Grant turned 3 on 2/18/12. Thank you to everyone who helped him celebrate. Each time he got a card in the mail he was so excited and felt very special! Got got two special days to celebrate his birthday. On the 18th my family came over to celebrate with a little family party. A few weeks ago the boys discovered Power Rangers on Netflix and have fallen in love with it. So, Grant requested a Power Rangers party. Why do my kids keep requesting parties from characters long ago? I had no idea what I was going to do about decorations. Luckily, when we went to the store to pick them out Grant saw Star Wars stuff and decided that's how he wanted to decorate. Then he picked out Cars themed wrapping paper. For the cake though, it was still Power Rangers. Lucky for me Google Images was stockpiled with power rangers photos.
Here are G and I making his cake together:
Initially it was hard for me to "let go" and have G help me make the cake. I always want things to be as perfect as they can. But I knew that "helping" me is G's favorite thing to do and it was his birthday after all. So when I saw all the cake crumbs being picked up by the spatula and mixing in the frosting I took a deep breath and told myself that time spent with our children is infinitely more important than cake perfection. I'm glad that I did. We had a really good time together and G felt very grown up. The finished product:
He loved everything!
G got a spider-man baseball and bat for his birthday. He is great at hitting and throwing! So far we have been pretty impressed by his sports abilities. Both he and S want to do T-ball this spring.
The Friday after G turned 3 he had his first friend party ever. He invited his best buds: Gordon, Austin, Kelton, and Kaleb. These are all the boys he hangs out with during the week .
G with his homemade Power Rangers pinata. I'm really digging this whole homemade pinata thing. They are way cheaper and super fun to do. And the kids always feel cool to have one made "just for them"
G was the best pinata whacker at the party
Candy Candy CANDY!!!!
"nom, nom, nom, this candy is good"
G definitely understands about presents now and he felt super special that all of these were for him. Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you!
Grant at 3:
Height - 35 1/2 inches
Weight - 26lbs
Favorites -
ACTIVITES: G loves anything that his older brother Samuel does - they do a lot of wrestling, sword fighting, "karate", gun fighting. He also loves:
Jumping on the trampoline, cuddling Gracie the cat, riding bikes (especially in the school or church parking lot), playing "you are a robot" with mom, playing hotwheels and trains, playing baseball in the backyard, going to the "tree" park and the "un-tree" park, going to the YMCA to play with his little friends each day, grocery shopping with mom at HEB and getting a racecar cart - he likes it so much because he gets to put a quarter in the Brach's candy box and pick out 3 pieces of candy, playing the HE-Buddy buck game, every week spending a day with his friend Gordon and getting to ride in his mom's car with him (he always says "I go with Ms. Kethy today?" and he has such a proud look on his face as he rides away and I'm not with his in the van), washing the car with dad, taking baths
BOOKS:
any of the Clifford the Big Red Dog books, Where the Wild Things Are, any of the Franklin books, Put Me In the Zoo, and HotWheels Dino Racing
TOYS:
hot wheels, trains, trampoline, baseball and bats, i-pod for music at night, golf set, and play-doh
SHOWS:
Power Rangers!, Thomas and the Misty Island Rescue, Richard Scary's Busytown Mysteries, Phineas and Ferb, Cars and Cars 2, and Bob the Builder
FOOD:
in the past year G has finally increased his diet to include a lot more healthy foods! (not that they are listed here though...) His favs are chicken strips, chocolate milk, bananas, Fiber One granola bars, organic cinnamon toast crunch in a ziploc, juice boxes, breyers yogurt with oreo or m&m mix-ins, cheese pizza, Cheez-its, pancakes, cheese sticks, chips, and lollipops
PLACES:
Chuck-e-cheese, the Bowling Alley, Barnes and Noble, Gordon's house, Chick-fil-A, Grammy's house, and the pool
Dislikes:
taking naps, not being the "winner", not getting the black i-pod at night (him and S have 2 hand-me-down i-pods and they switch each night between the silver one and the black one. The black one is way better), not being able to ride in a big boy booster seat yet, having to eat all of his dinner especially his vegetables,
***Special Things About Grant:
Grant has grown by leaps and bounds with his speech this year. He began speech therapy after he turned two with a great speech therapist. Her name was Ms. Debbie and she came to our house each Tuesday for an hour. He loved playing with her and he would always make her special things. When he turned 3 he no longer qualified for the program. When he turned 2 he had around a 12 word vocabulary and now it is huge! Debbie said that he would have come along in his speech anyway, however, it was nice to have the therapy and have a plan of what to work on each week. Besides he loved having Ms. Debbie to play with. He asks for her all the time now and it's so sad to have to keep telling him that she won't be back. Anyway, he says lots of things now and it's really fun to have real conversations with him now. Thank you Ms. Debbie for being a big part of our family's like this past year!
G still follows his brother S around and does exactly what he does. It's sweet to watch that big brother-ly love grow.
When the kids are gone at school all day G gets a lot of cuddle time with Gracie the cat. She'll be sleeping somewhere and he'll come and lay down next to her and pet her and coo at her in his high little 3 year old voice.
Grant wants to keep up with his big brother and sister more than anything. He has no fear. He will jump from high heights, climb tall things, go under the water, whatever it is that L and S are doing, you better believe that G will be trying it too!
G is very into his hair. Almost every day he asks for "piky hair" (that's spiky hair). Tim or I do it up with gel and hairspray. Throughout the day he'll all of a sudden stop and ask "my piky hair mess up?" and we have to say no, it looks good Grant. But he'll still go check it anyway, get a comb and then lightly go over his hair. This is a little Tim in the making.
G still climbs in bed with us every morning and I still love it. He's usually there pretty early now (5am!) and for awhile I was discouraging it. But not anymore. I am grateful for this time in my life when I occupy so much of his consciousness. In just a few more years when he's a real big boy and he doesn't need me quite as much... and a few more years after that when he doesn't share as much of his life with me and there start to be other girls in his life...I can remember back how he needed to cuddle next to me every morning in order to start his day off right and I will be so grateful for that memory. I love you Grant. I can't believe that it's already been 3 years. You are such a joy to me and to all that are blessed enough to know you! Happy Birthday!
