We celebrated by inviting all her buddies to join us at the neighborhood playground for cupcakes. Luckily, we can pull off this kind of non-party party here in January. Although we learned at the beginning of the week not to take the heat for granted. Thailand experienced some of its coldest temperatures for the past decade the week of Elena's birthday. It actually got into the 50's overnight at one point.
At first we welcomed the cool air by opening up the windows, but as it continued, we closed the windows and put on sweatshirts inside, because, of course, we have no way to heat the house!
We just bought a new carpet, which we're very excited about it. I doubt it helped keep the house any warmer, but Elena likes to stand on it and say how soft it is. I knew there was no way I was going to get socks on her, so I tried to bundle her up in her chair while she was watching her pony shows.
It warmed up as the week went along, and so short sleeves were fine for a visit to Vivi's classroom. Elena sat proudly at Vivian's desk. She is starting to ask to get on the bus in the morning, my big girl.
By the time it got to Friday and Elena's birthday it was good and hot, so I knew the "party" wouldn't last too long. Elena started her birthday morning off with eggs and ponies.
When it was party time, Elena wanted to bring her big purple ball, so she proudly carried it down the street to the playground.
The process took a while . . .
We also brought some bubbles, and some of our friends brought balls and bubbles as well, so there was enough to go around. One friend even brought a kiddie swing which everyone took turns on. There were lots of fun things to do.
Elena had tried a fun, free music class the day before, and I had signed her up for a more formal one on her birthday. She was willing to abandon her friends for a golf cart ride, and most of them were ready to go inside and get some a/c, so it worked out well. She ended up liking the music class, and even though she didn't stay in the circle the whole time, she definitely was into it. By the time we got home from that she was ready for a birthday nap.
That afternoon she worked on her two year old milestone lists, which include stacking seven or more objects. She and I were both pretty impressed with her book stack.
She's also supposed to line at least four objects up in a row. My little OCD child lines her ponies up at least once a day, and her birthday was no exception.
Once Vivian got home, Elena shadowed her. She's determined to figure out this "big kid" stuff.
That evening, after dinner, we did a family birthday celebration. Elena wasn't so sure about the candle, but she was quite pleased to discover she was being given a second cupcake for the day.
She hammed it up for Jeff who was trying to get a picture of her eating her cupcake.
Eventually she gave up on the cupcake (she has yet to eat an entire cupcake in her life), and it was time for her birthday card,
and her birthday present.
She's getting the hang of this present opening thing, and she was impressed by the tissue paper.
Vivian was more impressed by the actual dress.
Elena's favorite part of the dress was the flower.
Her other present, a huggable Pinkie Pie (her favorite pony), didn't come until Monday, so we skipped the wrapping and just did a surprise reveal from Daddy's work bag. She proceeded to keep thanking Jeff for Pinkie Pie the rest of the evening, so much for shared credit.
By the end of the day, we had gotten Elena to say birthday, and she was singing her own Elena version of Happy Birthday, but I don't think she really got what was going on. Jeff and I, on the other hand, congratulated ourselves on two years of parenting by booking a massage for the evening. We've been asking for three people recently, because my cousin has been staying with us, and even though I had asked for two that night, three showed up. Vivian was still awake, since it was a weekend, and she begged to try a massage too. Jeff and I realized that we were probably creating a monster, but we decided to let her try. Apparently, lots of kids her age get massages on a regular basis here. Big surprise, she loved it.
So the three of us celebrated Elena's birthday by relaxing after the crazy two year old had been put to sleep.
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