The Boo Turns TWO (and more February birthday madness)

February is a busy month for our family. Vince's birthday is in February. Benjamin's birthday is in February. Vince's nephew Tyler's birthday is in February. Valentine's Day is in February. Chinese New Year (usually) falls in February. Now we have the upcoming birth of my brother's first child, not to mention the imminent arrival of our own daughter. February's shaping up to oust December as the most festive month of the year!
. Vince's birthday was the first February event to be celebrated. We marked the occasion by indulging in a sumptuous family-style dinner with a few of our closest friends at nearby Mosto Enoteca. We took a leap of faith by allowing the chef to choose each dish for us and were not disappointed; the meal was one of the best to be devoured ever. After three-and-a-half hours of sheer gluttony in their private dining room, we rolled out of there, happy and sated.
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The next evening, we drove down to Long Beach to celebrate Tyler's third birthday at an indoor playground.
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Although the Boo was the youngest one there, he had a great time. Never one to let his Liliputian stature hold him back, he jumped right into the fray, swimming in the ball pit, bouncing on the mini-trampoline, and playing "follow the leader" right along with the big kids. He also shocked us with a demonstration of his surprising upper body strength:

Maybe we should sign the kid up for gymnastics classes!
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In order to avert a potential conflict with his sister's birth, we celebrated the Boo's birthday a few weeks early. So last Saturday morning right after he woke up, we gave him his birthday gift, a bright green, pint-sized running bike. Also known as a balance bike, running bikes have two wheels and no pedals. The idea is that the child will propel himself with his feet and get a sense of how to balance the bike as it moves without the help of training wheels.

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With the help of Daddy and Hao Gong, the Boo was able to tool around on his bike. Kind of.

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We went across the street to Nolan's place, where Benjamin let his best friend take his new wheels for a test drive, too.

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Later on, we got ready for Benjamin's birthday party. Our original plan was to order pizzas for our guests, but when my mom got wind of that, she made a horrified face. She sniffed that her precious grandson deserved to have something better than mere take-out for his second birthday party. So instead of pizza, my mom cooked up a big batch of Chinese-style fried rice from scratch. And if that wasn't enough, she also whipped up a huge tray of stir-fried noodles!

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While my mom was cranking out fifty pounds of Chinese cuisine in our kitchen, I headed down to the toddler playground to stake a claim. My faithful friends Deb and Julie were there to help me out. Together, we blew up monkey balloons, arranged the monkey goody bags, and set up the monkey pinata. Did I mention that the theme of the party would be "monkeys"? I'd even had a special monkey birthday cake custom made by the talented Elizabeth Lam, the same pastry chef who'd crafted Nolan's birthday cake several months earlier.

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The guests arrived shortly after, and soon the party was in full swing. Although February had been plagued by cold, wet weather, we were blessed to have clear skies that day. Benjamin seemed to understand that the fuss was for him, and seeing him joyfully running around with his little friends made me so happy that I thought my heart was going to burst.

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As the sun started to go down, we gathered around and sang "Happy Birthday" to Benjamin.

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In the spirit of the celebration, I put aside my food tyrant ways and allowed Benjamin to have a cupcake. We won't talk about what it did to his tummy the next day, but he sure did enjoy eating it at his party - and wearing it on his face!

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It's hard to believe that our little boy is growing up. It seemed like just the other day that he was born, and in the blink of an eye, two years have passed. In a a few short weeks, Benjamin will have a little sister, and he'll no longer be the baby in our family. But until then, I'll hug, hold, and celebrate Benjamin. Wonderful, beautiful Benjamin.
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