SLOANE IS TWO !! AND A BIRTHDAY IN BALTIMORE

'Oh heyyyy there, don't mind me, just a two year old making my way through the world, taking care of my stuffed animals, reminding mom to close kitchen cabinet doors, singing songs and dancing dances, giving away hugs and kisses and figuring out how to do everything on my own.'

Whaaat. Two?! I know. It's exciting and heart-breaking at the same time.   

Last week, I sat her down and said, "Hey Sloane, it's going to be your birthday in one week!" 

"Birthday?!" She said, her eyes lighting up. 

"Yes and for your birthday we're going to go to the aquarium and see a lot of fish!"

"Feeeshies?!" She hopped all around the room, "feeshies feeshies!" 

"Guess what else? We're going to have a cake and we're going to sing the happy birthday song to you,"

"Happy birthday song! Sloane's birthday!" she said, hopping around the room some more.

A few weeks ago, Sloane started requesting the "happy birthday" song to be played whenever we got in the car, or sometimes she would just start up on her own, quietly singing the song to herself.  Sometimes it would be "happy birthday Sloane", but most times it was "happy birthday, mommy". All of which puzzled us because we couldn't remember ever having sung the song with her. Turns out, whenever a kid had a birthday at daycare, they would all score 'cause there would be cupcakes and candles and the song. When you hear your baby sing the birthday song to herself over and over again, you can't help but get majorly excited about her birthday for her.

Fun fact: This was going to be the first time we were giving her cake (last year didn't count because she didn't eat any of it...), so even though she's had cake before at daycare, this felt special ... for me I guess. Sloane the fish explorer and Sloane the cake eater. 

Ken's mom came up to drive up with us and we met my mom, my sister and my sister's friend Laura at the harbor (two grandmas!) We had told her before we left that we were going to go see a lot of fishies, and maybe even a shark, and all the way up in the car, she kept asking, 'feeshies?' You know, just to make sure we knew where we were going and to keep us all on track. 

For the first few hours she was silent and wide-eyed. I'm always trying to see things from her perspective these days and it sometimes makes me silent and wide-eyed, too.

The jellyfish are my favorite part. They make me think that's what a soul might look like, if souls could be seen.  It's creepy and awe-inspiring and beautiful. 

My mom and I reminisced about how my parents had brought my sisters and I here when we were about 2, 4 and 6.  Now look at us! we said to each other.

Mesmerized by the drumming and pleased as a peach about getting to drop in some dollars in the bucket. 

On the way to the restaurant, we stopped by a Korean bakery and we let her pick the cake. If you don't already know, Sloane is quite enamored with animals but sheep in particular (thanks to a stuffed sheep from her Aunt Amy and the 'Ba Ba Black Sheep' song, which she has decided is her favorite), so when she saw this sheep cake in the display case, it was obvious what was going to go down.

The look on her face when we lit the candles and sang her 'Happy Birthday', followed by a rousing rendition of 'Ba Ba Black Sheep' in honor of the cake, was one of wonderment and happiness. It was magic.