Three Years!

Jamie, my happy little jumper, turned three years old on Saturday:

 

He jumps, with chicken wings, ALL THE TIME.

 

He is constant movement, this Tasmanian Devil of a child.  He doesn’t lack focus, but he doesn’t have any downtime in his days, either.  Much like Charles, he is an on-or-off kid.  The difference is that focus.  Charles, at age three, craved our interaction with him, couldn’t be alone, and couldn’t focus on a single task.  About half the time, Jamie is content to ride his tricycle alone or play with his cars solo.  He’ll listen to me read stories for hours or he’ll play with his paints or playdough.  The only thing he won’t focus on is the television (honestly, I’m so glad).

 

He’s such an amazing child.  He stands and sings at the dinner table, dancing with his reflection in the mirrors on the wall.  He makes up stories and scenarios for his toys, he battles dragons with his sword and shield, and he cuddles up just so nicely in the crook of my arm on the couch.

 

So, what sort of birthday celebrations did we have for the incredible child?  We started with a party at school for which I made a Thomas the Tank Engine Rice Krispies Treat Cake:

 

 

First, I sketched an outline of Thomas on parchment paper, then I put on latex gloves and covered them in Crisco, and finally, I shaped the train out of burning hot cereal-and-marshmallow mess.

 

 

Then I frosted Thomas.  Not too shabby, eh?  As I’ve noted before, Rice Krispies Treats cakes are great for little kids because they don’t require forks, there are no allergens, they are infinitely customizable, and they taste delicious.

 

The cake was accompanied by singing and a piñata at school, much to the delight of twenty or so little kids.

 

Charles got to visit from the school-agers class for the party.

 

  

Tony was out of town on Friday, but my parents were there and took good care of all of us.

 

 

And thank God they did; my mom did so much work to keep us all in clean dishes and fed.  She vacuumed for me and she and Loris did ALL of the party prep for Saturday (Tony didn’t get home until 8 am Saturday morning – the first text I had from him was to let me know he made it to Corvallis okay, the second was to check if I was in labor yet).  And my dad?  He read stories until he was hoarse.

 

I’m particularly proud of my party idea for Jamie.  How to keep a jumping kid happy while doing a minimum of work?  Rent a bouncy house.

 

With all the party invitations and party prep, I managed to keep the bouncy house a secret from my children.  We went to Baby Boot Camp on Saturday morning and returned to a fully inflated bouncy house in the back yard.  I don’t think they could have been more shocked.  The only disappointing thing was when they understood that we would not get to keep it forever.

 

Even Grandma Loris got in on some jumping action.  

 

I prayed for the weather to behave and, indeed, we only had a few quick showers.  Perfect jumping weather.  We had a million people come through to give Jamie their best wishes and a lot of kids who went home exhausted.

 

Three years.  I couldn’t love him more.