Scenes from a Second Birthday

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Skyler turned two on Friday! Which meant we celebrated and ate cake all weekend!

A few highlights…

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That day began with family pile-ups in bed and tangled tresses. Her limbs and her locks suddenly seem so long!

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Then she and I spent the morning playing before lunch: at her brother’s nursery school (where she’ll start next week, if you can believe it); at the city gym for her weekly tumble time; and at the playground with friends.

When Hudson got home and naptime was up, we took the “monthly” (now bi-annual) couch photos—and Hudson snapped a few, too—and read lots of books.

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She got one very special gift that day: a new balance bike! (The cutest one ever.) She’s not quite ready to ride it, but it was a source of curiosity over the weekend. It reminded us very much of Hudson’s early reaction to his.

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The three of us had picked out a small cake from the grocery to have after dinner—with plans to make one for a party the next day. You can’t tell here, but it reads “Happy Birthday Skyler” on the top and “Hudson” on the side. The kind people at the bakery understood that it can be hard to be the brother when someone is getting so much special attention. Moments later we heard every department in the grocery get on the intercom and wish her a happy day.

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Her party was Saturday afternoon, so we did most of the prep in the morning: everyone blew up balloons, Skyler and I made a sign, and we put the finishing details on the cake. This year we’d booked a party time at a local gymnastics facility (motivated in party because February 5th has been very rainy the past two years in a row). It was the first party we’ve held in a party space and you only get 15 minutes to set up, so we practically ran inside and scattered the decorations around the tables before the children arrived.

Skyler loves pull toys and baby animals, so I tried to mix in a bit of both.

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The kids had a great time—and, I think, so did the adults. It was a very small group, but we had the space all to ourselves.

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After an hour of bouncing, everyone sat down for a lightning-fast supper of pizza and cake, and a round of Happy Birthday that made our lovely little girl smile very brightly.

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P.S. Skyler’s first birthday party.

Update—Sources: Pull-toy atop cake; Wooden animal birthday train pieces; Farm Animal bath toys; Party Hats and Cups. Also, Vespa Balance Bike and Party Dress

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