A Birthday Celebration for Lucas

So, this blog didn't get posted until a week after it was written; life gets busier the older I get!

The most exciting event from this past week was definitely Lucas' 2nd birthday. We made sure to turn it into a 2-day celebration since turning 2 is a BIG deal! Lucas' actual birthday was on Friday, the 27th, so Mom and I got him a balloon - I chose a blue balloon for Luke - and a big, chocolate cupcake with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top. The cupcake was a work of art in my opinion. Don't worry; I made sure to also get myself a cupcake and a balloon - a yellow one, of course. After spending an hour at the totally deserted pool, which was awesome, Mom and I went over to drop off Luke's goodies and say, "Happy Birthday" in person. Since I am such a thoughtful friend, I also went in and helped Luke test out his new birthday gifts. It's a tough job, but somebody has got to do it. Lucas got a Hot Wheels tricycle, which I immediately took over, and he was nice enough to show me how all of the buttons worked and then push me around the room. He got a little annoyed when I didn't turn the wheel at the correct times, so he just started reaching up and turning the wheel himself. Luke is pretty good at taking care of me. We also played doctor - the real kind of doctor for any of you out there whose mind just went someplace else; shame on you - with Luke's new doctor's kit. He manned the stethoscope while I checked everyone's ears. Then Luke and I went back to one of our old favorites, jumping onto the couch from the subwoofer, which is always a good time. Our couch jumping inevitably led to a boo-boo when Luke slammed his knee into the subwoofer. On the bright side, that boo-boo led to 7-Up popsicles and an episode of Barney, which immediately sucked us both in; it's just something about a big, purple dinosaur that grabs your attention. I was able to continue the whole doctor bit as I sat mesmerized with my popsicle. Mrs. Allison was even nice enough to invite us out for sushi to celebrate Luke's big day with the grandparents, but seeing as neither Mom nor I had taken a shower, we reluctantly declined. Thanks for letting me play with your birthday gifts, Luke, and Happy, Happy Birthday, BF!

That Friday night, I woke up several times crying, and when I got up on Saturday morning, I was running a low fever. Throughout the morning, I laid on Mom's chest and asked her to scratch my back, which is one of the things that I constantly ask for nowadays. I also had several complete meltdowns that morning. I cried for 30 minutes straight after being denied access to Mom's make-up drawer. Now, I know I like to get my way, but I don't usually have all-out-meltdowns for 30 minutes at a time, so Mom checked my mouth, and sure enough, I've got at least 2 molars breaking through. After calling Mrs. Allison and okaying it with her due to the slight fever, Mom laid me down for any early nap so as to attend Lucas' 3:30 birthday party. Boy, I am really glad that it was just a molar because the birthday party was beyond fun. When I woke up from nap, Grandma came over and brought me my very own yellow dump truck; for those of you who aren't in the loop, there is a yellow dump truck that lives at the house right before you turn into our neighborhood, and I ask to see that yellow dump truck every time we get in the car or pull onto our road. The yellow dump truck and I have got a special thing going. Although I was a little tired, and my eyes were puffy from my numerous morning meltdowns, Grandma, Mom, and I headed to Gymboree for Lucas' real birthday celebration, and celebrate we did. Mom helped take pictures for Mrs. Allison, and I ran around like a crazy girl. Lucas and I have got the Gymboree routine down, so we weren't shy about anything. As soon as I arrived, Lucas ran up and gave me a big hug in front of everyone; he is so sweet. Several of my other friends were there, like Boris, Tyler, and Lina, which is what I call Selina. The party included some airlog games, parachute time, bubbles, a choo-choo call, as well as cake! Lucas and I made our own fun by digging all of the toys out that had been put away; we know where the good stuff is. I was even called a daredevil for my slide shenanigans, and the teacher used me as her example when playing the monkeys on a log game. I did have a bit of a meltdown when it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" because Grandma wouldn't let me go up with Luke, but Mrs. Allison rectified the situation and allowed me to help Lucas blow out his candle. (Thank you, Mrs. Allison; you are so very good to me always.) After the meltdown, I chugged a juicebox to get back into the party mood; I am a girl who knows who to live it up. Mom and Dad just hope this is not my way of getting ready for college. The party had a construction theme, complete with trucks on the cake, a construction hat with each of our names on it, and a truck to take home. The goody bag also included a picture of Dad, Mom, and me from Lucas' 1st birthday party, which was really cute. Lucas' Grandma got him an antique potty chair, and although, I threw another little fit when he wouldn't get up for me to sit down, to which Mom responded by taking me outside to have a stern talk, I had a great time helping him unwind the toilet paper and read his potty books once I was able to return to the party. When Lucas finally did get up, and it was my turn to sit on the potty, I tried to take off my diaper in front of everyone and kept saying, "Livie, pee pee". See, I get it; even if, I chose not to do it at home! I was the last friend to leave, and before going, Lucas and I remembered to get our Gymbo stamps. Oh, I've missed Gymboree. Again, Happy Birthday, Luke, and thanks for having such a great party!

By the way, Mom took so many pictures that the camera was on the fritz for days, and it has to go to the camera doctor; I know you all are devastated that there is going to be a gap in our daily picture taking.

Update: The camera did indeed go to the camera doctor, but it started working again as soon as the doctor took a look. Go figure!

After the birthday party, Grandma came home with us, and to my surprise, Aunt Steph and Uncle Ian were there to greet us with pizza. Now, that is a good Aunt and Uncle! Aunt Stephanie was really tired from taking a baby class and going shopping: She is getting really close to her due date, so it is understandable that she is exhausted and uncomfortable. I was beyond excited to see Uncle Ian, and I spent most of my time entertaining and playing with him. We, of course, kicked the soccer ball around, and I shared my Halloween ornaments exclusively with him. I was again fascinated with his beard and moustache and kept pointing to his facial hair. I still wasn't feeling great, and I did get a little upset at the end of dinner and insist that Mom hold me and scratch my back for about 15 minutes. I don't think Mom minded though. It was an incredibly long but very fun day, and I crashed pretty much right after Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Ian took off. Aunt Steph did remind me of something that I forgot to include in last week's blog: Apparently, I've picked up a new saying from Mom. When I did something at lunch last week, I looked up and exasperatedly said, "Dear God!" I don't think that Mom realized it, but she uses that phrase quite often. It's okay, Mom; you could have taught me worse phrases. One more story: A couple of nights ago, Dad and I were reading a book that included "the man with the wide moustache". When asked whom I had seen last weekend with a moustache, I thought long and hard and then said, "Grandma!" Sorry, Grandma; you really don't have a moustache. Uncle Ian would have been the correct answer.

I was still so excited about my construction hat the following morning that I wore it most of the day and even posed for a picture with my new yellow dump truck. Unfortunately, I was still running a slight fever and acting a little under the weather, so I had to miss Jordan's pool party. I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Jordan! However, I did get to stay up a little later that night so as to see Dad when he got home. I was so excited to see him, and he brought me a blue shirt, like I requested, and a pink hat from Las Vegas. Now, how many 2-year-olds have a Vegas hat; I'm too cool! When I woke up the next morning, I immediately began calling, "Dad, are you? Pat!", which he heard through the monitor; the pat is a Gymboree thing, just in case you didn't know. Dad practically ran up to get me, and I got to spend a couple of hours with him before he had to go off to work; we even let Mom get an extra hour of sleep. It is good to have Dada home! I did punish Mom a little the day after he returned because I was mad that Daddy had to leave for work so quickly after coming home. The punishment inluded some kicking, a pulling of her braid, a minute of spitting on the floor, and a screaming test of patience in the grocery store. Mom always gets the brunt of my moods. The spitting thing may not be an isolated incident either; I think that I am going to make it part of my daily routine; it may lead to many timeouts, but trust me, the spitting is killing Mom more than the timeouts are killing me. Thankfully, Dada was able to come home and play with me everyday last week, and, hopefully, the run will continue this week. One day last week, I was even able to rope him into pushing all of my pals and me around the room in Pooh's stroller. F-U-N-N-Y! I thought so at least.

Since Dad was out of town all the week before last and that weekend, Grandma was nice enough to join us for dinner on that Thursday night as well. The three of us got all ready for the pool just to walk outside and hear thunder; what a waste! I did finally get to wear my Juicy Couture tracksuit that Grandad and Grandma Trish got for me before I was born. It is still a little big, but I just couldn't wait any longer. I felt pretty cool walking around with my hood up and my hands in my pockets; that's right, you know you are getting to be a big girl when your pants have actual pockets. I even took a minute to practice a pose to utilize in my future swimsuit modeling days. Pooh has been sporting my Juicy Couture jacket pretty much everyday since. Pink looks good on him too. I also prefer that he wears my blue Polo shoes while I sport my raincoat and squeaky shoes, minus the squeakers thanks to Dad, around the house. Don't even think about trying to get me to take off my raincoat; you never know when you've got to be prepared for a storm, even indoors. Also, Pooh and I like to be ready to go bye-bye at all times.

Aunt Mal has come to play a few times in the last couple of weeks as well, including dinner at mi casa just the other night. As soon as Mal walked into my room to get me up from nap, I called out "Back-ster" and started crying hysterically. I love you Mal, but I really wanted to see Baxter too. Aunt Mal promised to bring him next time, so I let it go and found contentment in bossing her around all night. While Mom made dinner, a pasta dish from the Mario Batali cookbook, which turned out really good, - "More shrimp, please!" - Aunt Mal and I cuddled on the couch. Aunt Mal is very distracting and so much fun; I get really hyper when she comes over, and I refuse to concentrate on anyting besides entertaining her. I was a little disappointed when I woke up the next morning to find that she had gone.

My playgroup enjoyed an afternoon at Gary Pirkle Park a couple of weeks ago, and I just got the pictures from Mrs. Allison, so I thought I would add them to this blog. Gary Pirkle Park is the park that I mentioned in my last blog, the one with the ceiling fans and picnic tables. Unfortunately, the day that we went, the ceiling fans weren't working, and it was H-O-T! Heat is no deterrent in this playgroup though. The Moms kept our water bottles handy, and we went wild. Boris brought a ball with which to play, and while all of the boys were chasing him and trying to grab it, I casually kept walking up to him and nicely saying, "Hi, Boris". I eventually got the ball using my own tactic. The boys all got to take of their shirts, but being the lady that I am, I opted to keep mine on. Mrs. Allison brought a spray bottle, and we all took turns getting sprayed with cool water: Good call, Mrs. Allison. We had a blast, the moms included seeing as they got in on some of the action as demonstrated by Mrs. Alisha, and we even got to stay for a little park picnic. I was very excited to do a repeat playgroup at the park last week and perhaps even again tomorrow.

Today, which was actually last Thursday seeing as this blog is taking forever to proof and post, Mom and I did a mall run. I easily entertained myself for about 20 minutes while Mom tried on clothes; I danced in front of the mirror sans shoes, unpacked and packed my lunchbox several times, called Mrs. Teri using Mom's belt as a phone, read a book, and climbed in and out of my stroller. Dressing rooms aren't so bad after all. After eating lunch, Mom and I rode the carousel. From far away, the horses were very appealing, and I kept saying, "Ride horse", but upclose, they kind of lost their appeal, and I refused to sit on one. Instead, Mom and I sat on the bench, which is on the carousel I assure you, and I commented on all of the animals around us, which included horses, a giraffe, a bunny, and a tiger - "Roar!" I wasn't so sure about the whole thing at the beginning, which is always how I react the first couple of times I experience anything, but once we really started moving, I didn't want it to end. Maybe next time, I will actually give in and ride one of the horses.

So, Pooh has become my partner in crime, and just like me, he has gotten his fair share of timeouts lately. Mom, again, found him in the corner this morning, and when she asked what he did to warrant a timeout, I told her that he had "hit Mickey"; that Pooh, you've gotta watch him like a hawk. I give myself timeout quite often as well, just to save Mom the effort. I don't only give him timeout though; I also take good care of him. I even gave him a bath, wrapped him in a towel, put lotion on him, and got him a new diaper the other day. See, I'm a good Mommy.

Just to keep you all up to speed, I have become quite the chatterbox, and I talk constantly, except when I am around people I don't know. I love to tell Mom and Dad what I do and do not like with "Livie like..." or "Livie no like...", especially when it comes to food. I now know all of the main colors, such as red, orange, blue, green, purple, yellow, black, and white, and can point them out without assisstance. That being said, yellow is my absolute favorite color, and I ask for everything to be yellow - yellow balloon, yellow shirt, yellow food, etc. Oh, and when I say orange, it actually sounds like I am saying a naughty phrase that begins with "Oh sh..."; I have turned a few heads with that one. I have also almost mastered spelling my name; although, I tend to skip the L; the lady at the grocery store was very impressed the other day when I spelled my name while Mom helped me sign a card. I am pretty impressive. Oh, and speaking of impressive, check out all of the hair that I am amassing.

Stay tuned for the upcoming blog about my exciting and eventful Labor Day weekend; although, at the rate I am going, you probably won't get it until October. You would think that my decision to shorten my nap by an hour would give me more time to get these blogs out, but for some reason, it actually makes it harder to finish them, if you catch my drift.