Dolly Turned 2

We celebrated Dolly's second birthday on Saturday, December 14.  Karen and Carl Wilson (Nanny and Papa) came, along with Trish and Jeremy and their kids.  Ever's super into the Wilsons and was excited about their coming.  We had pizza and dessert - carrot cake cupcakes, "thrusters" (chocolate chip cookies baked in mini-muffin tins with mini peanut butter cups pushed into their centers), and M&M/chocolate chip cookies - and opened presents. 

We enjoyed a wonderful sunset during dinner:

 

Ever seemed a little scared of our rendition of "Happy Birthday," possibly because we never managed to find the tune.  (Later she talked about it fondly, though.)  She snuggled with me while eating her birthday desserts, which was amazing for me.  As always, the camera meant she should clap her (dirty) hands to her face:

 

 

Again, after she opened her first present:

 

Lukey and Dolly played for a moment before moving on:

Dolly got a lawn mower from Nanny and Papa.  She was pretty excited about that one.  She loves lawn mowers.

 

On her real birthday, Chavalyn opened presents from family.  She got all sorts of neat things from aunties and uncles and grandparents.  We were grateful for the additions to her collection of toys and activities.

 

It's crazy how fast she's growing.  Her speech and her memory amaze me every day.  A guy who checked us out in Target recently asked her age and then said he has "hair envy;" he's got a three-old-year who has not nearly as much hair as Dolly.  Then Dolly said something, and he said, "Wow, she's advanced!" 

 

I tell her I love her about 100,000 times a day.  Sometimes I quiz her, "Who loves you?"  In response, sometimes she says, "Mommy loves you."  But often it's "Anders," or "Clara," or even "John Denver loves you."  (She's gotten a lot better, but she doesn't quite have the me/you distinction down yet.)  She really has a lot of faith in her relationship with the late Johnny D.