Birthday Boy!

Eli is now 3 years old! So far the Threes haven't been much easier than the Twos, but there's always naive optimism, right?

He has officially been out of diapers for a couple weeks, which has been going pretty well. He's had a few accidents while sleeping, but usually does ok staying dry during the day.

Unfortunately his bedtime routine has become a nightmare. He used to have the simplest bedtime routine, but now he drags it out with tons of stalling tactics and throws a tantrum when we stop buying his excuses for another drink of water (which doesn't help the overnight dryness any).

I think the neglect is starting to get to him. He's gone from having 2 parents giving him a lot of attention every night up until last spring to just me trying to take care of 2 kids most nights. There's only so long I can play trains on the floor while nursing Lena and trying to make Eli's dinner. He hasn't asked to return Lena yet, so at least he's not directly blaming her for his lack of attention.

Eli was so excited about his birthday. He was talking about cake and blowing out candles for weeks. We had his party at the soft play room again this year, 9 days before his actual birthday. A good time was had by all, and some of the parents had a little too much fun building giant climbing and sliding structures out of the foam blocks for the kids. Having his birthday one week before Christmas makes the influx of presents a little overwhelming, so we let him open one present every night between his party and real birthday so at least those new toys got some special attention before the Christmas craziness starts.

Once I thought I was all done party shopping for Eli's softplay party, Eli's teacher reminded me all the other kids in daycare have had cake and goody bags on their birthdays, so I found myself at Wholefoods for mini cupcakes and Target buying mini playdo's amid all the hoards of last-minute Christmas shoppers. Walking into a classroom of 3 and 4 year olds with a bag of cupcakes and goody bags is like jumping into a shark tank wearing raw steaks.

For his birthday dinner he said he wanted to go to the muffin shop (a cafe/bakery that also serves dinner) so we walked down the street (in the freezing cold) and he had his birthday muffin for dinner while I had a burger and Justin had an Ethiopian dish. A good time was had by all.
Now on to the holiday excitement...