Birthday Boy!

Beowulf is now two! Just for the sake of posterity, I thought I'd make a little list of what he likes and does.

Favorite movie: My Neighbor Totoro

Favorite book: Green Eggs and Ham

Favorite food: CAKE!

Favorite toy: Cars

Knows: The colors green, blue, and yellow. Numbers one, two, and three. Letters O, P, and B. 

Favorite phrases: Oh, no! Oh DEAR! Stuck!

Favorite cell phone game: Pocket God

Does not like: Clothes, Indian food, people laughing at him.

Beowulf's birthday was on Christmas Eve, but we waited until today to celebrate. Kelson and I began the night before, making Beo's Totoro birthday cake. We were up late and there was a last-minute trip to Target fifteen minutes before closing time, but it came out great.

In the morning, Beo got up to find the table covered with a party monster plastic tablecloth and a pile of presents. Having become a pro at Christmas, he immediately picked up one of the packages and wanted to open it, but we told him he had to wait! 

Instead he got to eat waffles while watching... Totoro. What else?

Unfortunately Grandma B came down with a bad cold - thanks to our Christmas visit - so my folks couldn't come. But Grandma and Grandpa C showed up! We played with balloons and silly string for a while.

Then - presents! At Christmas Beo would open one present and immediately want to play with it, but now that he had gotten the idea he wanted to open all the presents at once. 

He got lots of awesome stuff, like books, more play-doh, new trains for his train tracks, a movie, and TRUCKS!

Next it was time for the cake! Beo was pretty impressed that Totoro came in cake form as well. I was a little worried he wouldn't want us to cut it up, but he knew exactly what it was and wanted some immediately. I gave him one of Totoro's ears, which was almost solid frosting. He gobbled that down and demanded more. The second piece went down a little more slowly. 

Since we were all full of cake, we decided to walk to the park. It was a nice sunny day and Beo had a great time trying out his trucks and chasing his new nerf football downhill. (A brilliant present!) There was a girl a little younger than him at the park, too. Beo walked up to her and drew back both hands. You could see the little wheels working in his head, thinking, "I know I am not supposed to hit. But I want her attention! What should I do? I KNOW!" And with that, he threw his arms around her and gave her a big bear hug. After that she followed him everywhere.

When we came home, we had some lunch, and played with trains until naptime. Beo said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa C and passed out much quicker than expected, given all the excitement. When he got up again, I was zonked out myself, so Kelson played with him until I got up. Then we watched his new movie, Ponyo, and ate dinner.

At bedtime, Beo didn't want to go to bed! He finally had a little meltdown - the first real upset of the holiday season, but pretty minor. Everything was all better when we got the flashlight Great-Grandma gave him for Christmas and turned out the lights to enjoy the present from my aunt, uncle, and cousin - a glow in the dark Dr. Seuss book! We had to read that a couple of times. 

All in all, a very successful birthday! We were sad that my folks couldn't be here, but I am sure we will enjoy having fun with them another time.

This whole week that Kelson has been off has been so fun. It is such a blessing as a parent to be able to do things with our kid and really enjoy our time. We've tried to do things at his pace and in a manner that he could handle, and it's been great. Yes, we have to discipline him here and there, but there have been no major tantrums and for a two-year-old he's really very good at minding. Overall he's just a happy, energetic kid and we love him to bits!

Christmas and Dinosaurs!

Christmas was really fun this year! Beo is finally old enough to understand the concept of unwrapping presents, and he was really excited! We left Totoro sitting unwrapped for him to find on Christmas morning. Beo was very cautious, unsure whether Totoro was real or not, and needed Mommy to hold Totoro a while before he made friends!

 Beo also got... play-doh! Daddy has tried a couple of times to show him what it's about, but so far it's not really clicking. But it's fun to stack the cans!

 We did Christmas with Kelson's parents on Christmas Eve, and also went over to his Aunt Mary's house to hang out with the family. After our Christmas morning at home, we went to Healdsburg and celebrated with my folks. It actually worked well to draw things out like that because it meant Beo only had a couple of presents to open at one time and didn't get overwhelmed. So, fortunately, there was no post-present meltdown!

 Stocking stuffer from Grandma B - a duck timer that quacks!

 Beo had an absolute blast with my cousins, Spencer and Stewart. I got them all little nerf dart guns, and Beo was in absolute heaven having a shootout with the "big kids!"

 Kelson gets the week off between Christmas and New Years, so we've been having a very exciting week! Wednesday was the Zoo with Grandma C.

 This time Beo finally got to go on the people mover, which takes you for a relaxing little ride over the lions, elephants, and bison. He was a little worried about the height, but it was okay because Daddy was there.

 Thursday we went for our first visit to the Lawrence Hall of Science. It's hideously overpriced, but worth at least one visit for the animatronic dinosaur exhibit they are currently running. Speaking of running...

 Look, Mom, it's DNA!

 OMG a TRICERATOPS!

Checking out the t-rex...

Mom and Beo, doin' science...

Checkin' out the air tubes...

On the lower level they had this random phone booth set into the wall. As I was taking this photo, a kid walking behind me said, "Whoa! A PHONE BOOTH!"

This is Beo's "fake smile" as he pretends not to be terrified of the giant t-rex.

The actual t-rex...

And finally, Beo and Daddy next to the first particle accelerator.

Next up: Beowulf's birthday! He actually turned two on Christmas Eve, but we decided to push his party back until New Year's Eve.

Merry Christmas!

Mommy and Beo by the tree.

Diaper hat!

Kelson made Nikki an Oreo birthday cake!

...Which Beo was more than happy to eat. 

The viking eating his pants. 

Beowulf the viking chillin' out before our Christmas walk.

We discovered that El Cerrito has its own little Christmas tradition. In 1921 a man named Sundar Shadi immigrated to the US from India. He went to school at UC Berkeley, where he met and married his wife. They settled down in El Cerrito, and in 1950 he decided to celebrate Christmas by creating a couple of paper mache figures for a nativity scene. Every year he added a few more figures, and by the time of his death at age 101 the display was large enough to cover an entire hillside. He was not a Christian, but this one of the ways in which he expressed his love of the community. Today the display is set up every year on an open space up on the hill overlooking the bay. 

Tonight, we decided to go on a Christmas lights walk that would end at the nativity display. We hadn't exactly anticipated how far it was up the hill, so it turned out to be quite a trek to Bethlehem! But the scene is really quite charming. In the foreground is an entire pasture of sheep with shepherds, with an illuminated angel bringing them the good news. A little further back are wise men traveling with camels. Then up on the hillside is a bright star hanging over a miniature city of Bethlehem, with the smaller figures of Mary and Joseph trekking towards the city. So actually, there is no baby Jesus yet in this nativity scene! Next to it all is the passage from Luke that talks about the Angel coming down and proclaiming peace and good will to all men. The whole thing is set perfectly on the open hillside. 

Next time, though, we'll probably drive. 

Learning Stuff!

Beowulf is kind of blowing us away. He can now count to three. Genius, right? Okay, maybe not. I guess it's just the process of watching him acquire knowledge that's truly amazing. And actually, what's cool to me is that he actually seems to understand the concepts behind the memorization. 

He can say one-two-three, but he won't just say them if you ask. He will only do it if there's something to count. It started with counting the number of "O's" in a particular word. Now if I line up three kernels of popcorn, he will count them. If there's more than three of something, he'll make up some "numbers," but he'll point to each in turn. So he gets that we're quantifying items in a set.

He also seems to understand that letters make words that can be read. I started by running my finger underneath the words as I read them in some of his books. Now he will do the same thing when he sees words in other contexts, pointing to them and wanting me to read what they say. He can identify the letter O and is working on S, P, and B.

This morning was Beo's 2-year well baby checkup, where he clocked in at his usual 85% on everything. He's now 35 and one quarter inches tall, which means he can go on the Matterhorn at Disneyland! 

As for us, we got a tree this weekend and put up decorations! Kelson and I have finally experienced that strange reversal of parenthood - we're now super excited for Christmas not because we'll be getting presents, but because we get to watch Beowulf open the gifts we got for him! His favorite movie continues to be My Neighbor Totoro, so I found him this wonderfully soft stuffed Totoro at the Asian mall in town. I cannot wait to see his reaction when he gets up and finds Totoro sitting in his chair on Christmas morning!