oh boy! oh happy day!

Taisei is two! When he woke up, there were some presents in the teepee in our living room. He proudly wore his birthday crown with a "2"on it. Taisei has been a really sensory person, (do you remember last year's present?) and loves soft cuddly things. He was so excited to find a super soft bear in the teepee!

I am going to bombard you with his birthday photos on this post. (It is mostly for his grandparents though...so bare with me!)

大生が二歳になりました！朝起きたらリビングのティーピーの中にたくさんプレゼントが入っているのを発見！ フワフワの物が大好きな大生、（去年のプレゼントはこれでした。）ふわふわのクマちゃんに大喜び。

日本にいるじいじとばあばのために、今日は大生のお誕生日写真をたくさん載せちゃいます・・・　

I had to make sure I made something for him of course. I was also feeling a little bit competitive, perhaps, toward the perfect fluffy bear that he was going to get for his birthday (which was NOT made by me.) So I HAD TO make an alligator for him. An alligator would totally be better than a bear, I thought!! But I think he loves the bear more...

今年の私からのプレゼントはワニちゃんでした。フワフワにクマちゃんに対抗できるのはワニしかない！っと思い、頑張って作ったけれど、やっぱりフワフワクマちゃんの方が好きみたいです・・・




Seiju loves the alligator!

聖樹はワニちゃんがお気に入り。


Allen made a catapult for Taisei. It's really really strong and, this mama is paranoid that its mighty force is going to crack windows or some walls when it is used with marbles. Of course, the boys love it! But I had to make some bean bags for them to use... just to be safe.

お父さんからのプレゼントは投石器？！日本語ではどう訳すのかちょっと疑問ですが・・・あの、昔の戦いに使ったような武器ですね。アレンはビー玉を使って遊んでもらいたかったらしいですが、ちょっと危険なので豆袋を作ってあげました。






For snack time, we visited our favorite cupcake cafe in town called, Just Cupcakes.

近くに最近できた、おしゃれなカップケーキ屋さんでおやつの時間。














And the day ended with ice skating! His favorite part of ice skating was to eat ice off of his tiny skates.

そして夜はアイススケートへ。　実際に滑るのよりもスケート靴についた氷を食べるほうに夢中でした。さすが大生。


The next day, we had a birthday celebration with mama's cake. It's not a birthday without mama's cake!

次の日にケーキをつくってお祝いしました。


Taisei is no ordinary kid. He possesses the dark magical power to bring me down to the two-year-old level and make me kick and scream as if I was one of them. I had not known how hard and frustrating parenting could be if it was not for Taisei. But it is all worth it. No matter how frustrating, when I get to hold him and look straight into his dark brown eyes for a moment, and then tickle him like crazy, and then bury my nose in his neck and inhale the oh-so-sweet-Taisei smell, my super mama power takes over his dark magical power. And then I feel so So lucky to be his mama. So blessed.

大生が生まれてから、「これが修羅場か」と思うことがたくさんありました。大生は母の私を簡単に２歳児のようにしてしまうような魔力のようなものを持っていて、母親の私が ２歳児のように泣きわめいたり、怒ったりすることも、この二年間多々ありました・・・大生がいなければ、子育てがどんなに大変なものかという事を知ることはなかったような気がします。でも、大生をぎゅーっと抱きしめる時、、まっすぐに目をみて、それから、クスグリマシーンになって、コチョコチョおなかをくすぐってから、大生の首に顔をうずめて大きく深呼吸をする時、大生のなんともいえないあの甘い匂いをかぐ時、ああー、母親やってて良かったなあっと思えるのです。そして、大生の魔力よりもっと強い母の力がわいてくるのです。こんな気持ちを味あわせてくれる大生に感謝。