When Abby’s grandmother’s health took a turn for the worse, the three of us hopped on the next flight back to Ohio. Sawyer and I went to Columbus for two quick days to see my family while Abby and her mother attended to things back in Bath. Sawyer dove right in to his toys like he never left.
Pepa T and Uncle Kevin survey the scene:
Mema T is enthralled with Sawyer (he does that to me too):
Everyone is working on their own tower:
Sawyer and Mema combine their efforts:
He plans his next move:
Ah ha, Aunt Sarah!
Simon!
Aunt Sarah helps Sawyer organize all of the red pieces:
Sawyer knows just what to do with them:
Yep, pick up as many as he can hold:
Such concentration:
I never feel like I get enough pictures when we come home. Thanks again for having us, Mom and Dad. You always make it so much fun for him and even somewhat relaxing for me!
It’s unbelievably lame that I’m still posting pictures from Christmas, and I have ten more pages of pictures on flickr to go through before catching up. And it isn’t like nothing new is happening here, Sawyer continues to grow, gain confidence with jumping and flipping all around, and get even better at communicating. It’s such a joy to watch.
Meanwhile, way back in December, Sawyer opened some more presents when my Mom’s family came to visit. While none of these gifts are from Aunt Sarah, she was right them with him to help out:
Meanwhile, Uncle Kevin kept my cousin Jill’s kids entertained:
Such good concentration:
And so curious about everything:
Very happy with his new tractor and tractor book, but always on the lookout for more things with wheels:
Mama and Sawyer “up there”:
I love this picture:
Such good memories for me, and I know Sawyer will smile and say “Aunt Sair-rah” when I show him in the morning.
Almost immediately upon our arrival at Mema and Pepa T.’s house, it was time for us to celebrate Sawyer’s belated birthday. Sawyer got so many amazing new toys, and he definitely gets “Presents”!
Opening gifts is really hard work which takes a lot of determination.
Uncle Kevin gets this one started.
Aunt Sarah helps.
After this box, Sawyer wondered why every other present didn’t have cars inside.
Birthday hat!
The new line-up with some of Scott and Kevin’s old favorites, and Sawyer’s new cars.
Playing cars with Pepa T.
Sit ‘n Spin is slightly difficult to turn when he won’t put down the car.
Thank you to Mema, Pepa, Sarah, and Kevin for the amazing gifts. Your thank you cards, personally “stamped” by Sawyer, are in the mail.
Get ready for cute overload.
He woke up to find three birthday balloons:
His favorite was the one with Dora, Boots, and Diego playing soccer:
Stamps!
A choo-choo train and bing-bing-bing crossing:
Patiently waiting for his next present:
And moving way too slow at the unwrapping:
Fire cuck!
Back to the stamps:
Here you go, Momma:
Very happy:
Wee-ohh, wee-ohh, wee-ohh:
Studying everything new:
Making his move:
Gotcha:
You stand here:
Wee-ohh again:
Talking to Uncle Kevin while he plays:
Oh, I see how this works:
Anything else in here?
Nope:
No, really. There’s nothing in there, Sawyer:
I’m gonna make this next (really, he’s going to convince me to do it for him):
Abby put his garage together while he napped:
Later in the day, we skyped with our parents to sing happy birthday to him:
Wearing his #2 shirt from Mema and Pepa T and playing with his new cars from Mema and Pepa D:
Note sure about the candle:
More interested in the cars:
So serious, Sawyer:
Candle, again:
Looking to Momma for guidance:
So sweet:
It took him a couple of minutes to fully comprehend the awesomeness of his new garage (it really is amazing, Abby did a phenomenal job of discovering it and then finding one to buy):
But he took to the cars right away:
Skyping:
Here’s one very happy two year old:
He played with his new garage for a solid hour while we skyped with my brother and sister. He was so focused on his new cars and garage that he barely paid any attention to the rest of us. It was nearly impossible to get him away from it and into the shower. He finally fell asleep at 10pm. I’d say he had a very good day.
Thanks again to each of our families for helping us celebrate his second birthday, I can’t wait to see you again this weekend!
MeMa and PePa Truitt, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Kevin (cousins Laney and Simon too) were so inspired by Sawyer’s counting lemons video that they made him one of their own:
I played it for him before his nap, but he was much too tired to pay attention. Four hours later, and after a big pasta dinner, he and I watched it ten times in a row! Each time it ended, he said, “again.”
I can’t wait to see him with you. Just over three weeks to go!
Sarah and Kevin wisely decided to buy Sawyer a gift instead of one for me on my birthday. I couldn’t be happier, and given the fact that Sawyer played with his new animal choo choo train pretty much non-stop, I think it’s safe to say he’s thrilled too:
It’s hard to imagine how they continue to top their previous gifts. They’re responsible for the cars that he still plays with, the digger fork and spoon that he uses all the time, and the green grasshopper that gave him so many hours of fun.
Thank you for being so thoughtful, Sarah and Kevin!
Abby made tacos for the three of us on Thursday night. Sawyer absolutely loved them, refried black beans and all (me too, minus the beans). I also love that he blinks every time he crunches into a taco shell:
After dinner and an epic photo session in his new monkey undies, Sawyer played with his cars (thanks, Sarah and Kevin for the best cars ever). Toward the end, you’ll see a bit more of his fascination with his brightly colored drawers:
Note the blankets on the chair behind him, it’s finally “winter” in San Francisco. Our new neighborhood is much cooler than our old one and our windows are draftier too. I can’t wait until things warm back up in September!
Scott is always trying to get Sawyer to climb trees.
Kevin is the tree climbing champ in the family. In a suit, no less.
Is Sawyer upset he isn’t still up in the tree?
One of the biggest reasons Kevin visited, aside from seeing the three of us and spending time in San Francisco, was to see a band called Animal Collective in concert, not once but twice. The second time was in Big Sur in front of just 300 people, which made it doubly special.
Kevin, Abby, Sawyer, and I packed up on Wednesday afternoon and made the two hour drive down to Monterrey, had dinner, then hopped back in the car for another 45 minute drive down the coast to Big Sur. The event was held at the tiny Henry Miller Library, and the setting couldn’t have been better: beautiful old trees completely surrounded the grounds and everything was covered in the densest fog:
Sawyer wasted little time exploring every inch of it:
Chasing after him was a full-time job:
Catching him was the best part:
Who can find Abby and Sawyer? Click the image to see it bigger on flickr:
Sawyer walked into this rope about 25 times, including once where it pretty much tossed him back where he started, to our great delight:
I wish this were in better focus, I love Abby’s expression:
This one too:
Sawyer loved the old piano in the library:
But mostly just wanted a drink of Kevin’s wine:
Kevin takes in the scene:
As do Sawyer and I:
Here’s a quick video of the grounds, crowd, and fog before the show:
And how Sawyer spent most of time climbing up and down that log in the middle of the path:
Sawyer did well until the music came on, but by that time he was exhausted and clearly ready for bed. Unfortunately Abby bore the brunt of it, and missed the last half of the show sitting in the car with him, in total darkness no less. It was a risk to take him, and I doubt he’ll remember anything about it, but I do and always will have wonderful memories of his first concert.
I realize I say it every time, but this really might be the funniest video of Sawyer to date. Look at the way he plays with my brother Kevin, his reaction to the crowd’s roar, his dancing and clapping, and so much more:
Sawyer didn’t last long after this video was taken, it was hot and he was very tired from all of the excitement. Abby took him home and he promptly went right to sleep.