April 5, 2007
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Last weekend, James’ parents hosted a family reunion at our house. Almost 30 people came, and James’ mom made a spaghetti dinner. His parents also made a poster board of the family tree, and a few guests brought photo albums to share.
It was great that our backyard was done! And finally, we’re getting more use out of our play structure. We also brought out ride-on toys and the boys loved chasing each other and ‘crashing’ into the grass! Zachary was super fast on his trike since he practices daily at school.
The next day, we celebrated Zachary’s 3rd birthday at Kidspark (his actual birthday isn’t until April 6th). Since it was Palm Sunday, quite a few people weren’t able to make it, but we still had a decent crowd. It was great to see some of my HP friends that I haven’t seen in a while! It was really, really nice that it was held at a venue (not our house) and they did all the cleanup.
We had the entire place to ourselves for ~2 hours. The instructors led a few activities (face painting, bubbles, art) and kept the party on schedule. Most of the time, it was free play – so kids had their choice of sports, dress up, puzzles, and even jumping in a bounce house.
This was the first time Zachary blew out a candle for his birthday. I wasn’t sure if he knew how (since he didn’t for his 2nd birthday) so we had some practice rounds the morning of the party. It was also the first time he understood the concept of a birthday. This was the conversation we had. (The slight lie was that I pretended the day of his party was his actual birthday. I thought it was too complicated to explain that we’re holding his birthday party on an earlier, more convenient date. Since it was April Fool’s Day, I figured it was okay.)
Me: Zachary, you’re going to be 3!
Zachary: I’m not 3. I’m 2.
Me: But you will be 3 today!
Zachary: I’m 3 in April
Me: Today is April!
Zachary: Today is April. <pause … smile> I’m 3!
And the best part is that now he calls himself a “big kid.” The next step in my master plan is to convince him big kids use the potty.
Despite his ability to blow out candles and his in-depth understanding of the aging process, Zachary still doesn’t quite get the concept of ripping through a mountain of presents (is he really an American?) He wants to play with one gift at a time… so we’re having him select presents to open at a rate of 1-2 per week. In fact, today, his choice was to just open a card. Thank you to all those who came and helped celebrate Zachary’s 3rd birthday! (And sorry if the thank you cards are going to be a bit late.)
Comments (6)
The candle blowing before shot screams “performance anxiety”.
omg he’s so adorable. it’s amazing the things we need to teach kids and how quickly they pick it up!
happy 3rd birthday to zachary (tomorrow)…
One of my talents is cake decoration analysis. The person who wrote “Happy Birthday” is creatively gifted, while the person who wrote ”Zachary” is pragmatic and level-headed.
Happy happy birthday Zachary! Can’t believe he’s already 3 years old!
Duke and I are headed to Mexico in May, but we are stopping over in LA for a few days to go to Disneyland – if you guys have time, it would be great fun to have you meet us down there! We’ll be landing from Singapore into LA on May 5th (Saturday) then heading to Cabo on May 8th, Tuesday. Would love to see you guys and re-introduce our boys again – they would probably play great together!
Again, happy birthday to Zachary – the big boy!
Hi! Just stopping by! Wow you guys have such active lives! Looks like fun!