and I'll post that later.

Happy Birthday Truman!