Rippy turns two!

Ripken turned two on April 21. Grandma Weston was in town to celebrate on his actual birthday. He was in a particularly good mood this evening. When this boy is happy, there is not a more funny two year old around. He was telling all kinds of jokes and hamming it up for the camera. Here are a few (too many) pictures of Rippy enjoying his cupcake.

(click to enlarge the collages throughout this post)

Which shortly led to this:

Rippy with his new favorite toy:

Many of you know that birthday parties are usually (ok always) a huge deal for the kids. For example, Ripken's first birthday--a la Very Hungry Caterpillar--can be found here. This year we (meaning Tracy) opted for an outing rather than a party. Ripken's two favorite things right now--by far--are birds and all things with wheels. Fortunately for us, a boy scout troop (and I've gotta think some other organizations) organized an event that was a slam dunk for the boy: Touch a Truck. The very phrase just oozes all things wonderful to a two year old boy, don't you think? And it was no small matter; they had diggers and mixers and ambulances and tractor trailers and swat cars and helicopters and buses and, like I said, all things vehicular. And then they let the kids climb on them and pretend to drive them and honk the horns and even, joy of joys, honk the air horns. Here is the view across the parking lot, to give you an idea:

Driving some tractor trailers and a gator:

UNC Helicopter (the Duke one lifted off while we were there, which was also quite the crowd pleaser), state trooper, and fire truck:

Next to the wheel of a SWAT team tank thing. When the world is ending, you want to be in one of these things, that's for sure.

Rippy was very excited this whole time. Even just driving past the parking lot on our way to park our car he started exclaiming "trucks!!!", "cars!!!" But when he spied the digger, he seriously started jumping up and down and spinning in circles as he shouted "digger!!! digger!!! it's a digger!!" He was so happy. Fortunately this also helped me feel less guilty about not throwing him a party.

His finest moment: Rippy drives a digger!

Afterwards we went back and Reed & Kay's house for cake. Since his other love is birds, I made him a bird cake. And of course, it had to be a Baltimore oriole, given his namesake. On a side note, this was the first time I attempted to make and use fondant, and there is an easy recipe here that worked well. Thanks also to IKEA for the bird tray, which I picked up on the way to a conference in Atlanta earlier in the spring.

Blowing out his two little candles, opening presents, and some new favorites: a Baltimore oriole that makes the actual bird call (thanks Marianne for the idea!), and a dump truck, which now travels with Ripken not only around the house but also joins him in the stroller, in the car, and in the store. But how can you say no to a cute little boy who loves his trucks?