Celebrating Four, Giving Thanks for Three

"Well, this is the last time I'll kiss a three year old son goodnight."
"Nooooo.  <insert sweet smile and pause here> You can have another baby boy.  Goodnight."

While that may have been the original plan pre-marriage (2 born to us, 2 adopted by us whether boys or girls), S's gift to me for my 38th birthday was to make sure that wouldn't happen.  Of all the ironies, his surgery was scheduled on Ai's 3rd birthday, so it was a pretty low-key celebration.  Lots of ice, no dancing, not much Dad involvement.

That decision came after going on a two week learning trip to Grassy Narrows, Ontario -  a community suffering still from mercury poisoning that began in the 1960s.  In exploring Indigenous (lack of) justice and rights, specifically in that area, there were numerous environmental issues we touched upon.  It was sobering to consider the lack of sustainability in so much of our human existence at this present time.  Visiting Weyerhauser lumber mills and seeing the vast, horrific amounts of timber would have been impacting enough.  It all combine with my not-so-young birthday a week later, having a child still not sleeping more than two hours in a row and being in a place of transition (again!) to make my wavering thoughts of whether to try for another child or not, really easy.  I haven't regretted the decision, though I do have times where I really miss having a baby around!  I loved the baby stage, but three is enough and far more.

And so this weekend, we celebrate the middle miracle of our three.

He was pretty cute then . . .

And he still is.   Here's hoping for a good, if another Daddy-less, birthday.  S is in Chicago, so Ai's birthday festivities will be spread out over a number of days.  No big shebang, but its pretty hard to dampen a child's enthusiasm when it comes to a birthday.

He kicked it off by having a phone call with Auntie Susan the day before.  Used to a webcam, he makes the assumption that the caller can see what he's doing, so here he is showing her how old he is.  He was pretty thrilled to get "Gordon" the train!  Thanks, Susan . . .

Saturday morning we had Sandy and her two over for playtime and lunch, which was lots of fun.  I'm so happy my kids still have low expectations of what to expect for a party.  I put Ai to bed and asked, "What was your favourite thing about your birthday?"  He happily answered, "I got to have a jube-a-jube!"  That would be the lame decor on the cake (which I didn't even bother to add icing to)!

Around 10:00 p.m. we started to have a thunderstorm, which led to Iz dashing out of her room, screaming at the top of her lungs (which are pretty powerful at the best of times!).  Ai came out of his room and I realized he had been playing the whole time anyway with his new flashlight from Omi and Opa!  Struggling to calm trembling, whimpering Iz,  we video chatted with my parents (which sort of worked as the storm passed).  Ai got to open his present from them, which was the perfect ending to the day in his mind, as we read his new Thomas the Tank Engine story collection for a good while.

Unfortunately, my day with Iz still went on till after midnight, so she got to see Daddy arrive back late from Chicago.  The next day, we had a little family birthday 'do' and a few more presents to open.

And why is Iz in winter PJs on a hot summer afternoon?
She loves changing into things she likes throughout the day, so its always at her whim!  And I do style her hair every day . . . its just hard to tell after a couple of hours when she has it all pulled out!!

Ai was to have one other play date/party Tuesday morning with other friends, but with the discovery of lice on Monday, it all had to be canceled.  And he still has his sleeping bag and air mattress to open from Omi & Opa - which I'm not letting him near till I know we're really nit-free!  I refuse to add anything else to the laundry pile unnecessarily!  But "never mind," as A would say.  Ai had a fantastic time regardless and is one very proud 4 year old - that's all that really matters.