He’s Three!

For the longest time now, whenever you ask Daniel how old he is, he answers “Eight!”  We assume that’s because he’s always trying to keep up with Nicholas.  It is still hard to believe that he is already three though.  He spent a lot of the day telling us it was his birthday today.  We tried to make it as fun as possible since his family parties are still to come.

Since Daniel is not big on cake we needed to find something for us to be able to put candles in so we could sing to him.  We opted for a big chocolate muffin from one of the local grocery stores.  It had a drizzle of fudge on top.  Unfortunately, when I took it out of the wrapper it kind of fell apart, so it looked a little sad.

I think he found it delicious though because he ate most of it.  

Nicholas ended up with a donut and Evan had a cinnamon roll. 

I opted for cereal.  I knew we were having a big eating day ahead, so I was trying to start out on a lighter note.  However, I did take a few bites of the muffin when he was finished (it is my favorite too).

Then, we opened presents.  We bought Daniel a coloring book that uses water to color the pictures.  Once it dries, he can do it again.  He’s had one before and loves these books (I may or may not have purchased a couple more of them for a future occasion).  We also got him a reusable sticker pad.

Thank you, G.G.!

Nicholas picked out his own gift for him.  He got him a smaller race track to the one Daniel got for Christmas.  We had to put the big one away to get ready to show the house, so this is a nice replacement for now.

Nicholas is trying to read his homemade card to Daniel, but Daniel just wants the present.

Here it is!

 Finally, we brought out Daniel’s big gift from us – a balance bike!  This is a smaller frame bike with no pedals and no training wheels.  The concept is that the child is supposed to learn how to balance, so they can skip the training wheels stage and go right to a two-wheeler.  Daniel already has the hang of it and has been zooming around our kitchen table all day (it is going outside very shortly).

Later in the morning we headed out to a couple of stores.  Evan had to make a return and also needed some new clothes.  I teased him that it felt like his birthday with all the “gifts” he got for himself today.  But, our main purpose was to take Daniel out to lunch.  We chose to eat at a place that had a play area.  Daniel enjoyed his lunch of an applesauce pouch and a chocolate milk.  Even on his birthday, our picky eater only ate what he really wanted.  Although, he did have a few bites of my wrap.

After lunch we headed home for Daniel’s nap.  It was amazing that he actually fell asleep because he knew what was happening after his nap.  Aunt Amy came over and went with us to get ice cream.  Daniel had been talking about it for days that he wanted chocolate ice cream with sprinkles and M&Ms, and that is what he got. 

Presents from Aunt Amy!

The rest of the day we spent at home and let him play with all his new presents.  All in all, I think he had a good day.

Daniel has really changed a lot in the last few months.  He is looking more and more like a little boy and less like a baby.  He can tell you stories.  He is able to do a lot more things by himself.  He is also ornery and a bit of a stinker, but he keeps things interesting.

I am really settling in and enjoying the stage we are in with both of the boys.  They aren't without their challenges, but they are easier and more fun in other ways.  It will be fun to see what age three holds for Daniel this year.