We made it! Finally. Green, green grass from here. That’s what everyone says, right? Terrific Twos! I am not fooled. But the party sure was fun!

With 10 kids and 22 adults, there was plenty of excitement here at the Johnson house. Dad made homemade chili and mac & cheese – and a CAKE! This year we had flower (see end of post for a visual), and Zoe actually blew out her own candles!

VIDEO PROOF

When she woke from her nap yesterday (before the party), the first thing she said was “It’s my birthday. Strawberry cake was huge and had marsh-pillows on it!” (yes, she calls marshmallows marsh-pillows – my friend Liz says that’s actually more appropriate.) Of course, this was after Daddy spent hours baking a white cake with purple/yellow frosting, shaped like a flower (no marsh-pillows included). Ok, TWO cakes – only one made it through to frosting stage – cake ONE stuck to the pan… but I digress. Back to the “strawberry cake with marsh-pillows” dilemma.

Being the improvisor I am, just before bringing out that cake, Mommy stuck marsh-pillows on that flower, and as you saw in the video, that’s the first thing she reached for. In fact, she ate them right off the cake then asked for more. So I brought out a small bowl of marsh-pillows and watched 5 kids scramble to shove as many as possible in their mouths. Who knew kids loved marsh-pillows so much?

Anyway, the cake was a hit (as was the birthday). We’ve been practicing with her right up to her birthday asking how old she was going to be. To which she responded “I’ll be 2”. So guess what she answers TODAY when you ask her how old she IS? “I’ll be 2” Perhaps she’s already in age-denial. I blame my mother for that (kidding, mom). Seriously, though, my sweet mother came all the way out to be here for Zoe’s birthday and was a huge help.

And now we have a 2 year old – who starts SCHOOL tomorrow! In fact, if you ask her how old she is, what she specifically says is “I’ll be 2. I’m going to SCHOOL!” So wish us luck with that. We’re hoping the excitement continues :) Before we get started with school, it’s a good time to document some of the impressive (to us) things she can already do at 2 little years of age:

1. Spells her own name (and read it when you write it out) – she can also spell mom & dad (and almost spell “nina”), thanks to my mom.
2. Says almost anything… I already said that in the last post, but it’s true. She’s beyond 5 word sentences and can TELL us things.
3. Knows all her colors and shapes, in fact has color preferences and can match things.
4. Recites The Three Bears story, almost verbatim
5. Walks backwards with ease and jumps (pretty high for her size) – and dances almost as well as daddy
6. Has gone poop 4 times in the big potty (though there’s no potty consistency…it’s a start)
7. Makes coffee for daddy (even picks up tiny coffee beans and does not put them in her mouth)

And now all that’s documented for when she starts asking questions (and we can’t remember). In fact, I’m excited to report I’ll be printing my THIRD year of the blog in a lovely book so we can make her look up her own stats when she’s older. In case you’re counting, the first “year” is pregnancy. I’m pretty proud. We’ll see how long this lasts, but I’ve met my goal of making it through her 2nd birthday. Yay, me. And happy birthday, sweet Zoe. We love you even more today than we did 2 years ago – and I would have never believed that was possible!