We celebrated Callahan's second birthday a few days early over the holiday weekend in order to beat the arrival of his cousin (coming any day now!) and to take advantage of some dear friends being in town. It was much smaller than his one year bash, just family, Cal's godfather and Ingrid, and Mommy's childhood BFF and her two year old daughter. Despite being small, we love to entertain, so we had a theme (Moustache Bash!) and a ton of delicous food (Mexican!). Cal had a great time, and we all loved our house being filled with the ones we love!
The spread
Cupcakes!
Suckers and cookies
Mommy can't resist a good theme!
Happy Birthday Boy!
Love a full house!
Caroline was a great helper!
Shockingly, this was their best display of sharing all weekend!
Singing to the birthday boy!
Frosting first!
Happy Family!
He wanted to try everything.
Clutching toys from each set of grandparents...they know him so well!
Cal was a very lucky boy. Every single one of his presents was absolutely perfect for him. We can't wait to continue the celebrations all week as we celebrate Grandpa Cliff's birthday on Sunday, Cal and Charlotte's shared birthday on Wednesday, and hopefully the arrival of Baby Howe any day now! What a November to remember!
Today, in the children's clothing aisle of the Salvation Army, something magical happened. Cal, looking up from the trucks he had collected, saw that my mother was no longer standing next to him. "Grandma? Grandma? Grandma go?" he asked me. I turned to my mom, who had just wandered around the corner and asked "Did you hear that?!? He said 'Grandma!'"
That's right, after 23 months, and countless other words, Cal finally says "Grandma."
For some reason, Cal has been stubborn about naming some of the people closest to him. He will point if you ask "Where's Grandma?", but the words were never there, and that killed my mother. She wanted something - Nana, Gigi, Gaga, Grammy - she wasn't picky. She just wanted this sweet little boy to call her by name.
It clicked all of a sudden - like he was waiting until he could say it perfectly before he debuted his new word. Once he started, there was no stopping him. In fact, he threw an absolute tantrum when we left Salvation Army in separate cars. There were tears and sobs, and plaintive cries for his grandma. Although I didn't get my phone out fast enough, I did manage to catch this as he was winding down.
I'm calling this year a success. Cal did not hate his costume - he didn't fight it one bit, not even the hood. He may not have actually said "Trick or Treat!", but he did say "Thank you" unprompted multiple times. He went crazy for his candy initially, but promptly forgot about it when I hid it. A win all around.
We kicked off our festivities with a trip to the Lake Sherwood Halloween Party.
My little dragon!
Walking in the parade with Grandpa.
Loving his costume!
Daddy had to work on Halloween (boo!), so Cal and Mommy hit up the festivities in downtown Northville just like last year. Cal loved all of the dressed up doggies and the fire engines parked outside the station.
