Birthday Boy!!!

Andersen turned two years old today. The older kids wanted to wake him up with a birthday song, traditional of how I grew up. So we marched into his bedroom this morning at 7 AM, singing "Happy Birthday to You". He first started to cry (I would too--we sounded pretty horrible!) But the tears quickly turned to excitement as he jumped up and down in the crib with sqeels and smiles.

We marched downstairs to open presents. He kept saying, "present I want football" over and over again. (Funny that he'd mention it. How many footballs do we have lying around our house?) It was fun to watch him open each one. The first two were bags of clothes, which he desperately needs. With absolutely zero emotion, he quickly tossed them aside and waited for the next gift. The football came--a little one, just perfect for his small hands. Then a tractor that made lots of noise and a tee ball set with a tee, bat, and lots of balls. He opened the last few presents one handed, never taking a hand off that football. And as I tucked him in bed tonight, he wanted to sleep with the football. Pretty cute.

Tonight we had birthday cake. And I thought; "why didn't I make a football cake instead of a baseball cake"? But he seemed excited nonetheless. I caught him a few times during the afternoon climbing up on the counter and laying fingerprints in the frosting. Just couldn't resist! And a few red liccorice pieces were missing tonight too. Wonder where those went. . .

#1 Prized Possession

Notice the hand, never leaving his football.

Before swinging, he would yell "ready, set, touchdown". Just a little confused. We'll try to fix that one later.

Notice the little finger that just took a swipe out of that frosting.

Andersen has been such a joy since day one. He is ALWAYS smiling--always! A few weeks ago while up at the cabin with some friends, we heard one of the men saying to him, "Andersen, Let me guess . . . are you still smiling? Yep--still smiling." And when he smiles, his eyes light up and smile too. I love being his mom. He keeps me smiling and laughing more than I would have without him. We're glad he's part of the clan.