turning 2 yrs old

we had a very small celebration for the bean's 2nd birthday. no big party, just a cupcake with 2 candles and the opening of her presents, which wasn't a big pile by most middle-class kids' standards. we just commemorated it by filming the event on a proper videocam.

from her daddy she received mainly clothes: a uv rash vest, a short-sleeved uv suit from ripcurl, cotton pjs (jonasjodie), a dress from chateau de sable (the bean gave an excited cry when she opened it up and took out the dress), and 2 long-sleeved tees with a pair of pj bottoms (from a new malaysian brand). the only non-clothing pressie was a very soft sheep toy from kiwistan that he bought whilst on a business trip.

from me: 2 new wooden puzzles (slightly more advanced than the ones she'd had) and 2 books.

but her favourite present has to be the dog soft toy (from friends of dh's family). it has a collar and a short leash, a simple detail that makes a world of difference between any run of the mill soft toy and one that can "come alive". the bean was immediately smitten with it and took it for a walk around the living room as well as tried to sit on it. (she does have a weird tendency to want to sit on her toys, as if they could be mounts like her rocking horse.)

i think at this age she would be impressed with most anything she receives - every present merited a "wow" or an "ooh". the major part of the fun is actually tearing off the wrapping paper. we had to keep asking her to come back to look at the present after she'd torn up the packaging; to the bean, the paper tearing part was probably the objective and she would get up and start wandering off once that's done.

she does seem to understand that birthdays are pretty significant events, unique from a routine day anyways. when she received a new birthday card the next day (i didn't tell her it was a birthday card, i just told her that it was for her and that she could open it) and saw the birthday cake with its candles on the cover, she immediately sang the happy birthday song. she couldn't read what the card said of course but she made a show of looking at the text inside as if she could. very funny.