Asa is 2

It's kind of hard finding presents for a boy who has 2 older brothers. It seems like we have (at least) one of pretty much every toy there is going. While we are generally advocates of money/vouchers/book tokens etc for birthdays (good for saving up or spending on bigger toys we wouldn't otherwise get) sometimes you just need a great big present to open. Like when you're turning 2 for example!!

So I decided to get a little kitchen. The plan is to eventually have it out in the playhouse once we've done the flooring and a few other bits and pieces out there, but right now it's sitting in the front room and getting played with more than any other toy we own I think (possibly with the exception of the wooden railway).

Turning 2 seems to have heralded a new, far more grown-up little boy. He keeps getting taller, he talks more; trying to copy everything we say, he can climb out of his cot (another thread on that later!), he wants to join in with EVERYTHING his big brothers do, he will sit and read books without tearing/eating them and he just looks like a little boy now instead of a baby. It's great to see how the family dynamic changes as he gets older and more able to play with Linus and Gabriel. Being close in age him and Gabriel play together a lot, mainly throwing themselves onto and off of things, tearing around the house or garden, lobbing sand or water about and a million other destructive and boisterous things they can think of. All, of course, accompanied by peals of laughter. I am left a quivering wreck, held together only by the promise I make myself of tea and cake once they're all in bed.

Birthday morning, a rare opportunity to open something without the enthusiastic "help" of 2 older brothers...

Linus chose this toy pizza for Asa. It's just a coincidence that pizza is Linus's favourite food I'm sure, and that he plays with it more than Asa does. The best bit from the pizza set however is the "sprinkles" (I think it's supposed to be cheese or something?)

Hmmmm bookends you say? Let me just put some sprinkles on those....

It just so happened that Asa's birthday fell on a Sunday which also just so happens to be "Grandma day", that is to say, the day we descend on Grandma's house, trash the place, eat her food and then leave. The perfect party venue, no?

We arrive to MORE presents, including Mr Potato Head. It's unclear from this picture whether Asa likes Mr Potato Head, but the rest of us certainly do.

Asa's new scuttlebug, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa, would appear to be payback for the above paragraph. For the time being it is very much an indoor toy....

HA! later suckers! I'm goin' back to Grandma's!