Tonight there will be presents, a racecar balloon, party hats and Aunt Kylies waiting for you after school. And a banana split with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry no matter how much dinner you eat.

Happy Birthday little dude.

Listening: The History of Apple Pie

It was fun. THANK YOU Bonnie Berry Photography!

Listening: Crocodiles

At Harrison’s 2-year-old checkup today he was great. He talked up a storm; helped the doc use her tools; and only had one shot, but, was not stoked. At the end of it he got a ginormous bouncy-ball that he is currently napping with, so all is now well with the world.

31 pounds. 35 inches. 75% for height and weight.

He eats great. Is obviously physically developing on track (I maybe shouldn’t have mentioned the skateboard tricks – the doc was a bit concerned for his safety – we should have pulled out the iPhone to show her a video to put her at ease). He has more than “enough” words (he started really using adverbs last week – “I’m SUPER hungry, mommy.” “I’m very sleepy.” He’s been trying for a while – “Watch a little bit TV?” but, he is finally using them correctly and not just to get to watch TV.)

Harrison is allllllright according to our doc, whom we LOVE!

Listening: Beach Fossils

For this one we decided to brave the wild urban landscape and get gawked at down on South Congress. All dressed up with a few dozen balloons trailing behind. Haven’t seen the shots yet – but, Bonnie is a genius – so, I’m sure they will be great.

Listening: Broken Social Scene

And while Harrison loved it and immediately donned the hat, vest, badge and tools, extinguisher, walkie-talkie, etc… he was, per usual, more interested in the book that came with it.

And then he saw himself in the mirror and was quite impressed:

Listening: Band Of Skulls

There were kid-friends.

And adult-friends.

And adult-friends holding kid-friends.

And pretty girls.

And cake.

And bubbles.

And the roll-catch-game with Stephanie.

And swinging.

And more swinging.

And still more.

And there was this.

Listening: The Morning Benders

He got a “TRAAAAAIN!” from Grandma and Grandpa and a mini-skateboard, a can of “NEW paydough”, a can of “tennis bowls” and a book of Hubble images of space from us.

Then he went to Finny’s and had a great day where at the park he apparently remembered the name of a little boy that he met over a month ago – “Ryder” – he says with an ear to ear smile. We got him early so that we could Skype with the G-parents and open up “MORE PRESENTS… peeeeease”. He got three more trains to really fill out his collection to include: Thomas, Henry, Hiro, Gordon, Emily, Molly and Hank. He is a happy happy boy.

Marc and I took a moment and a few glasses of wine to reflect on the fact that he has been with us for two years. It just keeps getting more fun and easier to be with him and tougher to be away from him all day. Until recently I really have had no problem shipping him off to full-time care – I mean let’s be honest – for the first 9 months they are just little blobs that eat and poop. 9 months to a year is pretty exciting, but, milestones are reached at snail’s pace. Although, somehow I managed to write everyday about his wondrous accomplishments (He got a tooth! He said BA BA BA! He fell asleep on the couch!) I mean, come on – big deal! But, the last year – man, it’s been cool and has flown by. He is constatntly surprising us with his knowledge, imagination and affection.

Harrison is a smart, intense, funny little dude. I am really glad he’s ours.

Listening: Jonsi

ANSWER: A very happy, spoiled-rotten 1 year old.

It was around Christmas when I happened to, offhandedly, mention to Aunt Kylies that what the kid would really like is a board that had all kinds of buttons and switches and beeps and things. Because he had just discovered light switches and was pretty much convinced that they were the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his long and traveled life.

After mentioning it – I forgot it.

Until, Kylie, mom and dad arrived at the airport for H’s birthday with a really big box in tow.

Harrison had to wait until Jeff arrived three days later to open the box that was larger than he. But, finally, it was time. We cooked a beautiful meal for us the birthday boy. And then, let him go at it.

I have said it before and will say it again, the kid is BUSY – which is the politically correct term for SPAZ!!! He never plays with any toy for longer than a few minutes. But, this was different.

He dove right in – which is the norm for this kid – act first, think later.

He inspected every nook and cranny. Every button, switch, key pad and controller. He played with it for about 20 minutes. Unheard of in this kid’s life.

So, here’s the breakdown.

The joystick activates the lights in the middle. A forward thrust lights up the red lights in the silver thing (Jeff told us what that was, but, I wasn’t really listening – sorry!). Sideways movements light up the three red lights on the right and left of the silver thing. The green, yellow and red buttons at the bottom light up lines of color-coordinated lights at the top. The big black controller that H has his hands on in the photo above is an old Pong controller – it doesn’t do anything, but, it’s cool. There are also robot faces that have flashing eyes when you press them. Then, there is the little orange rectangle button. It beeps – no, buzzes – no, more like an alarm, really. Regardless – Harrison is scared to death of it. Yes, it’s sad to see your son scared, however, that jolt of fright comes with an added bonus – my son finds ME no matter who else is around him and buries his gorgeous little face in my belly.

So, thank you Kylie, Jeff and dad for creating this most amazing, one of a kind gift for our little boy. And for making countless other children all over the world envious.

Listening: Jarvis Cocker

Thank you to grandparents-McKirdy for the sandbox-making. To Kylie and Jeff for the multiple errand-running. To great-grandpa for making the long trip out. To grandparents-Blase for gutter-cleaning (an unexpected bonus!). And to all of you for the general good-times-having. We sure are lucky to have all of you in our lives.

But, even when you’re elbow-deep in sawdust and old, leafy-gutter-muck it is important to remember how lucky YOU are to have Harrison in your lives. Just keep that in mind when we drop him off at your house this summer and take off for Vegas.

Listening: Obits

Listening: Elvis Perkins (still listening… it was an EXCELLENT show – and I truly mean it this time!)