Happy Birthday Al!

Yay! Alden is now two!

As soon as he woke up, I started asking him how old he was and taught him to hold up two fingers instead of one. He was confused at first but started picking it up pretty quickly. By the afternoon, he was holding up one finger first then quickly holding up the other finger as well. lol. Since he is two now and is a big boy, we decided that he doesn't need to use the pacifier anymore, so we had been telling him that once he turns and blows out the candles, he wouldn't be able to use the binky anymore. At first, he didn't understand what I was trying to say but he started to get it and would nod when I explained it and asked him if he understood. And at random times, he'd sign to himself that he would have to give up the binky once he turns two. He did this by holding up two fingers, then pointing at his mouth to indicate binky, and then either shaking his head or waving his index finger to mean "no."

Anyway... his birthday was pretty uneventful during the day. Jamie came early to hang out with us because he had to leave early to go to a meeting. Alden was really friendly to Jamie and wanted to hang out with Jamie while I got ready for the party (yes! He didn't used to really like Jamie. I think he was afraid of him a little.). Jamie got him a pack of otterpops (already frozen!), and Al got to eat it right there and then. He was pretty happy. The highlight of the day for him was probably having Sophie there for a big chunk of the day. He had so much fun playing with Sophie, and they were running around and playing with toys. They had too much fun together, Alden didn't want her to leave at the end of the day and even wanted to leave with Sophie!!!

One of Alden's favorite things to do is to blow things... Blow bubbles, blow up a balloon, or blow out candles! We had been telling him that he'd be able to blow out candles on the cake, and when we bought the cake the day before, he wanted to blow out candles right away! I had to tell him he had to wait until the party and hide the cake in the fridge. Funny thing is, Sophie was so eager to help Alden that she blew both the canldes out before he had a chance to get to them! Ha ha ha. We had to relight the candles so that he could blow them out. Fortunately, he didn't get upset or anything at Sophie for blowing his candles out. He was happy to see daddy light the candles again for him.

He received many gifts from friends and family, and he was very excited and grateful for all the love he received from everyone. Sophie helped Alden open the presents by bring them over to him, and Alden ripped off the wrapping paper and had much fun doing it. He got lots of toys, books, clothes, etc.

 

Following last year's tradition, Sophie and Alden put on their Korean traditional clothes and posed for some cute pictures. They did a lot better than last year, although it was still pretty difficult to get a picture of them where neither of them was blurry or looking other way. I actually don't think I got any pictures of them both looking at me. :P Maybe next year...

After the party, Sophie and Alden were having so much fun running around and tumbling on the couch. They are so cute when they play and they play so well with each other. Alden always get so excited whenever he sees Sophie or pictures of Sophie, and when I ask if he would like to play with Sophie, he always says yes. When they had to leave, he wanted to put his shoes on and follow them out to the road, so we went out to say bye to them. After Sophie got in her carseat and everyone else (Tom, Laura, and Joe's mom) got in the car, Alden pat himself on the belly and looked at me as if saying, "What about me?" He really wanted to get in the car and leave with Sophie... We'll have to schedule another time to have them play again soon!