Happy Birthday Sweet Boy

Today is Caden's second birthday, and I have to say that two-year-olds get a bad rap. Everyone has heard of the terrible two's, but I think he's more fun now than ever before. I love the fact that he gets jokes. I love the fact that he has opinions and things to say. I can't get enough of his truck/helicopter obsession. I mean, sure, a fight broke out at his birthday party over a super cool silver truck. And yes, the left side of his hair is significantly shorter than the right because of a total meltdown during a haircut. But still... I love it.



We had a party on Saturday and invited his neighborhood buddies, plus my family -his Auntie Cathy made a special trip down just for special day. We stuffed them with cake and ice cream, then let the hilarity ensue.


Opening presents... going okay so far...


Silver truck is opened... all hell breaks loose. Daddy is a little stressed.



Here's the truck. It IS very cool, and I can understand the stir that it caused. You needed a screwdriver just to get it out of its packaging. Very cool. The doors, trunk and hood all open. Super cool. Under the hood is a scale model of a real engine and in the trunk is a pimped out speaker system. This had the dads trying to get their hands on it too.


Our little man went to sleep that night feeling loved and stuffed full of cake. And under his arm, pressed close to his shark jammies, was that truck.

Is There Something You Need to Tell Me?

So the other day I went to get my eyebrows waxed, and the girl behind the counter says to me "Do you want to wax your upper lip, too?" And I was all, "Huh?" and she says "Your upper lip, do you want to go ahead and wax that too?", real slow and loud like I was feable minded and just not understanding her.

Bitch, what?? Do I have a 'stache? Is there something you people haven't been telling me? Seriously, I rely on my friends to tell me these things. But don't look now! I'm too self-conscious.

Frogs are Boring

So yesterday was President's Day, and AOL actually gave me the day off. I decided to take Caden to see the live frog exhibit at National Geographic's Explorer's Hall, and my mom came along, too. The place was totally packed full of kids. We were about 5 minutes in, and my mom and I were admiring the fancy Vietnamese moss frogs when Caden announced that he "wan go home." Then he said it about 15 more times just so we got the point.

Boring exotic African bullfrog.

The trip was not a total bust, however. We went out to the courtyard, and miracle of miracles, there were PUDDLES! Caden had a grand time splashing in them, and even recruited some playmates to join him in National Geographic's newest toddler attraction.

Total time spent in Frog exhibit: 7 minutes

Total time spent in puddles outside: 45 minutes

Dark Confession #2

I am 35 years old and I still have a desk that looks like this:

Inspiration

Who do I want to lead the country in these explosive times, with my children in mind? I think it might be Obama.

I Love Potbelly's

Potbelly's makes the best sammiches. Period. I think it's got something to do with the spicy brown mustard they use, although the oven that they run the sammich through may hold a special secret, too.

The first time I ever went to a Potbelly's was in downtown Chicago. The line would be out the door and down half the block on an average weekday. But the thing is that they run that place like the gestapo and it's fast- You order the basic sandwich in one place, toppings after the oven, and drinks you get at the cash register. And it's all to thumping techno beat to keep everyone moving. NO SCREW UPS ARE TOLERATED. If you dare to tell the sandwich guy that you want no mayo on your wreck, you will be publicly scorned. The first time you go to that Potbelly's, you'd better go with a friend to show you the ropes. It's an institution.

They recently opened a chain out here in Ashburn, Virgina. Yesterday I was in line behind an old man who kept changing his order and ordering tomatoes from the sandwich guy, and they were sooooooooooo nice about it. In Chicago, he would have been killed immediately.

"Can I Have Some Coffee?"

This seems like such a reasonable request for someone to make at 6:00 in the morning on a Monday. Reasonable, until I tell you that the person making said request is my 22-month-old son. He is clearly his mother's offspring. And I have to say that I'm very proud of the fact that he's stringing 5 word sentences together before he's even 2, and I can't wait until the doctor asks me about his vocab development cuz I'm going to BRAG BRAG BRAG.

I just hope the doctor doesn't ask what he actually said. I mean, coffee at 22 months? I think I was at least 3 before my mom started letting me have coffee.