Third Birthday!

Matthew is 3! We had a wonderful time celebrating the great event with our neighborhood friends.  All the kids seemed to have a good time with their foam sticker creations, but the piece de resistance was the Thomas the train cake. Matthew has longed for a Thomas cake since he first spotted one at Safeway almost a year ago. Since then, we have duly visited and admired the cake every time we go shopping. He was pleased to have one for his very own and even successfully blew out his candle amid much applause and cheering!  The party was a success, the grownups chatted, the kids played and no one was crying.

So far, three seems to be a fairly intense age. My mother sent me a child development book about boys. The chapter covering 3 to 4 year olds is ominously entitled, "Wild Thing". Great. When I was little, I could never understand why Max in "Where the wild things are" was sent to bed without dinner simply for chasing the dog and telling his mother he wanted to eat her up. These seemed like mild offenses. Now, I understand completely.  The book didn't list all of Max's undoubtedly long list of misdemeanors but they are implied and I have no trouble imagining what they were or his mother's mounting frustration and fury.  The threat of being eaten was simply the final straw. Kaboom!

I think as Matthew gets older, he is more aware of what's going on and has more complicated desires. Fortunately, he is very well able to articulate what he wants and what he is confused about. Where he has trouble is trying to make things work for himself.  He's in a mixed age preschool and we have been thrilled to discover that his favorite classmate is a very proper young lady ~ 1 year older than him. She has apparently been exhorting him to stop sucking his thumb, not to mash his entire sandwich into his mouth at once when eating and not to make U-turns when riding his tricycle - because he might have an accident. We are glad to have Kayla on the case! While it appears Matthew is glad to be instructed he isn't all that keen to actually follow her directions and keeps asking us why Kayla wants him to stop sucking his thumb and be a big boy. For those of you concerned with statistics, he is 40.5 inches tall and weighs 35 lbs. This makes him quite tall and thin for his age, too tall for his car seat in fact.   

I know how it looks, but I am offering him a drink of cream soda, not his first beer.  Even though there was no alcohol of any kind at the party,  Matthew did indeed pass out on the floor afterward. And yes, he does have a bed and we encourage him to sleep in it. He is utterly unwilling use it during quiet time, however. I've gotten him all set for quiet time only to have him lay down immediately by the door with Wormy and get ready to sleep. We have pointed out to him on any number of occasions that if he is tired, he can go lie down his bed.  Ana has even taken to telling him stories about Arturo (Aurthur-the name of his currently favorite train) a fictional boy whose family couldn't afford a bed for him until his mother worked extra hard to buy him one. Unsurprisingly, Arturo's tale of woe and deprivation hasn't inspired Matthew to feel fortunate and use his bed when he's tired. Once satisfied that Arturo did eventually obtain a bed, Matthew happily curls up on the floor. I think he's just excited not to have an enforced nap time any more.  No doubt this ability to crash on the floor will serve him well in college.