Shaelyn wants everyone to know how old she is!
*** Post Disclaimer: Shaelyn has two sets of grandparents who wanted to be with her on her big day, but because we live so far away, they weren't able to be here. So this post is a detailed play-by-play of her birthday for those who wanted to be here but couldn't. Hence the million pictures and videos...
*** Post Disclaimer: Shaelyn has two sets of grandparents who wanted to be with her on her big day, but because we live so far away, they weren't able to be here. So this post is a detailed play-by-play of her birthday for those who wanted to be here but couldn't. Hence the million pictures and videos...In the morning we went to storytime at the library, then came home to open presents.
Shaelyn got a birthday card from her Grandma and Grandpa that she read herself!
She needed a little help unwrapping presents, but got very excited about the picture she saw on the box...
And was even more excited when we opened the box to reveal her stacking cups from Grammy and Paw Paw!
She had help building this tower and thought it was very tall!
She loves "talking" into cups to hear her voice echo, so the stacking cups were a great gift because now she has 10 cups to talk into!
She had a lot of fun playing with these cups!
The "daily specials" board in the grocery store had a special message for Shaelyn.
There was this really cool "blackboard lake" that you could draw all over with chalk. Shaelyn walked around and picked up all the pieces of chalk that were scattered about and put them all back one by one in this basket, all on her own without any prompting from us. Then she proceeded to take them all out...
She actually figured out how to scribble on the blackboard by watching Michael a few times. Although she was much more interested in putting the chalk in her mouth - gross! We were in giggles by the time I ended the video.
In the center of the town, they have this "tot land" that is made specifically for kids under 3. It was great because it was all gated off so that you didn't have to worry about "big kids" playing too rough around the little ones. Shaelyn loved this part because there were all these fun, squishy mats to crawl on.
The mats had different textures and shapes, so they were very fun to explore.
There was this little foam mat pyramid that Shaelyn loved climbing. At the top there was this little pit that she would hide in.
Now she's climbing back out of the pit at the top of the pyramid.
She also enjoyed this foam fort full of squishy blocks. This was the first thing we put her in when we got there, so she is still a little timid:
In "tot land" they also had this race track built specifically for those Little Tyke cars that kids can drive Flintstone-style. Shaelyn was still a tad too little to figure that out, but she had a great time pushing the car around the track. I'm the one behind her honking my horn:
Here she is on stage at the little theater. She ran around in the spotlights and had a great time. Already a true performer!
The theater also had musical instruments. Here she is playing the bongos with Daddy.
After the Children's Museum, it was time for dinner and cake. I made her favorite - spaghetti! I decided to let her get as messy as she wanted, so I turned the heat up and stripped off her clothes. She had a great time getting the spaghetti everywhere, including on the blinds next to the kitchen table!
Here is a shot of the cake I made her before it got destroyed. I was very proud of myself - I've never even attempted anything like that before!
Here is the head up close. I wanted you to be able to see the antennae and the green bow.
Here is the cake next to the invitations we sent out to her baby friends for her little party. I modeled the cake after it. Impressive, right?!
I put an unlit (I'm not that dumb about fire safety) "1" candle on her cake and Michael and I sang happy birthday to her. This was the only traumatic part of her birthday. I told Michael I went into her birthday with no expectations (because I knew I would be disappointed if I did - she's only 1) but one - that she would smash her birthday cake and get cake and icing all over her face. Well, we fed her dinner too late which made her cranky, and then she wanted out of her high chair. But she was covered in spaghetti and I didn't want to take her out, clean her off, and then put her back in to get messy again. So I threw a little tantrum myself while she threw hers. I mean, didn't she know this day was all about me, oops, I mean her?!? Anyway, she cried all through our singing (who wouldn't?), but stopped once she tasted the icing:
After we sang, she pushed the cake and icing around a little more, just to make sure the thing really looked like she attacked it.
And of course you have to smear the icing all over your high chair, too. (Notice she's still not too happy.)
But Mommy was happy with how much destruction the cake received!
Shaelyn got a birthday card from her Grandma and Grandpa that she read herself!
She needed a little help unwrapping presents, but got very excited about the picture she saw on the box...
And was even more excited when we opened the box to reveal her stacking cups from Grammy and Paw Paw!
She had help building this tower and thought it was very tall!
She loves "talking" into cups to hear her voice echo, so the stacking cups were a great gift because now she has 10 cups to talk into!
She had a lot of fun playing with these cups!So much fun, in fact, that I had to take 2 videos of her playing with them...
She also received a "bug" from us that sings, lights up, and does other cool things that we knew Shaelyn would like. Plus, it was a lady bug for our little lady bug! Here she is right after she opened it, still figuring out how to play with it:
Then we went to the Children's Museum as a family. It is so cool - Michael and I had more fun there than Shaelyn did! It is built to be a little town, all on kid-size dimensions. They have a theater, post office, pizzeria, and even a little grocery store!
The "daily specials" board in the grocery store had a special message for Shaelyn.
There was this really cool "blackboard lake" that you could draw all over with chalk. Shaelyn walked around and picked up all the pieces of chalk that were scattered about and put them all back one by one in this basket, all on her own without any prompting from us. Then she proceeded to take them all out...She actually figured out how to scribble on the blackboard by watching Michael a few times. Although she was much more interested in putting the chalk in her mouth - gross! We were in giggles by the time I ended the video.
In the center of the town, they have this "tot land" that is made specifically for kids under 3. It was great because it was all gated off so that you didn't have to worry about "big kids" playing too rough around the little ones. Shaelyn loved this part because there were all these fun, squishy mats to crawl on.
The mats had different textures and shapes, so they were very fun to explore.
There was this little foam mat pyramid that Shaelyn loved climbing. At the top there was this little pit that she would hide in.Now she's climbing back out of the pit at the top of the pyramid.She also enjoyed this foam fort full of squishy blocks. This was the first thing we put her in when we got there, so she is still a little timid:
In "tot land" they also had this race track built specifically for those Little Tyke cars that kids can drive Flintstone-style. Shaelyn was still a tad too little to figure that out, but she had a great time pushing the car around the track. I'm the one behind her honking my horn:
Here she is on stage at the little theater. She ran around in the spotlights and had a great time. Already a true performer!
The theater also had musical instruments. Here she is playing the bongos with Daddy.
After the Children's Museum, it was time for dinner and cake. I made her favorite - spaghetti! I decided to let her get as messy as she wanted, so I turned the heat up and stripped off her clothes. She had a great time getting the spaghetti everywhere, including on the blinds next to the kitchen table!
Here is a shot of the cake I made her before it got destroyed. I was very proud of myself - I've never even attempted anything like that before!
Here is the head up close. I wanted you to be able to see the antennae and the green bow.
Here is the cake next to the invitations we sent out to her baby friends for her little party. I modeled the cake after it. Impressive, right?!I put an unlit (I'm not that dumb about fire safety) "1" candle on her cake and Michael and I sang happy birthday to her. This was the only traumatic part of her birthday. I told Michael I went into her birthday with no expectations (because I knew I would be disappointed if I did - she's only 1) but one - that she would smash her birthday cake and get cake and icing all over her face. Well, we fed her dinner too late which made her cranky, and then she wanted out of her high chair. But she was covered in spaghetti and I didn't want to take her out, clean her off, and then put her back in to get messy again. So I threw a little tantrum myself while she threw hers. I mean, didn't she know this day was all about me, oops, I mean her?!? Anyway, she cried all through our singing (who wouldn't?), but stopped once she tasted the icing:
After we sang, she pushed the cake and icing around a little more, just to make sure the thing really looked like she attacked it.
And of course you have to smear the icing all over your high chair, too. (Notice she's still not too happy.)
But Mommy was happy with how much destruction the cake received! We had a blast on Shaelyn's first birthday. I know it's not one she'll remember, but hopefully she will remember feeling loved and special, because she is!
