Happy 2nd Birthday

This weekend was a whirlwind celebrating Tigger's 2nd birthday and hosting Aunt Lorelei, Uncle Michael and cousins Cassidy and Aislinn. We all had great fun and Tigger especially enjoyed playing with his cousins.

We started off Tigger's birthday with a trip to the zoo.

We saw a cheetah...



...a panda

and an elephant (sorry, no pic!). After all the animal watching we took the tired kids home for a well deserved nap. After naps, it was time for cake! Lately Tigger has really enjoyed playing with the dump truck Great Aunt Mimi got him, so I decided to make him a dump truck cake. Luckily I had help from some great sous chefs:






Construction continues....





..and it's done! I'm particularly proud of the 'dirt' in the back (it's crushed Oreos!)



The real truck:

Tigger is stunned! Time to sing:



The cake is a hit:



So much in fact, that Tigger asks for 'ma-more cake'!



How do you top all that sugary goodness? With a trip the next day to the Air and Space Museum! On Saturday, we headed to the museum where Tigger immediately started pointing up and saying 'airplane.'


The kids (Tigger and cousin Cassidy) even got to play in airplanes of their own (Tilly and cousin Aislinn were a little too young to play).




After the museum we enjoyed a picnic on the national Mall, complete with shoe-free play time!

Who's tired now? Cousin Aislinn!

After naps (which we obviously all needed!) it was time to go to Columbia Heights Day, an outdoor festival in our neighborhood. They had a bouncy house!

Oops!

Tigger finished the day by crashing hard, taking his birthday card from Meema to bed with him. He fell asleep with it in his hand (and over his face)!

In between all those activities, there was play time...

....time to eat together



...cuddly time

...play time



and the briefest glimmer of diva behavior as cousin Aislinn frowns at Papa TT for interrupting her dinner with his paparazzi-like photo taking. What a face!!!!

Of course, not only did Tigger turn two on Friday but Tilly turned four months old. Here are the crib comparison shots showing our little girl growing up so fast! At birth:

And four months old:

Reading

With Tilly sleeping through the night, I'm a little more alert and rested during the day so I've been catching up on some reading. There have been a few interesting books I thought I'd share.

I just finished Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stillettos. It was hilarious! Not only was it hysterical, it actually had a few good things to say. One day while flying, the author takes a flight attendant's instructions of 'When traveling with children, please secure your own mask before assisting the child' as a metaphor for a solid parenting approach. She realizes:

Provide yourself with oxygen first or you will be of no use to your children. If you run your own life, pursuing your own failures, you won't find yourself dwelling on the missed opportunities or attempting to undo the mistakes on the backs of your kids.

She also observes that:

We have collectively micromanaged our pregnancies and written our superfluouos Birth Plans and succumbed to the pressure of feeding our kids 100 percent organic hand-milled baby food using a reduced carbon footprint. These unrealistic goals have created a population of neurotic mothers whose neurotic kids who inevitably end up at my house on a playdate.

Finally, she sums up her approach with this: Don't get me wrong: I like a healthy, well-adjusted child as much as the next person. But do I really need an owner's manual? Don't you just turn it on and fix it when it's broken?....I will admit my approach is twofold: I always take care of myself and I parent my children my way, not the way others expect me to. I get my oxygen first.

I like it!

I've also reread Children: The Challenge. I read it right after Tigger was born but with him approaching the terrible twos, I thought I needed a refresher. It's a good book, though a bit dated. At one point, it says that everyone in the family has a job - Daddy's is to work, Mommy's is to keep house and the child's is to go to school. Yeah, it was published in 1964. But there are some good thoughts. In one chapter, it discusses not trying to control your child's relationships with others (the example given is one of spoiling grandparents). The book says:

The child does not need to be protected from his environment, nor does he need to have it rearranged for him. What he does need is guidance in his response. The stimulus to which a child is exposed is much less important than his response to it.

All good reading!

I can't finish a post without a picture of our adorable children, so here's one of Tilly, who has learned to suck her thumb:)

Changes, Changes

Well folks, times are a changing! It's time for Mama TT to return to work so Tilly has started day care this week. We're starting slow - just two hours each day (10 am - noon). Yesterday was her first day and she did great. I didn't do so well. Even though I love our day care and the ladies in the baby room, I broke down and cried when I had to drop her off. Of course, she looked right at me and cried as I left! I hid out of sight and she stopped crying in about one minute. She ate, slept and played in those two hours and came home exhausted (see below).

Next week I start work and we'll extend her time to all morning (I'll work from home in the afternoons). After Labor Day she'll go all day like Tigger! Such a big girl...

This is also a transition week for Tigger. He's moving to the older toddler room. He too goes to his new room from 10 am to noon this week (then switches permanently next week). Yesterday didn't go so well. He was doing great but saw me when I picked up Tilly at noon. He apparently was so upset he had to go back to his old teacher to calm down:( Today I snuck Tilly in and out very stealth-like; he didn't see me and did great in his new classroom. Though it's a bit sad to see him grow up, Papa TT and I really like his new room. His new teacher has already talked to us about potty training (cue angels singing)!!

Pump It Up

Yesterday Papa TT and I got a glimpse of our future, specifically the sugary, chaotic, craziness of birthday parties. We went to the Pump It Up Inflatable Party Zone for a friend's daughter's 4th birthday party.

It was great fun for the kids, though a little overwhelming for us given our limited exposure to this type of thing. The place was filled with inflatable bouncy houses and slides. Most of the party goers were older (i.e. 3 and 4) and Tigger was a little unsure of everything at first (see him clinging to Papa TT's legs in the first picture).

Still clinging to Papa TT as the birthday girl runs behind him!

He warms up with the slide....


....and finds balls!!

After the bouncy fun, complete with booming party music at club-like volume, there were cupcakes!

Followed by sleep on the way home...