What you talking about willis?

Summer is over. Wah. Though I must say, for the most part we jam packed a lot of fun into the last 8 weeks (no, June doesn't count). This past weekend we did the Day out with Thomas at Edaville. Not that Paudie is a huge Thomas fan, but with lots of hand me down toys and books from his cousins, and an overall love of choo-choos, we figured it would be a good bday event. This pic was taken as we were waiting for Thomas to pull away from the station, 9:30 AM. The deer in headlights look sort of stayed with the boy all morning long. Not sure if he was half asleep, not feeling well, or just overwhelmed by all the kids his size and age, not to mention small rides and other toddler fare. But man, when it was time to leave, he really lost his shiz. He was on an airplane ride that he looked rather whatev about but as soon as John tried to get him off - dramaz.

So I can't believe he is going to be two in just a matter of days. Sometimes it seems like he is still a baby, other times it is like he is ten. I will say he is showing an intense interest in bday gifts - opening them and oooohing and aaaahing over small details. Very cute stuff. We only got him two small gifts this year, and no party. We did the bash last year and I felt exhausted afterwards. One felt like such a huge milestone for us - I guess it was - but 2 feels more, I don't know, not as remarkable? But just because we are not having a party does not mean there isn't cake and lots of it in his future! I am baking (or perhaps John is, not sure yet) cupcakes for daycare on Friday. My sister has convinced me to try baking them in ice cream cones. I hope the outcome is not disasterous. It seems easy enough and it might be fun to minorly overachieve on the mommy front for once since I usually can slack a little bit that way.

The boy is gonna be two and he is embracing his two-ness. The words are really coming out now - being strung together. He continues to fake potty and be obsessed with our dog's food and water needs. He recently added wanting to do the dishes to his list of annoying demands and can also now reach our refrigerator's water dispenser. So things are wet a lot of the time between these three things.

I know my last post was a bummer. But it's all real. And tempered by posts like today where I am more settled and happy with the world. It's really hard to continue to have the memories, good and bad, of Cian slip away - but that is countered by the fact that we are creating very fond memories with his younger bro.