Big 3rd Birthday

John turned 3 :) What a big boy!

Overall, his birthday was very fun. But it started off a bit rough. John's birthday was on Saturday, and Tom got home from a work trip on Friday night. John heard Tom (after some very mysterious lady rang our doorbell at 8pm with a delivery from Amazon...did not open the door) and then John was up, up, up. Tom and I tried to tuck him in for a nice sleep, but he would have none of it.

John called to me, "Mama, I need to go potty!" and I asked Tom to go help him. John screamed like a crazy man. He ONLY wanted mama. So I went to help. Then back downstairs. "Mama, I need to blow my nose!". Again Tom went. Crazy man screaming. Mama to the rescue. Downstairs. Screaming. Mama just laid on the floor next to John's crib til all was calm and quiet.

The next morning (John's birthday), Tom and John had Wiggleworms (their usual song/dance class). They LOVE it. But that morning, John didn't want to go. We had snacks for all the kids for John's birthday. Tom got John's push-car loaded up with the snacks...John was throwing a fit and didn't want to go...they started off...got about 1 block away...and John jumped out of his car and ran home. Tom was so sad.

Things got better and we had a fun lunch at John's favorite restaurant (Prairie Joe's, where they have a bin of castoff toys to play with and cross-contaminate), and then John got to pick out his birthday cake at the bakery (no, I didn't bake him one. Shame shame.)

And then we met John's cousins at CHUCK E. CHEESE. People, if you have not been to Chuck E. Cheese recently, you are lucky. That place is INSANE. I had a reservation (because I always make reservations) but didn't realize that without one the line is over 50 people long and OUT THE DOOR. There were at least 10 other birthdays around us. The wait staff communicated by walkie talkie. The games were PACKED in (and NO skeeball!!! WHAT?????). John got to go into a ticket booth with tickets that fly all around him (I'll load pics later). Pizza. Cake. Tokens. Clapping. A big mouse who gave him a crown and a birthday medal. I was overwhelmed. But John LOVED it :)

And so did Annie.
The next day, Tom left again for a week-long college-scouting trip with Sean (for realz). My life-long friend Jin Ho came over to visit (and help!). And the very first thing John said to him was, "I go to Wiggleworms with my dad." I called Tom and he was thrilled :).