Tavin Turns 2!

Today was Tavin's 2nd birthday (technically he wasn't born until 11:17pm, but since he sleeps then, we partied during the day). We started his day with a birthday song to wake him up. He was still a little sleepy and definitely not sure of what was going on, not to mention he had half unzipped his pj's. So cute and dilapidated!

Then we headed down to a simple breakfast. We were expecting our neighbors for a birthday brunch, so the boys just had oatmeal to tide them over.Koen has been wanting to watch a Christmas DVD for awhile, so Doug sat down with him and Tavin for a little while so he could watch the old Frosty.Later when we were waiting for our friends to arrive, Tavin opened his card from Gramma and Grampa.He loved it. I think he thought it was a toy. He was driving it along the edge of the couch and he didn't want me to open it because then he couldn't see the dump truck. So cute!Then we read the book that mysteriously arrived yesterday (Nana and PopPop, did you send this sweet birthday book?). It's called "Mother's Lap" and it is a very sweet story. The boys definitely enjoyed it.Then our neighbors arrived. Tavin was so excited for "De-de" (Delia) and "Huk-hu" (Huxley) to be here with us. Koen and Delia went straight upstairs to play and Huxley and Tavin contentedly sat down to play on the floor. It's so funny how differently peers play with one another rather than the way Koen and Tavin, who are separated by a few years. Very complimentary at the same developmental level. So easy-going and refreshing!Around 11am we sat down for our lovely brunch. First, we brought out the banana, chocolate chip muffins Koen and I made yesterday. Here's Koen laboring in love (and in his Rudolph hat) for his brother.And here's big brother singing to Tavin and presenting him with the treat...Tavin actually blew the candles out on his own! Unfortunately I didn't catch it on camera. But you can imagine.Here's Koen and his buddy, Delia, enjoying a chat during their meal. Those two are quite a pair. Chatty, a little silly and totally act like mini adults. So hilarious.Hilary, Alex, D and Huck brough Tavin a present. Look at the intensity as he's opening it (with Koen's help of course). Koen was definitely struggling with not being the center of attention at times today.A new puzzle with all Tav's favorite types of vehicles! He loved it and is already getting really good at it. Puzzles have been a hit with Tav lately, so to have a fresh one is a lot of fun. Thanks, friends!And now for the Melder present. Koen and Doug went down to the basement and carried it out with Delia's help...Look at Tavin just watching while Koen basically unwraps it.A trike! In no time, Tavin is swinging his leg over the seat, ready to ride!Look at the little man. He was so excited. I was so happy he was interested in it.And then Tav even let Huck have a try.And back to Tav working on the pedals.Here's a video of Tavin in action (with help from Delia and Koen).

Our friends left around noon and Doug had to go get ready for doing a wedding this afternoon, so it was me and the boys. We had a nice time winding down. I cleaned up a little, Koen and I wrapped some Christmas presents. The boys and I actually did some organizing upstairs preparing for Christmas setting toys aside to give away, put away to sell at a yardsale and then some to put away and maybe pull out in the future if need be. I was excited that we had some productivity and Koen loves a project and a job. Without even realizing it the time had passed and it was naptime.

Doug got home while the boys were still sleeping and he had the idea of going out for a low key dinner out with the boys. We actually haven't done that in a while with the boys and it definitely sounded fun and easy, so we headed down the street to the Sharp Edge. Here's the birthday boy as we killed time waiting for our meal...And Koen didn't want to do a picture, so I tickled him and this is what we got. Cute!There was another table in the room that was celebrating a birthday. They were having fun and were kind of loud, although a really nice group and we didn't mind at all, but they brought us cake for putting up with them. When we told them that it was Tav's birthday too, they were thrilled. The room was so loud with "happy birthday" wishes! (They had been loving making eyes at cute Tav all night anyways).Koen was super excited to have a little cake. It made his night for sure!Although Tavin seemed in good spirits during the meal, he actually didn't eat a thing. He didn't want salad, pizza or even the bite of cake we offered him. I whispered to Doug during the meal that I was afraid that he might be getting sick. This poor kid so often gets little viruses that I figured this might be the sign of one coming. Well, I called it, I just didn't know how quickly it was coming on. Yep, that's right. About 2 minutes after the cake arrived at our table Tav started crying for no reason. I picked him up thinking maybe he was sad or tired, but also wondering if maybe this was it. And yes, yes it was. Yuck. Embarrassing. And most of all, poor birthday boy! I took him to the bathroom to clean up and he started acting like himself right away. The restaurant workers were so kind to us and the neighboring people were also so sweet. I hope we didn't ruin anyone's night there. We got out of there ASAP and headed home. I put Tav in the bath, got him to bed and he went straight to sleep. Doug handled getting Koen to bed and I went back into disinfecting mode. The washer is running, the toys are all cleansed and my hands are raw from antibacterial soap yet again (well, they've been pretty bad since earlier this week). Definitely a sad end to a good day, but thankfully we did have such a nice day before he got sick. And hopefully, it was a fluke and not a stomach flu. We'll see how tonight goes. Well, Tavin, we love you so much. Happy 2nd birthday!