On the 14th of May, Kai turned 3 years old. In the weeks leading up to his birthday, he was very adamant that he did not want to be 3. He wanted to stay 2 or be 20 (or 14, depending on the day). He said that if he were 20 he would be like daddy. I love the funny things he says! I was concerned, though, about his lack of enthusiasm.
In the morning, Kai ran into our room (like normal) and we said "Happy Birthday!". And the tears began to flow. He insisted that it was not his birthday. Ok, so we backed off and agreed to not discuss the issue. Then while Kai was eating breakfast, Reid hid out in our bedroom and began blowing up balloons. Papa sat with Kai to eat breakfast and slowly but surely Papa got through to Kai that it would be fun to have a birthday. Kai got down from the table, ran to find Reid, and saw the balloons. At that point, he was ok with having a birthday. Thank goodness!
I took Kai for a bath while Grammy and Reid hung streamers and balloons. Kai was very excited to see all of the decorations. And then we pulled out the presents. Kai was definitely warming up to this birthday thing! We opened a couple of presents and then took a break. We all had lunch and then pulled out the cake for singing. Kai did not want us to sing "Happy Birthday" but rather his favorite song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". It became rather comical as Kai stopped us all mid-way in and insisted that I do a solo. I tried, but ended up in a horrible laughing fit and had to be rescued by Reid. Upon completing our duet, Kai freaked about blowing out the candles. Reid offered to get him a straw (something we used last year to help him concentrate his air and blow out the candles) and he said he wanted one. The second Reid handed him the straw, Kai blew hard (not through the straw, though) and two candles went out! We laughed! It took a bit more effort to get out the third candle, but he did it. Then we sliced the cake and gave Kai a full quarter of it (it was a really little round one) which he devoured. Well, all but the cake. The frosting completely disappeared!
Between opening more presents, playing "Pin the tail on the Donkey", and exploding poppers with Daddy, we loaded up in the car and drove to Kai's favorite toy store--Toy Station. There we let him run around, test drive a plasma car, and pick out another present. We came away with a band-in-a-box type music kit and some free taffy (for his birthday). Once back in the cars, we went to Wendy's. I ordered quickly and then took Finn home to go to bed, while the others ate at the restaurant. Once everyone was back home, Kai opened the remaining gifts and then we quickly shuffled him off to bed. It had been a long and exciting day for him. I think he really did decide that birthdays are ok!
As gifts Kai received a remote control school bus, a digital camera, a music kit, Elmo tickle hands, a kaleidoscope, a Dr. Seuss floor puzzle, hotwheels race car tracks, and a plasma car. He has been in toy heaven!
