My co-worker's son turned two last week, so we all went to his birthday party on Saturday. We all had a good time, as much as anyone has a good time at a party for a two year-old. Edie played it cool so none of the dinosaurs thought she was trying too hard.
She didn't seem interested in any of the other kids there, but she was excited to see that there was a plate of grapes and cheese and that she could have as much as she wanted. Eventually, she got so excited that she squeezed the bottle of water she was drinking from and spilled on her shirt. She got really upset and started saying (a little too loudly), "I need to go home! I need a new shirt!" Marty seemed completely indifferent to everyone, so long as people were feeding him.
He liked being held, and since most of the people there hadn't seen him in a while, he had a lot of people willing to hold him. He was also keenly interested in eating directly from the garbage can, which was less exciting for us. Not much new to report this week. Both kids continue to fall on their faces repeatedly, but we still like them.
We have a tradition in our family of not making a big deal about Mother's and Father's Day. Not for ourselves, anyway; we still get nice, lavish gifts for our parents. Our agreement is that we each get a treat from the grocery store. This year, Tamsen got herself some gummi bears, and I got myself some potato chips. (Cheddar and sour cream! It's a bigger deal for me than you'd think!) So imagine my surprise when Tamsen revealed to me on Sunday morning that while I'd been gone all Saturday at church meetings, she and Edie had made me a Father's Day cake.
Granted, Tamsen did the baking and icing, but Edie added all of the ingredients, mixed them, and poured the batter into the pan. She also picked the colors and added the food coloring herself. The yellow and green are Oregon Ducks colors, but the inside is red for no other reason than that it's Edie's favorite color.
She even signed it! Or Tamsen did for her, whatever. After we celebrated by stuffing ourselves silly with cake, I gave both of the kids baths. We have enough Edie pictures in the bath, but it's still a new experience for Marty, so Tamsen took a few shots.
I love the vague finger pointing he's doing here, as if to say, "Can you get a load of this guy, peeking in my drawers? Who does he think he is?" Marty really doesn't enjoy baths lately, but it turns out that if we give him a rubber duck to chew on, he calms right down. And in a pinch, they work well as strategic covering for highly inappropriate baby nudity.
Edie is a girl, but she doesn't really do anything that would set her apart as an especially girly girl. She likes to build things with Legos and blocks, she likes to play with her train set, and she enjoys making shapes with her magnets. Today, before church, she was playing with her magnets and told me, repeatedly, "I'm making a hexagon."
You can't really see it here, but she was absolutely making hexagons, complete with 120 degree angles. STEM, here we come? Meanwhile, Marty was crawling around this week and found an old hairband that Edie refuses to wear. He didn't seem to mind if we put it on him, though.
Not much new to report this week. Edie is improving in her speech, and she still regularly falls on her face walking around the house. Marty's working on standing and walking, and he regularly falls on his head, too. He's working on vocalizing now, throwing out CVCVs like it's his job. (You know, mamamama, babababa, etc.)
And that's all good and well, but I'm guessing the only reason you're reading this at all is because you heard that Edie and I pinned Marty down a few days ago and made him into our own personal set of bongos. Take a listen! I think we got a pretty good sound out of this kid.
