Wyatt has a book called “How Many Sleeps?” about a young mouse that keeps track of how many sleeps there are until his next birthday. Somehow we started down this path with Wyatt a few days before his actual birthday, this got old very quickly. For the past week, every morning he would call my name and as I peaked into his room he would ask “Is my birthday here yet?”, then when I answered “Not yet honey” he would get out of bed crestfallen. In an effort to speed things up, he cleverly decided that naps should be included in his sum total of sleeps and he started asking the dreaded question after waking from his naps “Is my birthday here yet?”. Then this morning, he called out. I was excited to tell him his birthday was here. “Mommy, is my birthday here yet?” he asked, with his head still on the pillow. “Yes honey it is.” “Yeah” he said, “Can I have my birthday cake now?”…I just can’t win!
About a week ago, I asked him what kind of toys he wanted for his birthday. He answered that he did not want toys for his birthday, instead, all he wanted was some vanilla-chocolate birthday cake and his friends over for a party. I was thrilled. Maybe we had raised him right after all…maybe despite the plethora of cars and toys we had purchased for him over the years, we had managed to instill in him the value of friendship and family. Then two days ago he seemed upset. He touched my arm and said “For my birthday I want some birthday cake, my friends over for a party and some toys, Mommy. I want some Hot Wheels and 2 monster trucks and a monster truck for Maddy and one for Cooper.” Oh well, at least he wants to share.
His presents were set up on the table in his playroom and I managed to get a snuggle with him on the couch before he noticed them. I allowed him to open his monster trucks first (before Jeff came down from his shower) and he was quite pleased. Then, he patiently waited for his dad to come down before opening his other treasures. The Hot Wheels were acknowledged, the craft kit containing stamps (of facial features with different expressions) and ink pads was dismissed and then came the Lightning McQueen Figure 8 track (from Grandma and Grandad). We had wrapped it before reading if it needed batteries (then looked it up on the internet where it said that it did NOT require any). Wyatt eagerly unwrapped this present and we were all very excited until we realised that it did need batteries (of which we had none). He was GREAT in the face of disappointment – helped by the fact that we pulled out the “piece de resistance” which we had agreed to withhold until Grammy and Grampy arrived this Saturday – a tricycle.
We were nervous he would not like it as he never gravitated towards the beautiful trike Jeff’s dad gave him…preferring ride-on toys he could push. But we lucked in and he was very proud of his BIG BOY BIKE and he learned to pedal quite efficiently in less than 5 minutes.Then I stressed over last minute preparations until his friends arrived. Zak made a few trips to the grocery store over the course of the morning, for batteries, more batteries and then some flour for the pizza dough I had planned to make.
Kerri arrived with a WONDERFUL car themed cake – an intersection with cars made of “fondant” driving on the left side of the road.
Much better than anything I could have come up with. Loic gave Wyatt a remote control car and Lisa arrived with Declan who was very excited to give Wyatt a copy of his favorite toy – a remote control demonic looking teardrop riding a skateboard. Wyatt loves this toy but it took Cooper and Maddy the full day to get over their fear. We also gave Wyatt this Winnie the Pooh game, it shoots leaves/butterflies out the top of a long plastic tube and the kids have to catch as many as they can in their nets. The game is a hit with the kids but parents be warned - the fun lasts approximately 20 seconds and then needs to be reset. Not a great payout.
It was amazing that we had 3 kids around 3 years of age, the twins coming in at 19 months and Tea and Shawn just over a year old and no fights broke out for over 3 hours!!! A proud moment for all of us moms. After Loic, Tea and Kerri left, Wyatt went out front to say good bye and the boys started splashing in the birdbath. Next thing I know, all 5 kids are running around the front yard at least topless. We teased Zak about how Wyatt was much luckier than he was to have a topless birthday party but then we realized most of his guests were male so I don’t think Zak was too jealous in the end.
Jeff and I also bought Wyatt a 10ft. round trampoline that arrived while he was napping. His biggest meltdown of the day occurred when he realised that I could not put the trampoline together in 2 minutes and that he was going to have to wait for Dad to come home to set up that present. A quick ride to the park on his new bike got his mind off of the trampoline (until the bike pedal kept falling off…you get what you pay for) and we enjoyed his favorite dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Jeff has his work cut out for him as Wyatt expects him to assemble the trampoline in record time, in the dark, with no tools. Wish him luck!Just before going up to bed Wyatt looked at me with the sweetest look he could muster and asked “Mommy, can I have another birthday?”. I guess you could say the day was a success and the transition from being 2 to being 3 has been a pleasant one.
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