Keira's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Keira's First Birthday at Jumping Bridge Park on May 16. The park is actually named Picnic Park, but Eli named it Jumping Bridge Park when he was two and the name has stuck. When we first arrived, Keira enjoyed her balloons that Dendi thoughtfully brought for her. Balloons are one of her favorite things. She points to them whenever we are out and about. She calls them by name "buh" or "buh-oo". I never realized just how many balloons are around. She points to balloons and sinks (she loves to wash her hands) like Eli used to point at doors and signs.


I was happy that I got a good picture of Keira with Dendi as I didn't get a good one of Dendi at Eli's party. And, of course, I never miss a chance to get a picture of me with my two babes.



Seana was gracious enough to make a delicious cake for Keira's party. I suggested some combination of vanilla or chocolate, so she baked a chocolate cake and iced half of it in white buttercream and half of it in fudge. Yum!


Keira survived her own party much better than her brother's. I made sure to keep the sunscreen off her hands, so we thankfully avoided the tears. Her favorite activity was "walking". She loved cruising along the picnic bench, walking around holding on to one finger or mowing with her new pink mower from Dendi. She's now walking for real! She started walking on Tuesday, May 25th, and she couldn't be happier. She was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, pushed herself up to stand, gave me a wide open mouth grin and took three steps. So exciting!





Besides walking in all of its forms, Keira also enjoyed swinging and diving into her presents.



A surprising highlight for Keira was the woodchips, she happily sat down and played in them for quite a while. Of course, right after Grammie commented how unusual she was that she didn't put them in her mouth, sure enough, she did. A few of us said something like, "no eat" and she was not happy. She takes it very personally if anyone says no to her besides me. Me, on the other hand, she doesn't take seriously enough... I'm struggling with her grabbing my face, she digs her finger nails in and I usually have several little scabs from her at any one time. It's her one main bad habit at the moment.




And, of course, Keira enjoyed her birthday cake. For her, it was a great tactile experience (notice her feet even got in on the fun) and she made a huge mess. She did sneak in a taste or two as well.




Eli had a little bit of a rough time at the party. He'd been testing us most of the day. I think it was a combination of allergies, jealousy, three big weekends in a row and hunger. Next time, I'm going to make sure that he's had a good snack so that waiting for the cake doesn't become such an issue. But, he did enjoy playing croquet, frisbee and going for a walk with one of his favorite people -- Tyler. And, of course my chocolate boy loved his cake, too.