Ellie's Birthday Weekend

I am now officially the mother of a two-year-old. Do you believe that? I cannot believe that it has been two whole years since Ellie was born. Wow.

We had her big birthday party a couple of weeks ago while we were down in St. Pete for spring break (stay tuned for more on that this week!), so we didn't have much planned for Ellie's actual birthday. We considered taking her back to Disney or something, but opted to go more low-key, which ended up being a good plan as the weather on her actual birthday was nasty (chilly and downpours). I think we ended making great decisions, and wound up having a fabulous weekend! I think Ellie really enjoyed herself.

I'm not sure if it counts as part of the festivities, but the fun started on Friday morning with our usual trip to storytime at Barnes & Noble, followed by one of Ellie's trademark dance parties. There are speakers in the landscaping in front of the store and that kid loves to bust a move in front of them.

VIDEO: Ellie dancing after storytime

That afternoon, we took her for her two-year well visit with her pediatrician. This kid was a champ! She was so good through the whole visit that the doctor wanted to keep her around to show the other kids how it's done. They even did a finger prick and she handled it better than I do! She is the coolest. And, her great composure was rewarded with her very first lollipop at the end of the visit. She chose a root beer-flavored one, which shows just how smart she is because that is totally the best flavor.

Left: Modeling that paper gown like it's her job. Right: Enjoying her lollipop!

For the record: Two-year-old Ellie is 35.25" tall (83rd percentile) and weighs 29 lb 2 oz (86th percentile). She's also generally adorable.

Saturday was Ellie's actual birthday. When she woke up, Eric and I entered her room singing "Happy Birthday," and we dumped a bunch of balloons in her crib. She was a little overwhelmed at first, but ultimately decided these balloons were a-okay.

VIDEO: Balloons for Ellie!

Happy birthday, Ellie!

Balloons!

After breakfast, we got dressed and took the official Two Year Photo.

I posted the OFFICIAL photo on my last post with our letters to Ellie, but this one was a close runner-up!

Then we ventured out in the nasty weather to Toys 'R Us, where we let Ellie run around and play with whatever she liked. We let her pick out a toy, and she ended up coming home with a Disney Princess coloring and sticker book.

"Raining!" says Captain Obvious Ellie.

Left:  I mean, I know I told her she could pick out a present, but I'm not sure we're quite there yet.

Right: She loved this "train 'brella!"; feeling so pretty in a "pindess hat"

Coloring in her new coloring book

We went home and got Ellie down for a nap. When she woke up, the skies had cleared, leaving some sunshine and puddles on our porch - perfect for an afternoon splash session.

Splash!

Then, it was time for dinner. We ate pizza (one of Ellie's favorite meals - she ate three entire pieces!) while watching the Gators advance to the Final Four (Go Gators!). Then, it was time for cake. Ellie was thrilled with the whole cake part of the program! She loved the singing, the blowing out of candles, and, to our surprise, the actual eating of cake. She was just delighted with the whole thing!

VIDEO: Happy birthday, dear Ellie!
(If you're wondering what she says at the end, she says, "Happy birthday, Snowman! Happy birthday, Crab!" because as I have mentioned, she is in a constant state of pretend play these days. In that 10 seconds, she is pretending to be both Olaf from Frozen and Sebastian from The Little Mermaid.)

That is one happy birthday girl!

Top: Blowing out her candles! Bottom: Thoroughly enjoying her chocolate!

After some crazy cake-induced running around and a very brief FaceTime chat with Heather, it was off to bed for the birthday girl!

On Sunday, the weather was much-improved so we decided to take Ellie to the zoo. As it has been well-documented recently, Ellie is big on animals these days so we knew she would have a great time. Sure enough, she had so much fun that we made two loops around the zoo so she could see some of her favorite animals twice. We also made sure to check out the brand new Tiger Exhibit, which was very nice. They had a live band there which Ellie listened/danced to for quite some time. Other highlights: brushing the goats (she asked to "play [with] goats" for quite some time before we actually made it there), and the carousel ride (again, she asked to "ride horse" a million times before we actually got it done. The girl knows what she wants!).

So festive in her birthday t-shirt with the elephant on it!

I'm pretty bird-dumb, and I don't remember what these guys are, but there were tons of nests of them in this one single tree near the rhino exhibit. Just tons and tons of nests (see top picture to get an idea). It was pretty neat!

Sleepy lions

Various animals: rhinos, elephants, giraffes, zebras, jaguar and ostrich

Finally brushing the goats!

Hi, goat!

All of the tigers we've encountered recently have been most photogenic.

Ellie watched the tiger scratching his head, then followed suit herself!

Finally carousel time! Of all the wild animals she could have chosen to ride, Ellie opted for the carousel classic. She's a traditionalist like her mama.

As soon as it started moving, Ellie was just delighted. This is her real, honest face as soon as we started turning. I didn't tell her to say cheese, or sing some goofy song to trick her into a smile. This is really how excited she was!

After the zoo it was back home for some play, dinner and bed - the end of a great weekend with our sweet two-year-old!

Happy birthday, Ellie!