Alex turns three

Alex is turning three this Saturday. I felt a little guilty about him never having a birthday party, but two of his friends' parents independently asked if we could watch their kids this weekend, so it may end up being a little sleepover party.

Alex is a very cuddly boy who just melts to your body when you pick him up. I love that about him. He recently learned how to write his own name, not always in the right order and the E has as many horizontal lines as he can fit. It's nice to know he can still learn when I'm not there to teach him things.

Alex is also a little bit of a quirky kid and must have things done his own way. For instance, you must be the right parent to give him breakfast (today he didn't eat for two hours because he wanted daddy to do it, and he'd already gone to work), he must be on the right chair with the right color bowl and spoon, you must give him the right amount (usually more than the first amount you tried to give him), you must wait for him to pat his cereal down before you pour the milk and only start pouring when he gives the okay, you must (depending on the day) pour either really fast or really slow, and whatever you do, don't stop pouring until he says "when"--even if it's about to spill out of the bowl. Trust me, it is much better to find out how he wants it done and comply with his request (as long as it's not completely irrational), than it is to make any kind of error in his plan. A meltdown will ensue.

The other day I spent 20 minutes of my life explaining to a meltdown-y kid that I wasn't going to open a new jar of applesauce until the 3/4 full one in the fridge was gone. Even though they were the exact same, he wanted the one from the cupboard and there was no changing his mind. I guess he finally got so hungry that he decided he would eat the rest of the one in the fridge so he could finally open his jar and be happy.

I realize that some of these behaviors could be chalked up to him being a child--a two almost three year old child, but having other children tells me that not all kids are this way. He closes doors behind him whenever he leaves a room, he insists on sitting right in the middle of the family room to watch TV, you can't move the stroller or the car until his seat belt is on (and don't try to help him either), and he likes to be clean and would take more than one bath a day if I let him. If he gets even a drop of water (or syrup, ketchup, etc.) on his clothes he has to change them immediately. Today, because of that, the fact that I haven't bought him any new clothes in a while and that I haven't done laundry for a while, he did not have any shorts to wear (and they had to be shorts by the way). We literally had to wait for the dryer to finish in order to leave the house (so much easier with girls--they run out of clothes you tell them to wear a dress).

Oh, I almost forgot... he also has to be wearing pajamas when he eats breakfast. If for some reason he sleeps in his clothes (not at all by his choice, but if he just falls asleep before changing), he wakes up the next day and changes into pajamas. One morning he changed from clothes to pajamas, spilled a whole bowl of Rice Krispies on them before taking a bite, changed into another pair of pajamas, spilled a little bit of bowl two on those, changed into PJ's pair three and finished his cereal happy, dry and most importantly, wearing the correct breakfast attire. As soon as he finished it was time to change into clothes. (Is it any wondered he keeps running out of clothes?)

As quirky as he may be, he is our sweet, lovable, smart, articulate, clean, active, funny, cuddly boy and we love him! Happy birthday Alex!

FYI: Per Alex's request he will have a chocolate car cake with blue frosting and he wants a rainbow hat for his birthday present. I really hate to disappoint him, but a rainbow hat??? Where did he get this strange idea? Is it a baseball cap? A beanie? I have no idea. The only one I found online was a Jamaican rainbow cap/wig with long black dreads attached--and I'm thinking it might not be what he envisioned. He'll have to settle for a Buzz Lightyear.