Though there are millions of bright shiny exciting toys and gadgets out there, I knew that there was one thing I could give T1 that would mean more to him than anything else:

time

So chose a day when That Husband had only a few school responsibilities and declared it “T1 Day”. No housework or computer time for mom, this was a day of following T1 around and giving him all the attention his little heart could possible desire.The plan included a cake of strawberries, present opening, and family time at the park. I have no doubt that T1 forgot the day happened the moment we put him to bed that night, but it set a lovely precedent for a gift I’d like to give each child for their birth anniversary each year.

We started with breakfast.

T1 makes this hilarious half-constipated face whenever he gets really excited about something.

A big pile of presents waits expectantly in the background!

After my run and his first nap we went on a walking adventure downstairs to get some heavy cream for his cake. I’m normally hyper vigilant about him making handprints on the glass (as I had a job once where I had to clean fingerprints off of glass) but some other kid had already been there and done some damage so I let him go to town on his special day.

We met another little friend wandering the halls along the way.

I took the strawberries I had cut up earlier and layered them in the shape of a 1 with some whipped cream on top. Now you see why That Wife isn’t a craft blog. :)

I’m pretty passionate about the topic of kids and sugar, and though I did sweeten the whipped cream I didn’t want to set a sugar bomb in front of my baby when he doesn’t show any indication that he appreciates it otherwise. There will be plenty of years for that, but I plan to make this a tradition for each of our kids on their first birthday.

We set up the webcam so my family could watch the present opening and strawberry devouring.

I have years of experience “helping” my little sister rip open her gifts at Christmas and birthdays, so I dove right in with no problems.

Finally, it was time for dessert!

I have a video of the beginning moments of the strawberry dive that I’ll put together later. He certainly enjoyed himself!

We had to take the tray away before he flipped the whole thing upside down on the carpet. There were a few untouched portions and so TH and I dove in with our fingers and polished them off.

After a bath and a change of clothes, we headed to the park!

Love love love this! My boys.

After he ate a few handfuls of sand, T1 was done and so we headed hiome.

I wanted to get some pictures of all of us on this special little day, so we found a nice patch of light next to the park.

Whenever I ask TH to take my picture I have him take a few, then I look at the back of the camera to see how close it is to what I was thinking. After I saw this I asked him to come a few steps closer.

I adore these pictures of me and my baby!

I think his forehead was itchy with sand, and so he leaned in and scratched his forehead on my cheek. It was so sweet!

We spotted a nice looking Asian couple and asked them to take a shot of the three of us together. He took three, one was out of focus, one had T1 closing his eyes, and the other was perfect. :)

We came home and watched T1′s favorite show…

Jon Stewart.

Ha! Something about the intro gets him really excited.

I loved this day. After dinner T1 and I walked the halls some more until I wore him down and he was ready for bed.

T1 we love you and we’re going to have a fabulous time together on your second birthday!

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