So, on August 13th my baby boy turned a whole 2 years old... For his birthday, Tom and I went downtown to the Farmer's Market, and swung by the local Mediterranean Market to get Xavier some hummus (still one of his favorites), and also got him a Neuhaus truffle at our local wine shop. The truffle was adorable, as when we were paying for our wine and falafel chips, he pointed into the refrigerator, and asked for a chocolate. Since it was his birthday, we indulged him! (Oh, what posh tastes he has!) For lunch we stopped at Nathan's and got him a hot dog...another favorite food of his (although considerably less healthy)! We also picked him up a big plastic baseball bat and ball for him to try out.
And that's when things started going downhill... The walk home was a struggle with a major meltdown in the stroller... then after nap, we played some baseball at the park - which went fairly well and was a lot of fun!
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| Xavier pitches. |
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| Striking Mama out. |
However, when we tried to leave, it was another battle, even though we explained that we were going to church, and then going to go see Nana and Pap and Grandma for dinner (which he was very excited about and immediately asked for "bread" and "hot sauce" since we always meet them at Oliverio's and there are breadsticks and hot pepper oil). However, those plans got derailed when he was horrendous in Mass (pushing boundaries and being very loud on purpose) , and he was being too stubborn to apologize (which means just say "I'm sorry" which he is perfectly capable of doing) to even go see them. So, instead, we went home, had a very quiet dinner of hummus and falafel chips, and sent him to his room. In about 30 minutes, he apologized and wanted to make sure everyone was okay and happy ("Nana happy? Pap happy? Gramma happy?") since we sat down with him and told him he made everyone very sad. What was left of the evening was very nice...I just think there's something in the cosmos that makes a toddler meltdown on their birthday...?
The next day we did go to Nana and Pap's (my parents) for birthday celebration #2.
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| Pap taking Xavier out to see his present...you can see him noticing hit already. |
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| "Oh, WOW!" |
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| "Dirt...dirt...messy!" |
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| A beautiful caprese my mom made. |
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| Opening up his "prizes" as he calls them. |
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| "CHEESE" |
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| He decided to help my brother open his gift too! |
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| And he decided to wear it! |
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| "Big. Big!" |
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| Oh, cake.... |
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| Blowing out the candles! |
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| I don't think my poor brother has ever had a birthday to himself. |
All and all it was a very very nice day - tantrum free! :)
Monday, Xavier's Godfather Charlie came to visit us (he lives in Austin, TX now) and I made a homemade eggplant parmesan. Thankfully, Xavier had all of his new birthday toys to keep him occupied...I had no idea at the time that it would be so labor intensive to make! It was one of the best things I've cooked in a while though...so very much worth it! I also have no idea why I didn't get any photos of Charlie and Xave together...I am very disappointed that I didn't.
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| All set up to cut, dredge, and fry. |
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| The first of four layers of eggplant. |
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| Mr. Ham insisted I take a photo of him as well. |
It did very much surprise me though that Xavier made up with Charlie (and our mutual friend Paul) very quickly - calling them by name, and showing them all of his different new toys. He was even so brave, that when I was inside washing up some dishes, that when Paul sat in a folding chair of mine, he tried to push Paul out and go "Mama's chair!". Paul said he would move when I came outside, and Tom told me Xavier seemed content with that.
Today, Xavier had his 2 year old check up! I was amazed at how well behaved he was. He currently weighs 26.5lbs and is 34 inches tall. By WHO standards, he's middle of the road! The doctors and nurses all seemed very impressed with how well behaved he was, and also bragged on us for our parenting philosophies. A resident was happily surprised I nursed Xave for so long, and remarked on how it's sadly not the norm, the pediatrician was shocked I used the term "screen time" and that Xavier didn't just veg out in front of a television all day, they both praised us for watching his diet and not allowing him to eat junk, etc...I would chalk 60% of it being genuinely happy that we were doing the right thing and maybe 40% puffing us up?? It was still nice to hear though. Then again, West Virginia
is notoriously bad for a lot of those factors, so sadly, they probably do see a lot of negative parenting unfortunately. Xavier sat through and laid down for all of the procedures, except between the resident and our pediatrician he got really antsy and I let him watch a video on my phone...and when the pediatrician finally walked in, taking the phone away was slightly dramatic. :(
I've got another appointment with my midwife and an ultrasound next week! So all and all things are going good!
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