We started J's birthday with a trip to the zoo. It was warm and sunny and we headed straight to his favorite exhibit - the reef. It was early in the morning and the zoo was pretty much empty. He got to crawl around the exhibit and explore all the fish. They had wires covered in broccoli and the fish would swim by and nibble. As much as he loved the reef fish, he was not real happy with the manatees next door or the sea turtles.
After a few more exhibits we had lunch then left for dessert. Graeter's is just down the road and J got to have his first ice cream. First he had that distinctive look of horror I've seen other babies have. Why would Mama give him something so hideously cold, but then again it WAS yummy so maybe another bite - ooooh, just as cold. He got used it; don't we all . . . and he loved it. We had planned to go back to the zoo after his nap but they closed too early so we opted to hit the park instead. J had a great time in the swing.
The next day his aunts and cousins arrived from Texas and each day was filled with playing . . . back to the park, then to the mall and of course all over the house.
We went back to the local park first on Thursday night and J got to try the little kids jungle gym. He loved the tunnel and tolerated the slide. Getting dirty in the mulch was pretty fun too and I'm pretty sure it ranked higher than the slide too. Friday was the trip to the mall. The mall has a zoo themed play area with a tree in the center and animals all around it. The animals look like they are hard plastic but they're foam. They're weird but cool. I kept expecting them to be hard but ever one was solid enough for kids to climb it but soft enough that you could fall on it and not get hurt. I still can't wrap my brain around it. J took quite awhile to warm up to the idea of all the animals and kids and adults. Eventually he did though and he headed straight for one of the tunnels.
Saturday was the big party. We had a few friends over but mainly we kept it to family. J was awesome and seemed to have a good time. He played upstairs with his cousins and friend while most of the adults were mingling downstairs. Then it was gift time. Amazingly the gifts kept his attention and he sat patiently looking at everything. He liked the bright colored wrapping paper but also his new books. The videos he wasn't too sure about and the other gifts were in boxes which he loves so he was excited if for no other reason than he had a new collection of boxes to push around.
We got his cake from Clarencedale bakery in Campbell, Ohio. They made my baby shower cupcakes as well as the cake for my dad's birthday. J's cake was not as delicious as my dad's but it was still good. It was enormous. It was 2 full cakes high - I thought when I was asking for 2 flavors that each would be a 1/2 height and hence the cake would be of normal height . . . nope. I got two cakes on top of each other. The top was banana and the bottom was chocolate - they were separated by a layer of chocolate ganache. Yum. J's cake was banana and can you believe I did not get a photo of it? It was quite cute and matched the bigger cake.
J didn't dive into his cake. He took some icing and that was it so I had to cut a piece out for him to see what it was. I thought for sure he'd dig in then but no. He did eat the slice I'd cut and put to the side but then he lost interest. We gave him his dinner next and he found that much more appealing. After dinner & cake he worked off his sugar high until it was gone, leaving him rather cranky and confused. He wanted held but not held - he wasn't sure what he wanted and that frustrated him more. I think we'll keep his sugar intake as low as possible. Maybe he can have cake again at his 2nd birthday.
Sunday we all went to brunch and by all I mean our family in from PA and TX. Then everyone scattered hitting the road for a long ride home, a day of flying or for us just a quick jaunt up the road. I find Sundays rather melancholy to start with but after a long weekend of family fun and a party there is the potential for a really bad letdown. That afternoon we filled our time organizing all of J's new stuff though so I stayed mentally occupied. Of course what I really mean by "organizing" is that we shoe-horned it all into his room and our guest room upstairs.
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