Madeleine's Birthday

How old are you, Madeleine?
Two!
No, you're not two... how old are you?
One!
No, not one.
Three!

She's still getting used to growing older, and frankly, I'm still getting used to it as well. It's amazing how within one day I can feel like she's so grown up and amazed at all the things she's learned and her sass and maturity blow me away, and then at the same time hold her in my lap, and although her head frequently bonks my chin because she's so tall, still feel her skinny little wrists and soft kisses and tight hugs and think that she's just my baby. So little and yet so grown up. She made me a Mom. It's just so amazing to have a 3 year old! 3! It makes me feel old.

The girls on M's birthday morning.
Sophie under the balloon banner.

Aftermath with the balloons - fun for days on end.

We had an awesome birthday month for her. First she got a bicycle from her GG and PP, which she is still learning to ride. Her parents, wisely recognize the vast amount of STUFF she already has, gave her one gift of "lacing bears" that has proven good for skill building and quiet time in church on Sunday. Then, her actual birth date coincided nicely with completing one of her potty charts, which reward was going to ChuckECheese. We'd never been there before and she really had no idea what it was, but she was excited for it nonetheless. Ahhh, the innocence of youth. So, because I was exhausted on her birthday and Marc was working and I didn't feel like making dinner we did indeed go to ChuckECheese to celebrate. I don't know who loved it more, Madeleine or Marc. But all had a great time.

Hoarding candy after the pinata broke. Seriously, she had skills at getting candy, promptly scooping all the goods into her skirt and then not moving until at least 3 or 4 pieces had been sampled.

Hugs with my birthday girl.

Pinata. It was supposed to be... a... sun? I don't know. It just took me much longer than anticipated so I was actually finishing it as the birthday party was starting. Marc was very dubious about the kids' abilities to actually break open the pinata, and although one of the big girls had to finally finish up the job, the kids each got 2-3 swings and they were getting the hang of it. It worked, it worked.
Madeleine with her balloon banner. It was actually fun to make. The "theme" was balloons, if you can imagine ME having a theme. I figured kids love balloons, so they each got one to play with at the park and we had a water balloon game. Simple, but mostly effective. That and the goal was to have it at a park/playground so the kids could entertain themselves.
Sophie enjoyed the balloons while we were making the banner.
Shots at ChuckECheese. It was hard to capture this girl via photo since she was running everywhere and soooo happy! Commercialization. We totally fell for it for this birthday. Oh well! She loved it.

We're also pretty selfish as parents and I don't know how we'll do it in the future, but because her birthday always falls around Memorial Day, all Marc and I can think of are get-togethers with our friends for BBQ. I normally wouldn't engage in so much partying for a little kid's birthday. My whole original idea was to have friend parties only on select years, say 5, 8, 12, and 16 or something. After 3 years of being alive, it looks like the pattern will be more like small family parties on the even years and friend parties on the odd years. At birth, it was blissfully quiet as she came a bit early and it was midnight before Memorial Day, so it was just the 3 of us in the quiet hospital. It was so serene and precious. Her first year, Marc was away for military training, so I had to get friends together to help me celebrate my baby's eating of her first cake and all the hoopla that surrounds it. It was nice to have friends around since Marc was away. Then when Madeleine turned 2, we had just moved to DC and it was just us and my parents around.

This year, we had the birthday/BBQ at a nearby park. My big efforts at making it special included actually making gift baggies for the children, a balloon rainbow (which I LOVED!), and a pinata (ah, yeah, next time buying that one!). We had a lot of fun with friends, the weather was perfect, and Madeleine felt loved and we enjoyed some great food! May her birthday always be so memorable!