A birthday party

We celebrated Lily's birthday today...even though it's not until tomorrow...because both sets of grandparents came in from Ohio and are leaving tomorrow. It's rough being so unloved. I mean, seriously, drive and fly hundreds of miles to spend just a few days with a 2 year old? And then watch her open a few presents? And eat cake?


My parents and In-laws don't have blogs, but I think the title of theirs would read "So Totally Worth It."

I wish I could adequately describe Lily on this blog. There is no picture that has captured her yet. She is unfortunately not photogenic. Or perhaps Lily's charm isn't in her looks at all. Because you just can't "get" Lily until you've had the live show. She has crazy cute facial expressions, she has inflection in her words that just make you crack up, and she can just be the sweetest/most psychotic kid. She makes everyone she meets fall in love with her. I may be biased.

So Lily's birthday was today (even though its really tomorrow). We woke up and got ready for swim lessons. The whole family loaded up in 2 cars to go to the athletic center to watch Lily (and Andrew) have their lessons. There is a teeny tiny observation room...which we filled like a can of sardines. I'm pretty sure the lifeguards were looking around for a famous person, because it was obvious that someone had let the paparazzi in for the day. Ridiculous. Lily had a blast, as she always does during swim lessons. She got out and got dressed while Andrew started his lesson. After a snack, she went home with me, Mike, and the grandmas. While we waited for the boys to come home, Lily colored quietly in a coloring book while I got everything ready for her to go to Sesame Place with Grandma and Grandpa and Andrew. Soon, the four of them left for a day of fun with Elmo and the whole Sesame gang. I don't think anything could be better than that for Lily. While she was gone, Jeff put together her gigantic Little Tykes kitchen, I wrapped her present from Michael and Andrew, and Memere and Pepere unloaded all the grandparent gifts. We decorated her cake (and then went out to lunch...so easy to go out with just one kid!).

The Sesame Gang came back and we attempted to put Lily down for a nap. Jeff brought home some pizza. She took a very short one and blew out her diaper. I brought her downstairs and told her happy birthday. She proceeded to tell everyone else "Happy Birt-day!". She mentioned that she was hungry but angrily refused pizza. So we decided it was time to start presents. The second gift was a set of pretend doughnuts (Doh-dohs). She was eager for me to open the box, saying over and over, "Eat doh-dohs." I explained that they were pretend, but she didn't believe it until she grabbed one and clinked her teeth into the hard plastic. She was disappointed, but she didn't lose it...yet. As she opened present #3, I started taking the rest of the doughnuts out of the box. She saw me and yelled, "NO!!!! MY DOH DOHS!!!" and threw a huge fit. She was apparently starving, and only doh-dohs would do!

Luckily, we had one stale doughnut left from the day before (when Memere and Pepere brought them). We split it between Andrew and Lily, and she quieted down. The rest of us ate delicious hot pizza...but not Lily...nothing but stale doughnut for her! She opened the rest of her gifts...although she was a little confused. When I told her to thank someone for a gift, she thought that meant it belonged to them, so she would deliver it and say, "Thank you. Happy birthday!" In fact whenever someone wished her a happy birthday it went something like this:

"Happy Birthday, Lily."
"Happy Birt-day, Memere."
"No, Lily, it's YOUR birthday today. Happy birthday, Lily."
"NO NO NO NO. HAPPY BIRT-DAY MEMERE. MEMERE BIRT-DAY."
"Okay, okay...thank you Lily."

She loved her cake (homemade by momma), and especially the plastic Elmo cake toppers I bought. After the cake she played with those and the doughnuts. Forget the gigantic play kitchen that talks. Cake toppers.

Anyway, it was a lovely birthday for a 2 year old. I'm so glad that we just have family parties for this age. I can't even imagine trying to structure a party around her psychotic-ness.

Tomorrow...she's 2!!!