Happy 2nd Birthday!

Edith seemed to find it very happy indeed. The sun cooperated both Saturday and Sunday to bless us with gorgeous weather, making for lots of outdoor time, and Edith greatly enjoyed all her guests. Mommy and Daddy had a happy time, too, for the most part, though it was tiring. But then, we didn't get the 3-hour naps Edith took both days.

I don't know if all Edith's fans have noticed the age ticker at the bottom of her blog before. I've moved the old one to this post and put a new one at the bottom now, starting along the road to 3. (Three! Gasp.) When I went to the sponsoring website to create it, I noticed that one could also create nursing tickers to mark how long a child has nursed. All the options looked entirely too cheery to my mind. None featured a haggard, sagging mother or a huge toddler poking, pinching, and squirming.

Which is by way of saying that the birthday, in fact, brought about no insta-weaning, which is not really a surprise. But in the excitement of the day, Edith only nursed four times (which, if it sounds like plenty, is about half of usual). And there may be other signs of impending change. On Sunday when she was nursing before bed, I asked her again, "So when are you going to stop drinking mommy milk?"

"Birthday," she muttered.

"But your birthday was yesterday," I pointed out.

She sat up. "Oh," she said. "All done." She scrambled into my arms and held on tight.

One minute and one conversation later she was fishing for mommy milk again. But maybe there is the inkling of some idea beginning?

The pediatrician reassured us at today's two-year checkup that should I cut Edith off from nursing now, she'd have a rough few days of it but wouldn't be permanently scarred. He recommended a parents-only getaway for a few days to help kickstart the process. A great idea. Unforunately, he forgot to hand over the airline tickets before we left.

Edith's other vital stats: 29 pounds (she got to stand on the big scale for the first time!) and 34 inches--probably a bit more if she had stopped wiggling, said the doc.

The test questions measuring normal verbal development for a two year old (always interesting to a language nerd like me) were whether Edith knew her own name, could point to body parts, could string two or three words together on occasion, and could understand virtually everything said to her. Looking good.

Backing up to Thursday's spring show at daycare, here are Edith and a classmate singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Among the things for which the three and four year olds thanked God in their sequence was "helping our mommies and daddies get their homework done." A friend of mine at the university's daycare said that January and May, exam times, are visibly rough on the kids.

On Friday we brought in "mom-mom bread" (the mini-banana bread loaves Tom's mom makes) for a snacktime celebration in daycare. Here is Edith's class, minus Harrison and Youssef.

Edith liked the birthday nametag her teachers gave her


On Saturday we headed out to a local farm/orchard for a spring kite festival. We had limited success with kites on a relatively calm day, but the miniature tractors were a hit.

So was riding Rosie the Pony

So was the farm dog, who had developed his defense against a constant barrage of little petting hands.

Even plastic spoons were good enough fun for Edith and her friend Desi

Edith cheered for the guests who sang her "Happy Birthday"

"Do, a Deer" cupcakes

Edith and Harrison cooperated in milking a cow. Tom's mom complimented Harrison on his professional technique, observing that her father always leaned his head against the cow's flank in just that manner. As for Edith, well, there's a reason we start with wooden cows...

She also needs a little work on her watering technique, though she likes her new watering can

On Sunday we had a few neighbors and their kids over for Cinco de Mayo margaritas and cake

We borrowed the dress from her teacher, and Edith dressed again as a Mexican patriot


As for gifts, Edith liked bathing her new baby doll in its bathtub.

But her favorite gift so far has been daddy's special present to her: a shopping cart filled with pretend food. There has been much grocery shopping at our house in the past four days. The pretend food came with pretend money. Edith didn't know what to do with that, until she spied our printer in the corner and tried to put it all in the slot--a sort-of reverse ATM. Once we gave her an old credit card (or rather, Blockbuster card), she was on surer footing. She even uses the pen slot on her magnetic doodle pad to swipe the card, then the doodle pad itself to sign. And then she heads off, arms full of food. A good environmentalist, she uses no bags.

P.S. Anyone who can explain why the leading (spacing between lines of text) is so tight on this post, please fill me in!