Two

My dear daughter just turned 2. 2! I tend to get nostalgic around the kids' birthdays, and this time is no exception. Though I find it hard to believe that between the two of them we have only celebrated 6 birthdays (or 8, I guess, if you count their actual days of birth). It seems like they have been with us much longer than that.

One of the benefits of blogging, though, is that I can easily slough off the cobwebs of my own memories and travel back in time to relive bygone days. I first wrote about Celia on March 18, 2010, when she was just 4 months old. I tried to do a small photoshoot that day; she did not feel like smiling though, so my first photo entry was a bit of a failure. I can't believe how doughy she looks in those pictures. It's also hard for me to envision her sitting still like this for longer than 20 seconds now...whenever I take out my camera, she either wants to take a picture herself or see the pictures I'm shooting.

Looking at pictures from her first birthday party really brings home how much she has grown in the past 365 days. Her hair was so short then! And I forget that there was a time when she needed (and wanted) some help walking around. She seemed so overwhelmed at all of the attention that day.

She is altogether a different person now. Maybe not "altogether"--the seeds of her personality were planted well before her first birthday, and now we are seeing her bloom. She talks all the time. She adds new words and phrases constantly (last week it was: "hold on one minute daddy!"), and has legitimate (though short) conversations with Brother. Yes--Andres is known as "Brother" (or, more accurately, "brudda"), which is probably my fault since that is one of my pet names for him. Celia seems to have taken a real liking to it.

And to him, certainly. This morning, her first words when she woke up were "brudda still sleepin?" She asks about him a lot and wants to do everything he does. I wouldn't mind if he adopted some of her behaviors though...like getting changed more quickly in the morning, or always waking up in a happy mood.

This year, Veterans Day fell on a Friday (the very fortuitous 11/11/11) so Celia had a whole weekend to celebrate her birthday.

Thursday night we went to Dover to see Nana (who was celebrating her __th birthday) and Papa. Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mike were the real guests of honor, and Andres and Celia had a good time playing around with them. And each other, of course.

Playing a duet with brudda at Nana and Papas house.

Cake with Papa.

Friday morning we headed to Drumlin Farm with friends.

Celia and April at Drumlin.

Andres and Jesse had a good time too.

The Main Event was Saturday evening. Andres had already been through a haircut, swimming, and another birthday party before his sister's bash, so it was a small miracle that he held it together so well. For her part, Celia took a nice nap in the afternoon and was ready to party.

BOUNCY HOUSE!

Juniper contemplates the meaning of being two.

Celia and Juniper dig into cake.

Yes--the Dynamic Duo wore matching outfits! It was a nice touch of coordination by Natalia and Madhabi. And given the level of activity at the party--bouncy house, mild gymnastics, running, lots of eating, chasing a wild brother and his friends--I think the performance gear helped them party their hardest.

Both girls handled the spotlight better this year. Juniper stayed awake the whole time, and Celia didn't start crying when we all started singing happy birthday. They both seemed a little confused by all the attention they were getting, but they also seemed to appreciate (more than last year, anyway) that everything around them was for them, and that this was a special day.

Andres seemed to understand this too. So it was no surprise when he blew out the candle (he was helping Celia and Juniper, he later explained) and asked for gifts later on...I imagine this was a tough day for him! Maybe we're both having a hard time imagining little Celia growing up.