my baby is 2

Isn't he just so handsome?!

So, I'm a tiny bit behind on posting about this cutie's birthday that was almost a month ago... It's mostly because I was waiting until I'd gotten him to open his birthday cards from his grandmas, but he hasn't yet. Not that I haven't tried, he just hasn't been interested in them whenever I have, and it's been so long I figured it was time to just write about his day and stop worrying about those cards. We'll get to them eventually.

Saying goodbye to aunt Becca. ♡♡♡

For the almost 2 weeks before his birthday, we had one of my younger sisters here visiting and helping me out with the chaos that was summer break with 5 wild kiddos. She went home 2 days before his birthday, I just had to share this sweet picture of their goodbye hug. I think he really liked having aunt Becca around. Even now, on occasion, he will ask where Becca went, or think someone he sees while we're out and about is her.

First move after I slid the pancake in front of him was to stick his face in it.
Not really surprised.

Okay, on to his actual birthday. We started the day off with none other than a special "2" shaped birthday pancake. All he wanted to do was eat it, I was the mean mommy who kept stopping him so I could get a few pictures, kind of like last year. It reminded me of a certain other bossling who has always preferred to skip the pictures in favor of digging right in to the food that was set before him. Funny babes.

We tried to distract him from tearing apart the pancake by giving him an apple.
It kind of worked and kind of didn't.

Being silly with daddy.

Because Boss was working that day, we waited until he was home to do the cake and candle. Before that, though, they spent some time together being silly outside. The kids had left a rubber snake in the yard, N picked it up and kept shoving it into his dad's face, Boss would exaggeratedly recoil and let out fake shouts of terror, which made our special little birthday boy crack up.

The cake had been a tough one to come up with. Generally I ask the kids what kind of cake they want, but 2 is a hit or miss age. Some of them knew what they wanted at this age, some haven't. N didn't seem to get what I was asking, he just wanted cake. (He's very much my child in that regard.) I finally thought we'd settled on a monkey cake, but then there started to be talk about a dinosaur cake, so that's what we went with. I hopped on google to get some ideas, and finally landed on this cake. There was a link in the recipe for a template, I don't have a printer, so I just had to eyeball it, but I think I did pretty well. I used mini, regular, and peanut butter m&m's for the spots and toes, which was a little different than the suggested candies, and I made our dinosaur smile.

The birthday boy seemed really pleased with his dinosaur cake, and was especially excited when we lit the candle and started singing to him. It was another windy evening, but we had better luck with his candle staying lit than on his big brother's birthday. Then he blew that candle out all on his own, like the not-so-little boy that he is. My baby is 2, and only a month away (give or take) from officially becoming a big brother. Time flies!

The cake.

He was pretty of obsessed with that snake all evening.

He was so excited by the fire.

Happy Birthday, Baby Bear. ♡