living the dream: birthday number two

last tuesday was liam's second birthday. i swear he woke up and knew he was two. and had a tantrum just to prove it. and another. and another. by ten in the morning he had had six timeouts and was already in his crib! believe me, i didn't want it to get to that point, but sometimes the timeouts on the stairs just don't cut it. and after his mini nap, he woke up a different person all together. he was in a much better mood ... for awhile at least. we came downstairs and played with his new digger (from mommy and daddy) all day in the backyard, in the living room, the kitchen, basically everywhere we possibly could. this kept him very content, until we had to leave it at home and go get his birthday cake. from that point on he was back in his foul mood. i seriously believe that he knew it was his birthday and that he was now two. is this a preview of things to come?? i know it was his party and all, crying i can handle, hitting and tantrums i cannot.

at any rate, tuesday night we threw him a "low key" family birthday party. we decided to only do a family party this year because me being super preggo, having our house in packing mode and planning birthday parties just wasn't going to happen. besides, he won't know the difference anyways. liam had a great time and so did everyone else. he loved loved loved his mcqueen cake and is still talking about it a week later.

liam got his first bike from grandpa and gramma jan. he wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, but then decided he'd give it a go. they got him a strider bike. the best invention of bike for toddlers. no peddles. they push with their feet and learn how to balance on a two wheeler so that when the time comes they won't need training wheels. we've already spent countless hours riding around our backyard patio and liam loves it. he looks out the window, sees his bike and it's on. we're forced outside to ride, rain or shine.

after playing with his bike it was time for presents and cake. i think liam was most interested in the cake part because he went nuts when we told him it was cake time. really all i think he wanted were the mcqueen and mater toys on the top.