Birthday Boy!

Harrison didn't totally grasp the concept of what a birthday is, but he had fun anyhow. And so did his momma! Is it weird that I was more excited about my child's birthday than I am about my own? I put up all of his party decorations the night before his birthday so he would be surprised when he woke up. He was pretty pumped about the balloons and loved naming all of the letters (over and over and over) on his banner.

I decided that since the boy hears no! approximately 12,543 times on any given day, his birthday would be an intentional day of yeses*, within reason of course. Once I finally relaxed a little I really enjoyed seeing the day through his eyes. It was a great lesson for me -- I realized that I get uptight about a lot of little things (shocking, right?) and I need to get better at picking my battles. By giving Harrison a little more freedom to be a curious and independent toddler I saw a big shift in his attitude...which shifted my attitude as well. Happy toddler = more compliant toddler = one happy momma!

First up on our Yes Day was letting Harrison play with the faucet in the bath tub while Mommy got ready. It made a mess and soaked his clothes, but a little water never hurt anything. Unless of course a camera or cell phone is involved, but in this case there wasn't so we were good.

When it was time to change out of his cold, sopping wet clothes he threw a pretty big tantrum. This is where I tried very hard to internalize my frustrations because I really didn't want to fight with him on his birthday. Another good lesson for me...I need to work on internalizing my frustrations a little bit more often instead of taking the bait and letting a toddler dictate my emotions. Fighting with The Toddler isn't much fun on his non-birthdays, either. The fit passed and we moved on pretty quickly -- especially when I told him he could pick out his own outfit! He was very excited about the prospect of complete wardrobe freedom and as much as my eye was twitching I went along with whatever his little heart desired.

He elected to go with his cow costume and some brown, ratty, one-size-too-small sandals. He rocked the ensemble, though, and the sweet workers at Chick-fil-a thought he was so cute that they gave him a matching cow stuffed animal and told him he needed to be their miniature mascot.

"Hayison's baby moom cow!"

Since it was his birthday, I didn't hound him to eat his food like mealtime typically goes. He ate what he wanted (didn't want) and then it was time for a birthday ice cream cone! And when he dropped his on the floor his Aunt Katie was sweet enough to give him hers. Now that's love. :)

"Mmmmm, cold!"

Remember when I mentioned an attitude change? He even shared his ice cream with his Momma!

After lunch and play-time at Chick-fil-A it was time to go to Harrison's favorite store. We went there solely for Harrison and not at all for myself. I don't even like the place. I'm incredibly selfless like that.

Katie and the kid bus

I used his nap time to bake and get things ready for his party the next day (I'll post about the party separately). Mom and Tim came over for a small birthday dinner and to help bake the ridiculous number of cookies that needed to be baked. We had Harrison's very favorite food, pizza, and he ate three pieces! If only I could get him to eat like that every night. We won't discuss the number of pieces of pizza I ate. As you can see from the next pictures, I let Harrison choose his own outfit after nap time as well :)

We'll just call it "eclectic"

 A lapse in parental judgment: a new, obnoxious guitar!

Getting the hang of opening presents and digging it!

This big one looks fun.

Time for a birthday cookie, fresh out of the oven.

I am still in disbelief that my baby boy is TWO.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Hare-Bear!



*Doesn't yeses look so weird? What is the plural form of yes, anyway? It wouldn't be yes's because I'm not trying to show possession. After wasting 5 minutes looking it up on the trusty ol' internets and not finding a consistent answer, I settled on yeses. I think yesses lookes a little better but then again gases doesn't have an extra s added in there so yeses it is...