Sophie turned two last Wednesday and I took the day off again to spend with her. We had a wonderful day together and didn't let the stinky, old, weather man spoil our fun. Like last year, I had hoped to take her to Schedel Gardens in the morning for a walk and a picnic lunch. And then maybe a bike trailer ride or a family trip to the zoo in the afternoon. But I also made sure to have rainy weather activities in mind as a back up. ;)
We started our morning by breaking in her new apron with carrot pancakes for breakfast.
She looked so cute being my helper and she liked being up on the stool like Will.
I gave her one of the kiddie cutlery knives (literally NO sharp blade whatsoever) and let her cut up her banana on the cutting board.
She ate almost the entire thing up on the stool instead of it ever getting to her plate.
"Happy Birthday to you!"Daddy stuck around for awhile longer that morning and Will stayed home for breakfast, so we all sung to her and she loved it.
I'm really impressed with her blowing out the candle so well!
I left the birthday banner up through the week just because it's so pretty and cheerful.
I think she looks just like my mom in this picture.
And the paper pom poms have become her play toys post party.
After breakfast, we let Will stick around to watch/help her open one of her presents and then he spent the day at the sitters like normal while Sophie got some special attention.
This girl obviously doesn't respect the recycling of tissue paper! ;)
Sophie and I played with some puzzles and read some of her new books while daddy dropped Will off and then she opened her last two gifts when he returned.
Her first bathrobe! It's fleece and matches her slippers.
Kisses from daddy.
Her new ABC floor puzzle.
Playing with her new Big Button counting/matching game from the Rethmans.
New books from mommy and daddy.
Craig hung her growth chart for me earlier in the week so that we could see how big she is today. This was a Christmas present in '09 and I got it from here. I love how it looks in her room.
Hmm... maybe about 34 1/2"? (We'll see on Wednesday at her well check.) She was 33" at 18 months. I wrote in all her height (length) measurements beginning at 4 months in purple permanent marker.
"Have a good day, daddy!"
Ready to head out on our first adventure of the day...
...to the library!
This is not our usual library. We go to the Oregon Branch of the Lucas County Public Library chain and this is the Main Branch in downtown Toledo. It is HUUUUGE and awesome and takes up a large part of the block on Michigan Street. I know my pictures are not doing it justice on this overcast day, but wait till you see the inside. The building is really old but the inside was completely renovated not too long ago.
This is on the floor in lobby when you walk in. Wow! I didn't know that.
We spent most of our time in the children's library, but here are a couple pictures of just a portion of the main part.
The double doors into the Stranahan Foundation Children's Library. Seriously, you could almost fit two Oregon Branches in this children's portion of the library.
There are murals of historical Toledo and lots of things for the kids to sit in/climb on/pretend with... such as this old Cadillac.
This large aquarium had a couple of steps up to a viewing hole at one end. The steps made it so much more interesting to Sophie. She went up, jumped down, went up, pointed to the fish, jumped down, etc.
A side-view of the aquarium.
The other side.
A little further in, there is a big outer space display just above the shelving for the newer book titles. The UFO (or whatever that is... a sattelite?) lights up and the ceiling has blinking stars.
Have you ever read Sheep in a Jeep? Isn't this cute?
A scary foreshadowing!
I love this part. The dividing wall that leads to another room of books has a row of entryways in varying heights. How cool is that? There's a doorway for children of all ages and heights. :)
There's a sort of forest theme on that wall (as you can see above) with trees and forest friends and a toadstool to climb on.
Inside the room behind the forest wall. Isn't this place just amazing.
Climbing up to look out at the city of Toledo. :)
This is another room that seems most appropriate for Sophie's age category. The shelves are filled with board books on one wall and puzzles/activities on another wall. And the tops of the walls are covered in murals of historical children's tales. They have work tables, a lego table and more of those shorter doorways. So cute. 
We spent the most time in this room and came back to it more than once. Funny: we didn't even read one book the entire time we were at the library because there was so much to see and do. I did browse a few titles and found a new Eileen Spinelli book I'd like to borrow, but Sophie just wanted to play and check everything out. Can't blame her!
After our play and wandering, we walked out to the eating area on the second floor. There was a class field trip in the main part but I was happy to sit at the bistro table off to the side with Sophie. She liked the novelty of it and the higher seat kept her from hopping up and running off. The seats could twist too so she could hang onto the table and twist. :) I packed Sophie an easy lunch: cottage cheese and squash (still one of her favorites), grapes and crackers and a water bottle and she ate before we headed for home. I ate later so I could focus on her.
She did like sitting in my lap and feeding me grapes though. Very thoughtful. ;)
After nap, we picked up Will (Craig was home too) and met the Rethman crew at Eastern Lanes for a little bowling before dinner. I've been wanting to do this for so long! And the rainy, icky day was the perfect excuse to go. Thank you, Rethman family, for meeting us at such short notice. We had a fun, if chaotic, time! :)
Four littles, one lane, bumper rails, two 6# balls, one game.
Stella was so good and patient between turns. Then she'd shove the ball down the ramp and walk off without even caring how she did. LOL
Teamwork.
Check out those muscles! Uncle Steve would be so proud.
Nana stopped in for a minute to bring Sophie a birthday balloon. :)
Focus.
The weather didn't cooperate for a picture outside with her birthday sign on the actual DAY of her birthday... but Thursday was really beautiful (though a little windy) so I tried to snap a couple in the morning before work. We were a tad rushed so I didn't get any great ones.
Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet girl.
I'm really impressed with her blowing out the candle so well!
I left the birthday banner up through the week just because it's so pretty and cheerful.
I think she looks just like my mom in this picture.
And the paper pom poms have become her play toys post party.
After breakfast, we let Will stick around to watch/help her open one of her presents and then he spent the day at the sitters like normal while Sophie got some special attention.
This girl obviously doesn't respect the recycling of tissue paper! ;)
Sophie and I played with some puzzles and read some of her new books while daddy dropped Will off and then she opened her last two gifts when he returned.
Her first bathrobe! It's fleece and matches her slippers.
Kisses from daddy.
Her new ABC floor puzzle.
Playing with her new Big Button counting/matching game from the Rethmans.
New books from mommy and daddy.
Craig hung her growth chart for me earlier in the week so that we could see how big she is today. This was a Christmas present in '09 and I got it from here. I love how it looks in her room.
Hmm... maybe about 34 1/2"? (We'll see on Wednesday at her well check.) She was 33" at 18 months. I wrote in all her height (length) measurements beginning at 4 months in purple permanent marker.
"Have a good day, daddy!"
Ready to head out on our first adventure of the day...
...to the library!
This is not our usual library. We go to the Oregon Branch of the Lucas County Public Library chain and this is the Main Branch in downtown Toledo. It is HUUUUGE and awesome and takes up a large part of the block on Michigan Street. I know my pictures are not doing it justice on this overcast day, but wait till you see the inside. The building is really old but the inside was completely renovated not too long ago.
This is on the floor in lobby when you walk in. Wow! I didn't know that.
We spent most of our time in the children's library, but here are a couple pictures of just a portion of the main part.
The double doors into the Stranahan Foundation Children's Library. Seriously, you could almost fit two Oregon Branches in this children's portion of the library.
Just inside the entrance to the left:
There are murals of historical Toledo and lots of things for the kids to sit in/climb on/pretend with... such as this old Cadillac.
This large aquarium had a couple of steps up to a viewing hole at one end. The steps made it so much more interesting to Sophie. She went up, jumped down, went up, pointed to the fish, jumped down, etc.
A side-view of the aquarium.
The other side.
A little further in, there is a big outer space display just above the shelving for the newer book titles. The UFO (or whatever that is... a sattelite?) lights up and the ceiling has blinking stars.
Have you ever read Sheep in a Jeep? Isn't this cute?
A scary foreshadowing!
I love this part. The dividing wall that leads to another room of books has a row of entryways in varying heights. How cool is that? There's a doorway for children of all ages and heights. :)
There's a sort of forest theme on that wall (as you can see above) with trees and forest friends and a toadstool to climb on.
Inside the room behind the forest wall. Isn't this place just amazing.
Inside the same room.
Climbing up to look out at the city of Toledo. :)
This is another room that seems most appropriate for Sophie's age category. The shelves are filled with board books on one wall and puzzles/activities on another wall. And the tops of the walls are covered in murals of historical children's tales. They have work tables, a lego table and more of those shorter doorways. So cute. 
We spent the most time in this room and came back to it more than once. Funny: we didn't even read one book the entire time we were at the library because there was so much to see and do. I did browse a few titles and found a new Eileen Spinelli book I'd like to borrow, but Sophie just wanted to play and check everything out. Can't blame her!
After our play and wandering, we walked out to the eating area on the second floor. There was a class field trip in the main part but I was happy to sit at the bistro table off to the side with Sophie. She liked the novelty of it and the higher seat kept her from hopping up and running off. The seats could twist too so she could hang onto the table and twist. :) I packed Sophie an easy lunch: cottage cheese and squash (still one of her favorites), grapes and crackers and a water bottle and she ate before we headed for home. I ate later so I could focus on her.
She did like sitting in my lap and feeding me grapes though. Very thoughtful. ;)
Back at home, Sophie and I split her very first (I think?) ice cream cone! She's never had it in a cone before. Craig and I found this really yummy blueberry pomegranate at Walmart on the way home from Casey's birthday dinner. So good! She loved it!
After nap, we picked up Will (Craig was home too) and met the Rethman crew at Eastern Lanes for a little bowling before dinner. I've been wanting to do this for so long! And the rainy, icky day was the perfect excuse to go. Thank you, Rethman family, for meeting us at such short notice. We had a fun, if chaotic, time! :)
Four littles, one lane, bumper rails, two 6# balls, one game. It was madness.
In retrospect, we should have had two lanes so they had less wait time between turns, but overall it was a great time.
These ramps are awesome for the little kids!
Stella was so good and patient between turns. Then she'd shove the ball down the ramp and walk off without even caring how she did. LOL
Teamwork.
Check out those muscles! Uncle Steve would be so proud.
Nana stopped in for a minute to bring Sophie a birthday balloon. :)
Focus.
Love this last one. We ditched the ramp for the last couple frames with Will and he and daddy rolled it two-handed with a between-the-legs wind up. :)
As I mentioned in my dinner post, I decided on cheeseburgers on the grill for Sophie's birthday dinner because she always eats them well and loves them. This night was no exception. It's so funny to see her holding and eating a whole, big burger. We just smash the bun down as flat as possible and she'll eat about 3/4 of the sandwich!
The weather didn't cooperate for a picture outside with her birthday sign on the actual DAY of her birthday... but Thursday was really beautiful (though a little windy) so I tried to snap a couple in the morning before work. We were a tad rushed so I didn't get any great ones. Here's a look, first, at last year's picture at age 1:
And now, at age 2:
Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet girl.I loved spending it with you and I look forward to many more.
1 comment:
Happy birthday, Sophie! I feel like I just commented on her first birthday post...time is flying!!
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