The Big Three

We have arrived!

I've heard about this turning 3 business: how the last quarter of the 2 is the worst; how Terrible-Twos is nothing compared to the Troubling-Threes; how turning 3, for most kids, is a BIG deal. It's a landmark that separates the little ones and the big kids. It's the threshold to a bigger world. "It is", as 4-and-a-half-year-old Jordy put it at Kai's birthday party, "a whole new level."

We had a birthday party on Sunday, the 9th, at the house. As a 3-year-old, Kai already has his own social circle, and he already segregates his friends based on the depth of their friendship. Jordy is his ultimate best friend, but Aiden is his best friend from school. Other friends include some kids that are close in age: Edie, Lily, Diego, Joshua, and 5-year-old Mica. The theme for this year's party is wild animals because, ever since we started talking about what he wanted for his birthday back in May, his answer was "A lion cake" or "An elephant cake." the flavours of the cake weren't finalized until August, but Kai made sure I knew he wanted a strawberry AND chocolate ice cream cake. We got the cake from La Casa, the best gelato shop in Vancouver. They don't make animal-shaped cakes, and for some reason they decided to put a race car and balloons on the cake at the end. So we put three animal candles on the cake: an elephant, a lion, and a monkey.

The daycare also scheduled a small celebration for Kai today. The children sang and shared some cupcakes at snack time. One of Kai's teachers, Jade, was also celebrating her birthday today, and she made Kai a crown with a big sparkling purple elephant on it.

I got teary-eyed on both days when we sang Happy Birthday to my baby boy. He is truly an awesome child:

He's imaginative and goofy. For instance, first thing he said to me this morning was, "I'm a cow, mommy. Moooooo~~~ and baby sister is a teeny tiny cow. Daddy's a big cow, and you're a medium-sized cow because you're a girl."

He's genuinely generous, especially for his age. He always shares his food and toys with us. I mean, 9 kids came to our house and played with all his toys, and he had no problem with that. In fact, he loves having people over. He always has lots of fun.

He's smart and creative. He says things like "It's hard to say good job (thumbs up) with your toes." or, when a crow flew dangerously close over our car, "Whoa, mommy. I think that crow almost ran us over!" The morning of his birthday party, while he was playing with his cars in the living room while I nursed Wei on the couch. , he came up with this song (to the tunes of Itsy Bitsy Spider): "All my friends are coming Coming to my party All my friends are coming to have some cake with me Mommy do you know where all my friends are They're all coming here to my party" And he did it so effortlessly! I was absolutely blown away!!

He's inquisitive and logical. I mean, I don't know what other 2-year-olds do, but sometimes I really don't feel like I'm talking to a 2-year-old when I talk to Kai. About 2 weeks ago, I went to pick Kai up. He and Aiden went straight for the tall grass area right by the library. Kids from the toddlers group love playing in there 'cause the grass is taller than they are and it's like a maze in there. Sylvia (Aiden's mom) and I were chatting when we heard the two boys throwing small rocks on the glass of the library. We each got our own kid out of the grassy maze, and I squatted down to have a talk with Kai.

"You can't throw rocks on the glass because the glass might break." "But the glass didn't break, mommy." "I know. Not this time, but you never know when or if it will." "You mean it's not safe?" "Right! It's not safe. Also, inside the glass is the library. What do people do at the library, Kai?" "Read." "And remember that Elmo's book you have? What should we do at the library?We should be...?" "Quiet." "Is it quiet when you throw rocks on the glass?" "No. It's noisy, and the people in the library will be angry because they want quiet but Aiden and I were really loud and the people will be angry because they're reading and they want quiet, just like in the Elmo book, mommy." There! Somehow at the end of our little talk, I felt like I was the one throwing rocks on the glass of the library, and my 2-year-old son was explaining to me why I shouldn't be doing it.

Last but not least, he's really a good big brother. He adores his baby sister. When he gets home from school, very often the first thing he says is, "I gotta go say hi to my WeiWei." MY WeiWei. It doesn't get any cuter than that. Even though he's very possessive of his favorite cars (the main cast of Cars the movie), he lets Wei play with them. She can even play with the brand new shiny Lightning McQueen that Grandma gave him when we visited last month. Kai watches closely when Wei's playing and very often does what his parents would do. "Uh uh uh! Don't put that in your mouth, Wei." "This is what you do. Here! Let me show you." "Do you want some milk, Wei? I'm gonna go tell mommy that I want some milk, and I'll be right back, okay?" And "You're so cute, Wei!" Miss Mira Wei is already being spoiled rotten... by her big brother alone!

As a parent of a 3-year-old, I feel like I have successfully completed the tasks of a major section and can now tick it off on my Parenting Card. I'm proud of my little big boy, and I'm proud of us as his patents. We did well, considering we had no idea what to expect or do. I know there are newer and perhaps more difficult challenges ahead as we advance to "the whole new level", but at this moment, I'm feeling pretty confident that we'll be able to handle them (of course this can change any minute).

Happy birthday, my love!

Sent from my iPad