Celebrating Caleb's 3rd Birthday

Those of you who know Caleb will understand how important and exciting July 21st is at our house. Caleb absolutely LOVES birthdays. He sings Happy Birthday to anyone and everyone all year long-- at birthday parties, while we're driving in the car he'll create a birthday medley for everyone he knows, he'll sing to people he doesn't know, to his stuffed animals... it's a big deal. I woke up that morning to find Caleb staring at me... waiting for me to wake up-- "It's time to start my birthday Mommy".

First activity of the day-- Caleb and I went out for a birthday breakfast. When I was a little girl, my Dad would often take me out for breakfast on my birthday. Since breakfast is Caleb's favorite meal of the day, I figured we should carry on the tradition. So off to ABC we went!

Caleb's birthday smile...

Beginning to get impatient... come on Mom! It's time to get going!!

Finally... chocolate milk. It always saves the day.

Instead of colouring with the crayons... Caleb does something much more fun. Peeling the paper off of the crayons. It keeps him quiet and entertained for quite a long time as we wait for our food at restaurants. I fully support this activity :)

My breakfast is finally here! When I asked Caleb what he wanted to eat for breakfast, he said "Bacon". When I asked what else he wanted to eat... "Sausage". Am I surprised? Nope. If you read this post from last week you wouldn't be either. Caleb happily dug into his breakfast and enjoyed his processed meat.

Next stop-- shopping. Caleb needed to pick up a few little treat bag gifts for the kids attending his party, so we stopped by a dollar store. Not a easy task. Taking small children to dollar stores is quite stressful. There were way too things at Caleb's level that could be pulled off the shelf and then discarded on the floor. As I struggled to bend over and pick up the discarded items (not an easy task at the moment), Caleb was already running around the corner to start on the next aisle. We survived... the store survived... and we managed to make our purchases.

Caleb stopped by his favorite ride... the train. As we pulled into the parking lot of this particular shopping centre he made sure to remind me, "Don't forget your money Mommy... the train's in there."

After a little stop at the pet store (no pets were purchased-- just observed) we headed home for naps :) When Caleb awoke, it was time to hit the pool!!!

We spend many summer afternoons in our backyard pool. I'm loving the pool these days because it gives me a chance to cool off, and for hour each day... you don't feel pregnant as you float in the water! Caleb also loves the pool. After a liberal application of sunscream (aka sunscreen) he will happily swim the afternoon away until his "cheeks start chattering". Caleb always wants to play pretend games in the pool-- "I'll be a shark and you can be the alligator Mommy." or "I'll be the alligator and you can be the duck Mommy." Lately I've suggested that maybe I should be the whale. So now Caleb pretends to be a baby humpback whale who is lost searching for his Mommy (inspired by an episode of the Diego cartoon).

There are no pictures of me in the pool "pretending" to be a whale-- nor will there ever be.

Here's Caleb and Daddy enjoying the pool during the party.

Caleb and his buddy Isaiah floating in their "boats".

And finally the guests have all arrived... time for dinner! Caleb and Isaiah had their own kids table (as the one other child at at the party was only 3 months old... much too young to sit with the boys!)

Blowing out the candles! After many attempts, Mommy stepped in the help out.

Time to open presents! Caleb was quite spoiled this year-- he received lots of gifts a three year old boy would love-- puzzles, lego, a track for his cars, games... many things that will keep him occupied in the next few weeks!

All in all it was a fun filled day for our family! Caleb had a great birthday, and since the party I have enjoyed many quiet mornings as he is quite enthralled with all of his new toys and games.

One more thing... as I put this post together I noticed something quite remarkable. Caleb is wearing the same shirt in every picture-- can't remember the last time a shirt has survived the entire day on that kid. Maybe a sign of new 3 year old maturity?

We'll see :)