2!

The gorgeous little creature above is my now two-year-old daughter! Today, we had our little Lovejoy-Fordham Alliance celebration of LB's actual birthday. In the morning, Tom and I sang "Happy Birthday" to her when she woke up, and then it was time to open the pressies from Mama and Papa!

I thought the little hobby horse would be a big hit, but I don't think it got played with at all. At least it only cost $10.

The big hit of the day was the Thomas the Tank Engine station with two trains (a Thomas and a Percy).
Less popular was the Tinker Bell. We got her at Disneyland. I told Lilybeth that she could pick out a toy when we were at Disneyland, and she selected a Tinker Bell doll. I think this may be because she thought Tinker Bell was in fact a Lilybeth, they look so much alike. I'm a bit ambivalent about the Tinker Bell, and I almost didn't get it for her. In fact, when I brought it home, Tom couldn't believe I actually bought it. I'm not opposed to LB having dolls, I'm just not sure which dolls are appropriate for a 2-year-old, I can't decide how I feel about Tink's outfit, and I don't want Tink to spark an interest in my least favorite of all female characters, the princess. I don't mind fairies so much--they're sweet, they use their magic for good, they live outside in the garden (not cooped up in some house or castle), and as far as I know they don't passively languish around waiting for princes to come and save them. As far as I can remember of Tink in Peter Pan, she was sort of mischievous and her ultimate goal was not to get a man (though maybe I'm wrong; I honestly remember very little of that movie).

Clearly, I have some thinking to do about the whole Tinker Bell issue, but I was sort of hoping that combing Tink's hair would at least inspire Miss LB not to be so defensive when it was time for her to have her own hair combed. LB made a few jabs at poor Tink's head with the comb and then announced that her name was "Abby." She was referring to Abby, the fairy on Sesame Street. Thinking she was confused because we said Tink was a fairy, I told her, "This is Tinker Bell, not Abby," to which LB replied, "No, Tinker Bell. Abby." That was the end of that conversation, and so Tink is officially "Abby" around the Lovejoy-Fordham Homestead.
At any rate, LB's third present was a set of toy dishes. LB likes to pretend to feed her toys and other people, which I think is a good impulse to encourage in any child: sharing, nurturing, imagining. I was especially excited about these dishes because they are made of 100% recycled material and are from a green company. LB was less impressed by this fact. She put her plastic trees on one of the plates and used one of the little knives to pretend to cut it up, announcing happily, "I cut tree. I cut tree. I cut tree." She then put all of the utensils into one of the bowls and told me to eat them.
But the dishes and Abby were soon discarded for the most popular toy, the Thomas station. At bedtime, LB even put Thomas and Percy back into the station and said goodnight to them.
Here's her birthday photo with Papa.
And a birthday photo with Mama.
A beautiful birthday face covered in ketchup and cake.
I also have to send a shot out for some awesome presents. Thank you, Auntie Melissa, for the coloring book and the bubble set. Tom said that LB spent most of the day carrying around the little pony. I had to work, so I didn't get to see her playing with it :( But at family story time, she brought it into the bed with her!
And a stuffed pup, always a big hit with LB. Actually, the pup better watch out. LB has put him dangerously close to that frying pan.