Brianna's Blog: My Two-Year-Old's Best Birthday Ever

Aurora just turned two yesterday. For everyone who has been traveling this journey with us--CRAZY, right? It is so true that the days go by slow and the years fly right past you.

As if society doesn't put enough pressure on people to throw their child the biggest and best birthday party (I think its supposed to be three-months salary or something like that), Aurora was going on for weeks that this was going to be "her best birthday ever." Yes, it was only her second, and it shouldn't be hard to top her one previous birthday that she can't even remember--and yet, I felt the weight of making it epic. So after lots of brainstorming and Skyler's concerned warnings that I try to be flexible, we threw a little party for her while we were camping with our community group, and then spent her special day at Disneyland, just her and Mommy.

I count the party as a success by the standards that: 1) Most kids participated in most of the activities 2) The cupcakes survived traveling and made it to consumption 3) I got cute pictures out of the whole ordeal which will hopefully make Aurora feel like she had a good childhood.

Disneyland was magical, hot, activity-filled, and crowded. Aurora's favs were Autotopia, the carousel, and meeting the characters. It was really sweet that she got to get behind the wheel in Autotopia, and her "driving" consisted of hysterical laughter as the car slammed into the guiding rail and she got to catch the steering wheel as it spun out of control. My job was to hold her in her seat, push the gas and enjoy that wonderful laugh that marks pure joy. She was willing to wait as long as it took to meet Mickey, Minnie, and Tinkerbell, and after hours in line Mom insisted that a high-five from Pluto and a wave from Goofy as they passed by was good enough. She was overwhelmed when she actually got her chance to interact with them, and while she melted into hugs, smiling just didn't seem to be appropriate in the moment. She wanted to give it the proper weight and reverence, I think.

Below are some pictures. I will look back on them fondly, and hope that her motto for next year is along the lines of "special-no-matter-what birthday," to make planning a little easier.