Birthdays, Then (and Then) and Now

Will played with balloons on his first birthday, all by himself.

He toddled through our old kitchen,

then disappeared around the corner.

He blew out a solitary candle on his tiny carrot cake.

His little brother was still waiting in the wings in my belly.

For his second birthday, Will got a Cookie Monster cake--

a little bigger, this year (the boy and the dessert).

This time, he extinguished the candle all by himself.

He still spent some time alone with his balloons...

...but he was going to have to learn how to share soon enough.

This year, Will blew out the candle with too much gusto
(while I took this picture, Dave was shouting "MOVE BACK, BUBBA!")

And oh my goodness, does the kid ever have to share:

his spotlight, his balloons, his MILK even!

Funny enough, he didn't seem to mind.

And this year, as Will disappeared around the corner with his balloons,

he was chasing his little brother.

I think he'd say this birthday was his best yet.

Will Turns Three!

We woke Will up at 8 a.m. with a pair of birthday balloons, some presents to unwrap, and a singing not-so-baby brother.

Here he is with his gifts from the Philly Noons:

And here he's blowing out the candles on his birthday donuts (again).

A quick family picture before the day truly begins:

After dropping off Finny at his playgroup, we headed for the bike shop.

We were early, but Will wanted to wait outside until the sign said "OPEN," so we did.

Once inside, he went right for the bike he wanted, the same one his BFF Connor has.

They matched him with a 16" bike, which is apparently (but unsurprisingly) a big bike for a just-three-year-old. I know nothing about bikes, but I know he looked like a serious KID on that one.

He also picked out a helmet in 1.3 seconds flat--

"I want that one, ALL BLACK," he said, pointing emphatically.

We returned home with Finny in tow,

and the boys had a blast racing with their balloons.

Will shared one of his two balloons with Finny.

Not because we asked him to; he just did it, all day long.

Will also "read" the balloon out loud to me and Dave at separate intervals.

He told me that his balloon said, "Dear Will, Happy Birthday! I hope you have a great day. We'll see you next week! Love, Your Birthday."

He told Dave that it conveyed the simple message: "Dear Will, Happy Birthday! Love, Cake."

He tried on his new puffy vest,

which had been on his wish list since he had to hand his old one down to his brother.

And he didn't take off his Curious George shirt for the rest of the day.

After nap, we headed out for a nice long walk with some friends, saw a couple of trains, and went out to dinner with Nan and Mamp.

The day was like the birthday boy himself: perfectly wonderful.

The Early Birthday Party

We celebrated Will's third (THIRD!?!) birthday early on Sunday with his local family.

"I got Mack! It's Maaaaaaaack!" is an appropriate caption here.

I was manning the camera and prepping the birthday cake Munchkins instead of posing for pictures, but it was such a fun first celebration. More to come this week...

In the Crib, Now and Then

THEN it was Will's crib;

in another town,

and Will was nineteen months old...younger than Finny is now.

They didn't know what to make of one another.

NOW it's where Finn sleeps,

and Will visits sometimes.

They are always laughing

and reading to each other

or reading to themselves, side by side,

happy just to be together.

On the Cape

We had a truly wonderful vacation with our friends back in August in Dennisport.

One thing that struck me was how fluid our days were because we were sharing them with people who had roughly the same daily schedule, eating and sleeping habits, and level of chaos as our household does.

There were overcast days at the beginning of the week that forced us to find fun diversions outside of our little piece of beach; then there was plenty of sun in the second half so we could take full advantage of the little float boat and giant shovels we'd brought along. 

Will never likes to break up a party, and this goodbye was particularly hard. Over a month later, he still asks to go back to the Cape house, and I'm pretty sure he'd be perfectly content to have a sleepover with Connor and the rest of the Flemings every night of the week. It's a good thing they only live a mile away from us year-round!

FIRST DAY OF VACATION!!!!!

Five little monkeys, sitting in a boat...

The Big Dig

Ice cream while watching "Cars movie"

Our cloudy day activities (above and below)

Our sunny day activities:

Dads and kids:

 Finny Loves Riley:

 The Whole Gang

The three youngest:

And the two "big boys":

 Noon boys behind the wheel: