Day 731. Happy second birthday, little ones! That's been the theme all day long. From the time they hopped into bed this morning until the evening. All morning I was singing "Happy Birthday" to them. They really looked puzzled, wondering what was going on, but they understood it was something special and that it involved them. Emmy did his "name game" several times today. I say something like "It's your birthday today!", and he says, "Emmy?". And I say, "Yes, it's Emmy's birthday." "Tammy?" "Yes, it's Tammy's birthday." "Sammy?" "Yes, it's Sammy's birthday." "Mama?" "No, it's not Mama's birthday." "Papa?" "No, it's not Papa's birthday."
In any case, they slept a little longer today, which was nice. Both Emmy and Tammy came to bed with us pretty early and then slept there for quite some time. It was Sammy who was up first, probably crying because he found himself alone in their room and all was quiet.
It was about 7 am, when we got up. I gave them milk, and then they asked for salami. Thankfully Randy had gone shopping yesterday, so we had some again, and they ate quite a lot of it. Once at the table, Tammy also had some watermelon, but neither one of them ate much there. Then I cleaned them up, talking again about their birthday, and put their birthday clothes on. Three identical shirts that said "I am 2" and only differed in color. They looked great, and more like triplets being dressed similarly. The motive on the shirt was also the theme of the party in the afternoon, with the exact same animals.
Then we went downstairs. I forgot to tell you yesterday that Tammy went downstairs upright without help for the first time, and she did it again today. Emmy couldn't quite do it yet. Once downstairs, they immediately saw the two "Happy Birthday" signs on the sides of the room, and then the balloons with the number 2 on them. They immediately started playing with the balloons and had lots of fun. It had been a while since they had balloons. I tried to get the Bibles out, but they were really not interested today.
When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs for the biggest and most important job, decorating the cake and finishing it. I had green and blue fondant that I rolled out to cover the cake with, so that I had two thirds land and one third water on the cake. Then I put lots of animals on top of it that they can play with in the future. It was a lot of work, but didn't even take as long as I had thought.
I could hear them being pretty cranky downstairs, and so I went downstairs - at a time when I'm usually never with them. Especially Emmy was crying and calling my name a lot today. They were so happy to see me. Randy used the opportunity to go to our basement where we had a doll stroller. Everywhere we go, Tammy plays with the doll stroller the most, and so it was today as well. It was definitely her favorite gift, as she was pushing it around all day long, and fought for it to defend it, when Emmy tried to take it.
Sammy was lying on the couch on his back, and while I was busy with the other two, I watched him turn around onto his belly, slide to the edge of the couch and down until his feet touched the ground and he stood on the floor, holding onto the couch. I was really impressed!
I stayed with them until I had to go upstairs at 10:30 to make lunch. By that time they were so busy with the new doll stroller and doll bed that they didn't even notice me leaving. Just after 11 am I called them upstairs to eat, and it was not easy to pull Tammy away from her stroller. We had pasta with tomato and meat sauce, and Tammy ate very little. Normally she would not have had icecream, but for her birthday she got it anyway. Followed by a pudding. Then I cleaned them up, dressed them again, and put the boys to bed, while Randy went downstairs with Tammy. I had to stay, and after a while Emmy climbed out of the bed onto my chest, where he lay for a short time until I put him back to bed. It was nearly 12:30 before he fell asleep, and that's when I put Tammy down for her nap. She played for a while, but not too long, before falling asleep.
I was pretty tired, but still had work to do. After about 45 minutes of sleeping, Emmy woke up, asking for his Daddy, and so Randy sat down in the chair with him, and soon both were asleep. Emmy slept at least another hour, so that was good. During that time I got everything ready downstairs, setting tables, tidying up, and moving everything around as needed. By the time everyone woke up, pretty much everything was ready for the party.
Emmy was up first, then Sammy, and then Tammy. They all had to stay upstairs until everyone had arrived. I had already carried the fragile cake downstairs, and the plan was for them to walk up to it, rather than me carrying the cake to them. At 2:30 the doorbell rang. It was Sonja, a very welcome visitor. I asked her to stay with the kids upstairs, while I went downstairs. However, the kids ran to the gate crying for me, so it wasn't quite working. Even when Grandma and Grandpa were coming and could be seen from the balcony, it was still hard to get them to go to the balcony, but finally they did and waved down to them. Randy had gone to their car with a cart to transport their heavy birthday present.
Grandma went upstairs to be with them, and they had fun with her, which allowed me to be downstairs. But after a while Tammy was at the gate again crying and calling for me. It was after 3 pm and not everyone had arrived, but I decided to go ahead and get started, as I could not ask them to stay upstairs any long. And so I lit the three "2" candles on the cake, and then they came downstairs and walked towards it. Everything looked different than what they were used to. And then there were three big inflatable animals that scared Emmy. He was clinging to me. I tried to take them all to the cake for them to look at it, and it seemed that Emmy was afraid of those animals on it as well. Only Tammy was fearless and started picking up the animals. We sang "Happy Birthday" together and tried to get them to help blow out the candles. Then I cut the cake and distributed it. Tammy didn't want to eat anything yet, but the other two did. I had set up a kids' table, but they never actually sat down there.
Then it was time for their presents. A lot of presents had gathered as everyone had arrived by that time. I started giving them presents to open up, but they didn't actually seem that interested. Tammy would walk away after one look, only Emmy really tried to tear the paper off, and Randy helped Sammy open up the first present. Sonja had brought them some food, including salami, as they like it so much, and they immediately started eating it. Tammy hadn't eaten anything yet in the afternoon.
They received a lof of gifts, from real and fake food, to crafts, to bedding and the big, heavy box - a play kitchen. Randy will still have to put it together. They already played with some of the kitchen equipment and play food.
Then Tammy took her doll stroller outside, and slowly everything followed her outside. Tammy was pushing the stroller up and down, Emmy took a ball outside to play with, and our friend's son was riding one of the cars outside. My brother and his sons were talking to my Mom and her husband, while Sonja and my friend and I were playing with the little ones. time went by fast. And Emmy had no more fear of the big blown-up animals but was playing with them.
My brother and his sons left first, and then my mom and her husband. A few minutes later I had to leave, going upstairs to make their dinner. I could hear them play downstairs, while I was working. I was done before it was 6 pm. My friend had to say her good-byes as well, and so did Sonja. And so everyone was gone, when we sat down for dinner.
I was surprised that they were eating as any other day, even after the cake. It wasn't long before we went to the bathtub, where they ate most of their food, whle playing. Then we got them out and ready for bed. Emmy fell asleep pretty fast, and was already sleeping just after 8 am. The girl was still up and wanted me to stay, and so I did to prevent another meltdown. I stayed for quite some time, but left before she was sleeping, and she was okay with it. I got myself something to eat, and then continued working. I had 315 pictures today, and needed to select the best out of those, which takes time. While I was working, I noticed how I was getting more and more tired. I finally stopped and left to do the housework, then returend to the computer to write my update. Now it's 11:15, and I have been struggling for the past two paragraphs or so to keep my eyes open. I've got to go to bed. The rest of the pictures will follow tomorrow.
