Rost and I have been practicing singing Happy Birthday every night for nearly two months thanks to a current favorite book about a farmer’s birthday. Each song sung is accompanied by practice blowing out a candle. Given the amount of slobber and spit that first began this process I’m really happy we started practicing early enough to nail the actual day and not send drool flying across everyone’s cupcakes.

Rost was stoked when he woke up from his nap to discover my friend Becky, a favorite person of Rost’s, had snuck in from Missoula while he was sleeping. Soon after, Dada appeared back home with McDonald’s chicken nuggets and french fries. Rost’s day would have been magical had it stopped right there but his favorite people started funneling through the door. Each wave of people that came in sent him into shrieks of happiness. All of his favorite foods (chicken nuggets, french fries, Oreos, tomato soup, corn on the cob, strawberries, & a cupcake tractor), all of his favorite friends, a balloon, more tractors than you can handle, and fireworks = a pretty good start to two.

Turning two was a grand adventure, a gateway to a world that held countless wonders, and Rost embarked on this journey with wide-eyed innocence and the infectious laughter that defines toddlerhood.