Yay?

Brett's reaction: Yay! Snow!

My reaction: Oh, [the opposite].

New words

Me (to Randy): How does this look?
Brett: Distinguished.

Brett, after I tossed him over my head in the ball pit at gymnastics: Oh! I didn't expect that!

Birthday update

I wrote about the party but haven’t mentioned Brett’s accomplishments now that he’s three. First, the basics: he’s 36 and a half inches tall and probably weighs 32 pounds or so (haven’t weighed him since May, but he doesn’t see a whole lot heavier). He can wear anything from a size two to four, depending on the garment and the make. He wears a toddler size eight shoe.

One of his favourite shows is still Dora the Explorer, and he could probably watch the movie Robots almost every night (although less in the last couple of months). He got Curious George from Baba and Zaida and he’s already watched it twice. Other movies we’ve rented so often that we probably should’ve bought them: A Bug’s Life and Ice Age.

Favourite toys are anything with letters or numbers and any of the dozen or so puzzles he has. When we’re outside, he likes climbing stuff, going down slides, and throwing rocks in the river. He asks to be carried when we go for walks until he finds something interesting to look for: birds, footprints, rocks to throw.

His favourite foods are still watermelon and grapes, which he often eats with a cookie on the side. His favourite restaurants are Smitty’s for the macaroni and cheese or A&W for chicken strips. His fave Tim Bit is chocolate, although he sometimes opts for jam-filled. No coffee though.

On car rides he likes to listen to his ABC song disk or Saturday Morning Cartoon songs.

Brett can count to a hundred with only one or two reminders, and recognizes too many words to count (probably over a hundred): tons of food words, animals, colours, numbers up to 20 (spelled out), Canadian provinces and a few cities (the important ones, like where he knows people). He read this birthday card from Baba and Zaida and only had to ask for help with “deserves” and “simply” (he says he knew “absolute" and "terrific,” but I’m sure he asked for help with them the first time through).

Party time

Brett's having a nap. I think I need one too.

He was so excited about his party that he was up at 6.30. Yes: am. But he had a great time playing with his friends and got covered with green, purple and blue icing from the cupcakes.

(L-R: Jennifer, Page and Brett in the ball pit; Jennifer and Paje help Brett open presents)


(Cupcake cake before, during. No picture of him blowing out the candles because he had them out before we were even done singing.)

Countdown

This picture was taken a few days ago, less than one week before Brett's third birthday. So much to do before then.

The party is on Sunday. We've booked the place (Gymaniacs), ordered the cake (cupcake cake from Safeway; they jam all the cupcakes together on a plate and ice them as if they're one big cake), and bought stuff for loot bags. Tomorrow Brett and I will decorate the loot bags and fill them with goodies. I didn't plan on one for him, since he'll be getting birthday gifts. I do kinda worry that he'll want one, but also hope he'll forget about it as soon as we get home.

We're having four other kids for the party, which I hear is about right for the age. Still, I feel like we should have a few more to fill the space.

He really seems older lately, too. Toilet trained (still wears a pull-up at night, but it's usually dry in the morning), able to express himself fairly clearly in most situations, and will actually change his mind in some situations. Randy pointed out that last one, but now that I think about it, I've noticed it too. For example: his favourite pasta is rotini. If something else appeared in front of him in the past, a screaming fit would ensue. But last week we had spaghetti for a change. Brett said he didn't like spaghetti, but then had a taste when it was in front of him. "I like it! I like spaghetti," he said, and ate the whole bowl.

There are days he can almost as much as a grown-up. For breakfast the other day he had an entire banana, a waffle, and a cup of blueberry juice. A regular cup, not a sippy one. I think I had a banana.

No blueberry juice at the party, just to be safe. Some of the kids are younger than him and might spill. Of course, purple and blue icing on the cupcake cake (Brett's pick, of course) might do as much colourful damage. He might be turning three, but he's not too old to be cleaned with baby wipes.

Oh crap