On October 12th, our baby turned three. It was a very emotional day for me -- I just couldn't believe somehow that he was actually THREE! We celebrated with fancy grilled sausages, Mo's homemade peach pie (best one I ever had) and many presents including a wooden train set and wooden semi from Rosemary. Louis really enjoyed his presents this year.
Louis -- though this is not a great example -- continues to talk more and more. He says some really funny and surprising things, like requesting a "camel ride" from Nana or pretending to be a baby cheetah. Less funny are phrases such as, "You need a beating," or "I'm gonna kill you." Where he gets these ones, I cannot begin to guess.
Louis is now even -- partially -- potty trained. Or fully potty trained, if it counts when you don't wear pants. He has zero accidents at home when he goes naked or pantsless, very few in public wearing pants, and many at home when he is wearing pants. Go figure. We're at month two working on this, I do think we're making progress. We don't do diapers at all during the day any more and that step was one I only took maybe three weeks ago, max.
Fast forward a few weeks, and we -- a bit on a whim -- decided to answer an email to our neighborhood listserve asking if anyone was interested in adopting a 6-year old mini-schnauzer named Sophie. Her owners were retiring and wanted to travel, and felt they couldn't take care of her any more. They wanted her to go to a home with a fenced yard and children. So we decided to "house sit" for her to test her out. Turns out a) a dog is a really great thing to divert Rosemary's extreme bossiness, b) this is the LEAST demanding dog in the world. She doesn't bark, beg, bite, ANYTHING. I didn't know such a dog could exist. Louis was scared of her at first but now seems to be OK with her and even walked her today. She is also really cute and sleeps at the foot of Rosemary's bed. So, we decided to take the plunge! We had been talking about ducks for months now but seriously, you really can't beat a dog's love. We were ready.
Last Saturday, I think we pulled off our most elaborate birthday party to date.
We had eight unique stations, designed by James and built by him and my father out of all the scrap wood we have from our vegetable garden, and dreamed up (partially at least) by ME (and Kyle).
Our drilling station:
Our giant erector set built from PVC pipes and joints:
Giant bucket on a rope and pulley station:
Sawing station (that's two plastic saws and a giant board of flower-arrangement styrofoam -- this was Summer's great idea):
The hex-wrench and giant bolt station:
And the old classic (which turned out to be the favorite), the POUNDING station, with three different types of hammers:
All the primary stations together:
Finally, we had a station with three giant mortar and pestles, where kids could grind pieces of sidewalk chalk, and use it to paint on this white sheet. This, I thought, was pretty fun and you almost could have had an entire party with just this concept. Nani had a first go before the party:
For party favors, each kid got a canvas tool belt, safety goggles, a measuring tape or two (kids LOVE measuring tapes -- we've gone through I'd say 20-30 at our house in the last 2 years, easily), and a small c-clamp.
The food was of course... James's wonderful pulled pork and BBQ sauce, cilantro lime coleslaw, fruit salad, and hot dogs for the kids.
Louis unfortunately had a cold/allergies over the weekend and couldn't quite make it all the way through the party's extreme excitement -- James had to take him in for a nap/lie-down before the party was over.
All the kids loved sawing the styrofoam -- I think because it was easy to do (the hex wrench and drills were too hard for the two year olds, but Rosemary and her friends figured them out -- and of course, Louis)
Paul and Maureen made a nice fire in the new fire pit.
My LBJ professor, Paul, trying out a hand drill
Little Sarah, who is only three and figured out ALL the stations
Ridiculously silly girls. Fortunately Rosemary and Esme seem to have turned a corner and there was NO drama at the party. Instead, Rosemary was super-helpful and sweet all weekend and didn't seem the least jealous of the attention and presents Louis got on his birthday! I don't remember a single meltdown all weekend -- it was really nice.
Maureen and I made the cake the night before. We thought it was going to be UGLY but fortunately we had enough awesome chocolate tools to decorate it with, and people were very impressed by the final product. It was good, too!
Louis is hilarious. Here he is sporting his new "Uncle Dev" style toolbelt. Dev made it from an extra-large dog collar and tool pouches from Harbor Freight. He's worn it to school already several times, and over his fire uniform, just for good measure.
The kids worked on the bucket continuously throughout the party.
Wilder at work on the saw
