happy to you, mina!
Posted by laralynnian on 01 Jun 2009 at 10:09 pm | Tagged as: Uncategorized
The night before her birthday party Melina said to me, “Mama, happy to you Mina.” Yes! And then, “Baa baa black sheep.” Sure! She likes to sing the song but I wasn’t sure what she was getting at until she suddenly ran to the kitchen and called me over to show off the bag full of celery we’d bought for party guests to feed the goats, cows, and sheep. She had remembered how we’d celebrate and was ecstatic just thinking about it. Her smile made my day.
We officially celebrated Melina’s second birthday with a joint “June 1-2-3” party at Tilden’s Little Farm. Her play group buddies Dalia (June 2) and Joey (June 3) also have early June birthdays, and between our three families we filled an entire corner of the picnic area with almost 70 guests. Everyone had a grand time, despite the winter-like weather on the last day of May.
Besides her weekly play group, some of Melina’s guests included her cousins Lucas and Noah, her yoga babe buddies Suli, Raycer, and Julien, plus Grandma and Grandpa Weiss, and a number of family friends. Kai made Melina a birthday crown (which she refused to wear) and had been so excited on behalf of his little sis that he “accidentally” woke her up at 6am. At the party Melina enjoyed munching on watermelon but was most excited to see the animals. According to Daddy at one point she fed a sheep half a celery stick then decided to finish the other half herself.
The fun continued today, her actual birthday. When I wished Melina a big happy birthday as I pulled her out of her crib, she smiled and told me “baa baa black sheep… feed goat.” Besides the song, birthdays must now signify animals to her. Luckily, we’d already planned a birthday trip to the Oakland Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Weiss. Since Daddy has vacation before starting a new job, he was able to join us, too.
We polished off the big day with a trip to the park for our weekly play group, then to Jupiter for pizza with Daddy and play group friends Joey, Lily, and Tavi and their families. Melina opened a few presents yesterday and today but still has a stack of them on the dining room table. Kai will be excited to watch her open them when he’s with us again tomorrow night. So far his favorite (because at this age the toys are really all for both of them) is a big easel from Grandma and Grandpa. But Melina’s is a tiny board book with Maisy’s favorite farm animals.
Happy birthday, Jelly Bean!