Joshua is 3 years old, but you’ll have to take my word for it.  We had a great day & it was very well-documented with photos, as you’ve probably noticed I do quite frequently, judging by the thousands of photos on Flickr!  The following day, unfortunately, I lost my camera, so all we have to show of his birthday are a couple of boring shots Erick & I happened to take with our cell phones.  Despite reassurance from the city that it would be returned, that did not happen, so the photos are gone for good.  At least we have the memories, even if they can’t be shared visually.  But enough with the complaining, here’s what our birthday boy has been up to lately…

Joshua did well at his 3-year-old doctor appointment & we liked his new pediatrician (since Erick works in the peds department at Madigan, the doctor we were hoping for was willing to take on Joshua as a patient even though she wasn’t taking anyone new).  The big boy is now 34lbs 3oz & somewhere around 40″ (being a guy, he wouldn’t stand up all the way so I’m guessing he’s a bit taller but that’s what they officially recorded).  So his stats are still in the same range they have been for the longest time—he’s super-tall & in the middle of the weight range.  Wonder where that height comes from…   We were happy to learn that there were no shots necessary for this visit so it was relatively untraumatic.

My dad came up for a few days around Joshua’s birthday, which was enjoyable by grandson & grandpa alike.  Dad sure came in handy when we took Joshua for his birthday portraits at JC Penney!  The two of them walked around the mall while I took forever to decide which of the adorable photos to choose from to purchase.  Note to parents—JC Penney is a LOT better than Sears, at least compared to our previous experience with the one in Maryland.  No one cut in front of us like last time & no one accused my son of assault like what happened on his 2nd birthday!  We only had a little wait, but that was because we got there pretty early.  We had a great photographer & the packages were a decent price.

On the 6th, I took mini cupcakes to Joshua’s preschool & his classmates sang ‘happy birthday’ which was sooo adorable.  Joshua gobbled down his cupcake in one bite & quickly asked for more.  Typical Josh—gotta love him.  The next day was Joshua’s actual birthday, & my dad & I took him to the zoo.  He had a great time running around & watching the animals but I think his favorite thing was riding on the carousel.  We probably rode it close to 10 times (thankfully, it’s now free, which I don’t think it was when we went last year!).  Joshua even rode it a few times all by himself, which he’d never done before.  He looked so proud of himself that he was such a big boy!  In the afternoon, the 3 of us went to the city of Fircrest’s Fun Fest (a little festival they have every August).  Joshua & I went on a huge blow-up slide several times that was a lot of fun.  That evening, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner since Joshua had been asking to go there for the longest time.  Erick was able to get off work on time & met us there, which was very nice.  Even though we had a ton of tokens left over from Maryland, Joshua didn’t care to use them & had just as good a time playing with the games without them actually doing anything.  The lights & noise were enough at that age—yeah!  When we got home, we had birthday cake & then the exhausted birthday boy went to bed.

The following day, we went back to the Fun Fest with Erick so that we could all partake in the neat activities.  Joshua & Erick went on a few of the rides & then we watched Erick’s 8-year-old cousin Dawson compete in a swim meet that was going on simultaneously with the festival.  It was leaving the park when my camera must have fallen out of my pocket.   Dawson’s younger sister, Bailey, came home with us & she & Joshua played together until people came over for his birthday party.  Joshua & Bailey are so adorable to watch together!  Even though she’s twice as old as Joshua & they’d only seen each other once before we moved here this summer, they act like the closest of cousins & you can really see how much they love each other.  It makes me so happy that Joshua has family around now that we’ve moved back to the west coast!

Joshua’s birthday party was smaller than he’d wanted (he’d been asking for a big party like Bailey’s ever since we went to hers a couple of months ago) but I don’t think he noticed.  He was the center of attention which was enough for him!  As requested, it was a Mickey Mouse theme, complete with a cake that took me over 5 hours to come up with since bakeries & craft stores here don’t even have Mickey decorations (I ended up buying Mickey cars at Toys-R-Us & the bakery made a cute road scene on a cake that looked great!).  My aunt, uncle, & cousin came, & it was so nice to see them again.  Because of a family accident a week before (Erick’s grandma was in a near-fatal car accident in Louisiana), most of Erick’s side of the family couldn’t make it, but we are so happy that Dawson & Bailey (& their dad) could come.  The kids played & Joshua actually shared his toys willingly (wow!), then we had pizza & cake, & finally opened presents.  Joshua, of course, loved opening all his presents & he truly loved everything he got this year.  Aunt Janet & Uncle Denny got him eat book that he loves to match the pictures in pretty much everyday.  My cousin Kate got him a Mariners t-shirt that I can’t wait for him to wear when we go to his first major league game.  Dawson & Bailey got him a neat race car that he drives all over the place & a dragon toy that at first was scary but now he loves (he named it ‘Furry’ the other day).  My dad got Joshua a remote-controlled RC car (which Bailey & Dawson loved as much as Joshua!).  And those were just the presents from the party.  This kid is spoiled!

It’s hard to believe that Joshua is 3 years old already.  Time really flies.  So it’s bye-bye to the terrible 2’s, although everyone keeps telling me that 3 is so much more difficult than 2.  Great.  Joshua is a very strong-willed, hyper, curious little boy.  He’s got a cute personality & quickly goes between the extremes of it being the end of the world if something does not go his way to being ecstatic when it does.  He’s got the most infectious laugh & says the cutest things.  We’re still not 100% done with potty-training but for the most part, he does great at home (hopefully I won’t jinx us by writing that!).  If he didn’t get fully engrossed in whatever playing he does at preschool or other places, I’m sure he’d have things down pat in public, but I remember being the same way when I was really young—there was no taking time from toys to bother going to the bathroom until it was too late.  I’m sure this will be an interesting year & I can’t wait to see how he’ll be by his 4th birthday.  But I’m not ready for him to keep growing up so fast so it’s good that’s a year away.