It happened quickly. All of a sudden Maximus wasn’t a toddler anymore. He’s like a big kid, or something. He’s potty trained, he carries on full conversations with people, he stalls at bedtime and nap time, and he tells us to turn off the light and let him go back to sleep in the morning.
Probably best of all, he understands what a birthday party is and gets really excited about it! It was lost on him that we weren’t going somewhere else for the birthday party, but he was still excited about it. On Sunday, he helped me make two cakes and dirt cake for his friends at daycare. He also had his first experience with Oreo cookies and quickly fell in love. On Monday morning he woke up and asked if he was three now. We gave him lots of birthday kisses and high-fives.
Maximus was super excited when he got home from daycare. He didn’t know that we bought Mickey Mouse decorations. We got him a banner, plates, napkins, cups, and new tattoos. All the bright colors from Mickey Mouse and his friends matched Maximus’ birthday invitations that I designed. (Picture from his 3-year photo shoot with Stalzer Photography.) Our family would have been happy with a text invite, but I had an itch to get something printed.
Maximus got lots of great presents and even remembered to say thank you a couple of times. It was a whirlwind of bags and tissue paper and he had no idea who anything came from. On Tuesday he told me that his friends bought him a bike and helmet. I quietly corrected him and told him that we bought it for him. He nicely said, “oh, sank you mommy and daddy.” So maybe he thinks that all the presents were from everyone combined. Another funny story, after everyone got here he turned to me and said, “mommy, my five friends are here!” He has five friends at daycare so every morning we get there and he asks me if his five friends are there yet.
We took treats to daycare and they had a mini party outside during lunch. He told me that he sang happy birthday with his friends. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Maximus, happy birthday to you.” So when everyone started singing at his party, he joined in. And when they were done he blew out the candles without me prompting him! Maybe he really did understand me earlier in the day when I said he had to blow out the candles.
Thankfully the birthday hangover wasn’t too bad and he’s been pretty entertained by all of his new toys. The last few weeks of age two was pretty good and so far age three seems to be pretty good also! As Maximus told me yesterday afternoon, “I already turned three today.” Luckily he was ok with celebrating many hours after he’d already turned three. I guess you have to be a little older to want to celebrate for more than one day. 😉
