Birthday Pains

Garrett's big 2nd birthday was today and we (meaning Garrett and myself) have had a great day. Parker, on the other hand, has not handled being out of the spotlight very well. Parker was in bed with me bright and early at 6 am and when we heard Garrett making noise around 7:00, I said we should go upstairs and sing him Happy Birthday. Well, that was the first of the water works for the longest day of Parker's young life. He sat at the bottom of the stairs and pouted for 10 minutes and then promptly tried changing the subject of Garrett's big day as soon as we came down.
Garrett isn't getting a big fussy party and tons of gifts this year and I would say poor Garrett but what I really am thinking is poor me. I can hardly stand not spoiling him rotten but when I look around my house and see the baskets and buckets and drawers and closets full of toys and junk, I know presents don't matter. And I know his awesome water pirate table that Grandma and PoPo gave him and Buzz Lightyear 4 wheeler from Uncle Toby and Aunt Katrina are probably way more than any 2 year old needs besides the rest of the fun stuff he will soon get. I just can't resist the face I knew he was going to give us when we asked him, "Are you ready for your surprise?" He lit up and screamed, "Surprise!" over and over. He got trains and a carrying case which goes with his present from Gamma and GDad but I couldn't wait until Saturday... it just seemed too cruel to have those big shiny presents sitting over there for 2 more days.
If only Parker let him play with the new trains he got. We had to put Parker to bed without a book (which is extremely painful as you can imagine) and, 30 minutes later he is still in there talking and probably calling us butt heads (his new favorite word that I can't beat out of him) and yapping about how mean we are and how Garrett wouldn't share his new trains with him.
Any time we try to explain "how things work" to Parker, he blows it way out of proportion lately. If I ask him, "Do you want Garrett to take your new things away and not let you play with them on your birthday, would you like that...?" He breaks down again and says (or screams rather), "Why would you let him do that to me? He is going to ruin my birthday!, He can't take my new birthday toys!" Whoever said boys are less dramatic than girls hasn't met Parker! Good thing Garrett is so easy going and gets over drama quickly.
So, for myself, I sang Garrett Happy Birthday all day long (while Parker was at school) and got to see him shy away and giggle and laugh which made his birthday for me. I know he had fun and he went to sleep saying night-night to Gamma with a big smile on his face. As for Parker...lesson of the day... tomorrow is a new day, we are going to show Garrett how we share so that by his birthday, he will be a big boy and not spoil Parker's day. We'll see how that goes! No school on Friday so we might have another long and painful day of sharing!

Happy Birthday Garrett!!!!