Happy Birthday, Carston- 2 years old!

Let's face it, I didn't plan Carston's birthday very well. He was born on September 5th, 2008. For starters, it's right around Labor Day, and it's hard to plan a party with Labor Day taking everyone out of town. Also, it's at the end of the hunt, which might be great for him when he's older, but makes it hard to plan a party when his dad is out of town. And, when I'm a working Mommy, it's right in the middle of the busiest time of the month, which makes it hard for me to plan a party. In my defense, I really tried to get the little stinker here a week earlier (not that it would've relieved the hunt issue), but he was having none of it.

This year, Carston's birthday happened while we were trying to get back to Okinawa. We didn't really think it would take us a whole week to get back. We figured we'd have a day or two when we got back to put together a fun day for him and to get him some gifts. We were so wrong. On September 4th, we left Hawaii, and we crossed the International Date Line about mid-day on September 5th. Basically, Carston lost half of his birthday. When we realized this, and that we were going to spend the rest of that day in a terminal in Guam, I told Jason to pretend it wasn't his birthday, and we'd reschedule. Then we found out our flight plans were changed and we were stuck for two days. Nice birthday, huh?

So, we got back into town, but we were behind at school preparation and school homework, we had to unpack and do laundry, and Jason had signed up to take his Advanced Open Water Diver class that week. Carston's birthday got pushed back to Saturday- and only Saturday evening at that. Poor guy. Good thing he's only two. But, here's what we did:

Birthday dinner is hard to plan for Carston. He is my worst eater, but my least picky eater. It's really more about how hungry he is than about what he wants to eat. This is nice, because he will go try new things at Japanese restaurants, if he's hungry. That means he usually eats off my plate. For his birthday dinner, we chose personal pizzas. Carston's personal pizza is really just a bread stick that he dips in pizza sauce, but to each his own!

What we lacked in preparation and time, we made up for in gifts and in gift size. This year it seemed like all of Carston's gifts were large, and I ran out of wrapping paper. Here he is getting down to business. Check out the paparazzi action! Do you think we adore him, or what?

So far, he's opened a toy story race car track from Jessie and a sand dump truck from Cassie. A t-ball set from Mom & Dad, which might, I hope, keep him busy for a few minutes every day. A shake and go race track from Grandma & Grandpa Bohn. And basketball (Carston calls it "b-ball") hoop from Mom & Dad. Plus, money and cards from Grandma & Grandpa Cowley, Grandpa Jones, Great Grandma B, and Great Grandma & Grandpa Jones; all of whom were on time with their gifts, but I kept them until the 'big party' anyway.

Then we had some chocolate football cake. He had a little trouble blowing out the candles:
1-

2-

3-

What can I say about this little guy? He's definitely ALL Boy. He loves playing with balls of all types and he likes watching ball games on TV. He wants to play video games with his Daddy, as well. He has the cutest laugh, especially when he's being tickled. The month before his birthday, we saw him really grow up. He started trying to express himself with words more and his vocabulary grew. I still often have a hard time understanding what he's trying to tell me, and we both spend a good part of the day frustrated with each other. His pretend play has matured, as well. I love to see what things he pretends that are different from what his sisters pretended, and what things are the same. We still struggle a lot with hitting, but I'm hoping some of that will change as he gets better at using words. He's doing great in nursery- getting along with the other kids and starting to sing the songs and do the actions. He loves books, and will pull one after the other off the shelf to read. He also loves to watch movies and his favorite is Cars, but he also like Toy Story. Carston likes to go to the beach and play in the sand, and he'll even go into the water now. He loves jets, and gets so excited when they fly over (which happens all the time here). He's a little ball of action, and he wears me out, but he gives great squeezes and I love him very much. Happy Birthday, Little Boy.