Two, yes 2! Where did the time go? I swear it zipped by, even with the lack of sleep 😉
Miss Zinnia Delphine tells me constantly that ‘me a big girl now’ and doesn’t know how to shut up. The chatting is non-stop and she has an opinion on everything and most definitely knows how to get what she wants. She was rather excited about turning 2!
It seems like just the other day she was a newborn, giving us her trademark grins from the day she was born…..
In the blink of an eye she was one! The same cute smile in her yellow birthday hat… You don’t realise how quickly they go from baby to toddler. Here is one photo a month starting from her 12 month photo on the left, then Christmas photos at 13 months on the right.
Fourteen, fifteen and sixteen months old and where had the baby gone? Oh yeah she disappeared during Covid lockdown 🙂
Seventeen months at Easter and then Eighteen months as lockdown was easing…… Definitely a toddler now 🙂
Winter was upon us. Nineteen months, jumping in puddles. Twenty months cracking out the Paris red jacket and bear hat from my big sister. Then 21 months picking the first of the Spring flowers!
By 22 months I’m rocking my big girl looks, running everywhere! I snuck in my last flights as an infant with a holiday to the Gold Coast at 23 months. Yay for open borders……
First birthdays are always more for the parents and family than the baby, but by 2 toddlers know what birthdays are all about! Zinnia had been excited for weeks about ‘me birthday’ and had been asking for cake and balloons. Simple requests compared to her older siblings this year 😉 I’m sure she’ll come up with something complicated before too much longer……
Waking up two is very exciting (well not quite 2 as she was born in the afternoon, and her big sister is all about the technicalities) but it was definitely her birthday……
…….. and presents awaited! There was no doubt about what to do with presents this year. Despite being only 13 months last Christmas, she’d had plenty of practice since then with older siblings birthdays 🙂
Books, new PJs, playdough kits, bubble machines, balls and a walking llama, she was one happy girl!
If the excitement of presents wasn’t enough then there was the traditional special breakfast. Zinnia’s request – pancakes with banana, cream and blueberries (frozen of course)!
Unfortunately when you are the youngest sibling and your birthday is on a Friday you get to spend the entire day working around your older siblings schedules. We did manage a sneaky coffee date after school drop off though and a little time playing with our new toys before the onslaught of afternoon dance classes and swim meets!
Of course Mum had to crack out the camera for the official birthday photos too! At first I had to contend with sad faces because I wouldn’t let her play in water until after I had taken photos. She has since perfected the 2 year old tantrum 😉
Soon we were back to happy smiley Zinnia. Lover of her flowers and dancing. Despite getting dragged to every activity for her siblings, she doesn’t complain and loves to dance!
She definitely loves to be in the garden too. Smelling all the flowers, although her zinnia and delphinium flowers usually bloom a little after her actual birthday.
Very much a toddler now, but with the same bright blue eyes and cheeky grin!
While Zinnia had a very hectic actual birthday she did not complain one bit about having to spend her afternoon at Astrid and Soren’s ballroom dancing class followed by watching Astrid swim at a club night. She did of course insist on getting to swim herself and requested ‘noodles and spring rolls’ for dinner. So Friday night takeaway Thai it was!
We got a little more time for celebrating the big occasion the following day. A friend’s 5th birthday party at the Reptile Zoo was the lead-in event, followed by a festival of Zinnia in the afternoon. Zinnia had been requesting her own special birthday balloons, and of course Granny delivered! Balloon happiness 🙂
There was no big party for Miss Z this year, as she’d had a first birthday extravaganza, but we still needed to mark the occasion. Family and a few close friends made it over for a birthday BBQ. Complete with more presents and lots of yummy food. Including a selection of Zinnia’s favourite food – cheese! She is quite the cheese connoisseur.
No birthday is complete without cake. Aside from balloons, Zinnia’s only request for her birthday was cake. It took awhile for her to decide what sort of cake she’d like. It was a teddy cake for awhile then a bunny cake (mostly due to her love of her teddy and bunny she sleeps with). Soren was trying to sell her on the virtues of a ‘franken-bunny-teddy’ cake, and Michelle trying to put in bids for a puppy cake but Mum put a stop to all that.
So we settled on a bunny cake, and went old school, inspired by the Woman’s Weekly birthday cake book of my childhood. One bunny cake. Caramel mud cake as per Zinnia’s request with fluffy marshmallow frosting.
Miss bunny was pretty cute and we toasted her marshmallow ‘frosting fur’ for extra fun!
Zinnia was delighted with her bunny and blew out her candles and sparklers with intense concentration and joy!
That caramel mud cake with fluffy marshmallow frosting tasted pretty good too. Definitely Zinnia approved!!!!
I can’t believe it’s 2 years since the ferocious little ball of cute came barrelling out, screaming like a banshee and showing the spunk and attitude of her older siblings. Not much has changed. Zinnia Delphine is ruler of the household, mistress of mischief and Queen of cute.
Way too chatty and smart for her own good, she is 100% toddler now. She loves her big brother and sister, food, swimming, riding, food, her alpacas, walks with mum, her grandparents, food, her coffee dates, cooking, books, and did I mention food?
Her birthday was a whirlwind, kind of like her actual birth day – but it was spent doing what she loves eating, coffee dates, walks, dancing class and a swim meet and some more food! She definitely brings endless joy and smiles to all she meets.
Happy 2nd birthday Zinnia 