Three!

For what seemed like forever, we talked about Caleb's birthday with him - what party theme he wanted, how old he'd be, etc. One day I asked what he'd like to do on his actual birthday. His response: "I want brownies and cookies and strawberries." He also was very adamant that he didn't want cake for some reason. I agreed to those terms and asked him if there was anywhere special he'd like to go. "Probee Cacker Bare-dul," he suggested. Of all the places he could have chosen, I was a bit shocked to hear Cracker Barrel out of that little mouth, but it was a pretty good choice so I agreed that idea would work too.

A week later or so, he also told me that he'd like to go to "school" on his birthday, meaning his preschool class that he attends while I'm at MOPS every other Friday. Since his birthday landed on one of the Fridays we meet, I thought everything would work out perfectly and we could do all the fun things he'd asked for. On the big day though, my poor birthday boy and his sister both woke up with stuffy noses.

Unable to take him to preschool since I didn't want to spread germs, we just hung out around the house and tried to make our own fun. Since he couldn't do all that he wanted to do, Mommy bent the normal routine a bit and gave him very relaxed TV privileges for the day, allowing him to watch show after show of Richard Scarry's Busytown Mysteries. Sick boys have to find some way to have fun on their birthdays, right?

My dad came by that morning too with something else to make the day special - a new tricycle! Hadley was as excited about this new gift as her brother was and made it a little hard for Caleb to try it out because she kept trying to get her hands on it too.

After a while, I remembered that Caleb's old trike was in the garage and dragged it inside for Hadley to enjoy. She loved it of course, and it was the perfect since. Plus, Caleb finally got a few minutes to ride in peace! He had a little trouble trying to figure out how to maneuver and use the pedals like he wanted, but he was definitely glad to have a new big boy tricycle.

 

Dad also brought by some breakfast from Burger King for all of us. Aside from the one pancake Hadley ate, Caleb polished off the whole platter.

Hadley's first pancake ever

While I originally thought we'd have to cancel all our plans for the day, the kids were doing better by the afternoon, so we decided it was still okay to go to Cracker Barrel after all. NaNa, Aunt Courtney, Brandon, Grandma "Ann," Grandpa Eddie, and Daddy met us at the restaurant too. Caleb really enjoyed himself, and though they didn't have cookies, brownies, or strawberries to offer, the waitress did bring him a free piece of apple pie and ice cream that hit the spot.

Since we didn't have any strawberries in the house, Dave ran to Walmart on the way home to help make another birthday wish come true. I, on the other hand, headed to the house with the kids and started baking a batch of cookies. (The brownies didn't happen until three weeks later but he didn't seem to mind.) Once Hadley was in bed, we let him open a few gifts from us - a life jacket, some water shoes, etc. Then, it was time for him it hit the hay.

Despite being sick, I think he still had a very good third birthday and that's what I wanted.