The BIG 3!

The birthday boy with his Uncle Tieg and their Mexican lunch.

Gus and Louise almost share a birthday. They were spared this situation by a mere 40 minutes or so. I was in labor with Louise and Ron asked the nurse (at 11 pm), "What are the chances that this baby will have its own birthday?" She looked at me, looked at the chart and said, "Pretty good." Eighteen minutes later she was born. She must have known that Gus would really like to have his own day, but wouldn't mind sharing a party or two in his life.



Gus turned three this weekend. This is going to be a big year for him... a time for preschool, a time to have more big-brother time with Louise when Carl starts kindergarten and a time for him to snap out of the intense middle-child behavior we've been witnessing this year. This is his "sparkle" year. "Sparkle" is a word that was coined by my mom one day when I was at my wits end with something he was doing, maybe relapsing on potty-training or yelling at Carl. She described a sparkle day as one when he didn't have accidents, got along with everyone, and generally was more patient. He loved it. I ran with it, even going as far as creating a secret handshake for sparkle boys. It makes him feel like the coolest kid in the world and has the power to immediately snap him out of the worst behavior, catching his attention and his fist gravitates towards mine to bop fists and say "sparkles" while we wiggle our fingers. How can a secret handshake do so much? He's a new dude. And now, he's THREE!



Not my finest cake at all... but what was I supposed to do when the kid wanted a "candy cake, like a pinata, Mom." Hmmm... I think after this shot I added some Mexican wrapped candies on top to really give it the look. It was four layers high and didn't get attacked by our hungry dog this year as has happened in years past to my home made creations. Tasted great, made him happy, and looked spectacular next to the tulips on the bright yellow table cloth. Ole!

The local grocer Kowalski's gives free cakes to kids for their first birthdays. Couldn't pass that up. And it was SO cute!
The pinata Gus picked out. Spiderman... paper plates and all. It was so strong that the kids couldn't hit it with the wooden bat by themselves. Eventually Ron picked them up and swung them to attempt to do some damage to the pinata.

To my 2nd baby... Happy Third Birthday, Gus!