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Family! Friends! Pals! Presents! Party! Cupcakes!
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| How Many Are You? |
The Night before your 3rd birthday, Mimi and Pops came over for dinner. And they had a little present for you. You were pretty pleased, I'd say!
Then, on your birthday itself, we had donuts for breakfast, a 3-year-old birthday photo shoot (which was much shorter than year's past), and you got a present from your Mommy and Daddy: Play-do!
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| You understood the sign! You said "It's a birthday!" |
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| Counting. |
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| Counting more! |
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| Oh! A dog! |
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| I'm done. |
We made worms, we made monkeys, you tried to feed it to the dogs, you loved the way it smelled ("like flowers!" And we had pizza for dinner! It was fun birthday with just the four of us, but not as much crazy fun as we were going to have at your birthday party on Sunday!
Before that, though, you asked me to get out the Big Bass. I couldn't resist. You sat and played and sang to yourself for a good long while.
Then, in a stroke of genius, I took you to Jump Street in the morning to 'tire you out' so you'd have a good nap, so you'd be in a good mood for the party. You have been impressing me more and more at the bounce house! You see, there's a video game called "Pirates of DeadSkullStoneDead" or something like that. The booth is like an actual pirate ship, with cannons and steering wheels, and skeletons and waves. You like to sit in there and watch the demo and pretend to play over and over again. So, we thought this kind of defeated the purpose of going to the bounce house, since we want you to bounce, not sit and watch a demo. But, I finally decided "whatever, as long as he's having fun." Two weeks ago, I took you to the bounce house and brought a book. You bounced for ages and then went to the pirate ship. So, I sat and read and hoped that eventually you'd tire of the video game demo.
And finally, after a long time, you did! And you started bouncing again.
Well, this trip was even better. You bounced for ages, and then went to the pirate ship. You watched it a few times, and then you and I watched it a few times together and pretended to steer the ship. I said "let's have this be the last time and then we'll go bouncing some more." And after the fourth time through the demo, you just hopped out and said 'bounce time' and went back toward the trampolines.
But, here's where you really impressed me. Inside Jump Street, there are a lot of trampolines. You love them. There's also an inflatable bounce house...Candy Land theme...with a giant anthropomorphised tree...which you hate. It scares you to pieces. You refused to set foot in the bounce house ever, because of that tree. You'd go to the entrance and look longingly at the kids playing inside; I'd explained several times that the tree was just a toy...so much that you looked at it and repeat the mantra. "Just a toy, just a toy."
This day, the day of your birthday party, you stood at the entrance longingly. I asked you if you wanted to go in.
"Yes!" you replied.
"Well, go ahead!" I said.
And in you went! You conquered your fear and had the time of your life bouncing in that Candy Land house. You even body slammed the tree. My little boy has grown up so much!
You licked all the fake candy and wrestled a kid named Jude, who maybe didn't want to wrestle. Okay, so we still have some growing up to do, but I'm so proud of you for conquering your fear and bouncing with the candy!
So, off we went to home, and then we napped and then, before you knew it, it was time to go to your birthday party at the Perot Museum. You were so excited!
And the party was a success! You immediately got soaking wet up to your knees, including your shoes, because I had to carry the party stuff in while your Mom, holding Julia, watched you...but couldn't really do anything to stop you. So, you were wet.
Then we went in to the kids museum, where you immediately went to the archaeology pit, where you got sandy and wet. Good combo.
But what's a little sand. Who cares! The party's about the people, not about the state of your pants. That's what I always say. So, who all was there? Well, it was quite an impressive array of friends and family there to help you celebrate your birthday! Mimi, Pops, Yaya, Baba, Sham, Joe, Jeremy, Michelle, BJ, Kari, Iris, David, Amanda, Nathan, Tammy, Bryan, Brian and Beth!
But those are just the adults. The real party animals who came out to celebrate were your friends- new and old- and they were so happy to party with you!
Brady!
Oliver!
Brooks!
Tyler!
Riley! Julia!
Luke!
We had snacks! We had cupcakes! (Made by Mommy, with toppers by Aunt Sham!)
We had party favors!
We had singing!
And when everyone sang Happy Birthday to you, you got a little embarrassed. I mean, for a toddler, every moment is always all about them. But this moment was really all about you, and I think it made you a little shy.
But you soaked it all in, and tried so hard to blow out your candles that you kinda toasted the end of your nose a bit. Don't worry...I helped you blow them out in the end, and your nose was just fine!
But then you got over it. The brown cupcake was okay, I guess.
But after you vocally requested a "Blue one please!" you really dug in.
I think the people singing to you had quite and impact. You spent a decent amount of time recreating your cupcake, by sticking the candles back in and 'lighting' them with icing, and shoving icing back in the hole you had made and just singing 'happy birthday, happy birthday' to yourself over and over again.
And the rest was playtime and chasing and history!
You got some really cool presents from these people too. We opened them later that night.
But, really, it's not the presents that matter. It's the fun had. And, even though your Mom and I were frazzled, I think all the kids, especially you, had a great time at your 3rd Birthday Party. You're such a big boy now, with plenty to grow on. But with friends and family like this, the growing up will be a lot of sandy, wet, cupcakey fun.
Happy Birthday, son. We love you!
