Link's Third Birthday

Link is three! Wowzers, I'm not ready for my baby not to be a baby anymore. Thank goodness he's still little and cute and scoopable!

Here are somethings we would like to remember about Link as a two year old:

• Music is the key to his heart; window to his soul. If we need him to do a task? Sing the task in song form. If he is hurt? Scoop him up and sing to him. Can't settle down in bed? We have a loop of 4 or 5 lullabies we sing to him. If he's feeling overstimulated or tired and having a tough time? Put on some music and he will sit down and just listen to it. Looking for something fun to do as a family? We sing a lot of songs together with lots of movement. We all really love music in this family, but I think Link has helped us really see how powerful music can be. We are so thankful that we have such an incredible tool to help with transitions, teaching, and connecting with him. It's hard to say what his favorite songs are because he likes so many. Right now he's really into Guster, the Handwriting without Tears Rap Tap and Learn CD, Superhero Music, and the Music Together songs we sing in opening circle.
• Some of Link's favorite books include: The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Room on the Broom, any of the Amazing Machine books by Tony Mitton, Goodnight Construction Site, Steam Train Dream Train, Blue Hat Green Hat by Sandra Boynton, Little Blue Truck, The Napping House, and The Very Busy Spider.
• Favorite things to watch on tv: Wild Kratts, Twenty Truck Videos (he gets to watch this when we take Meo to violin lesson and it's the only way to keep him sitting still and quiet), The Magic School Bus, and Peep in the Big Wide World.
• Favorite foods are cupcakes, dried fruit (but especially raisins), yogurt, peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, blueberry pancakes, crepes, cheese, mac and cheese. 
• Link loves playing with his brother. They are very good at entertaining each other and will play for hours. Usually they dress up in costumes; we have a closetful of things for them to put on. Then they play pretend. They also play a lot of monster trucks, super heroes, trains, and build with their giant cardboard blocks.
• Link is an excellent hiker. He's surefooted, motivated, and adventurous. It's fun taking him to new places to explore. But sometimes its also stressful because he's really fast and like to run ahead!
• Link tried martial arts a little. He loves it. We had a take a break for a couple months because our schedule got too busy, but it will be great for him to get started again in the new year. He gets really into it!
• Robbie and I love the way he answers questions with a little "yep!", his exaggeration in phrasing (he has a dramatic flair like his brother), and how he likes to tell us what to say. Like "Mama, say 'Linky can come toOO'". He has developed a lot verbally this year, and is usually able to express himself with words now, which is helpful when he feels frustrated and starts getting aggressive. He's a kinesthetic learner and inclined to react physically to stimulation and overstimulation so it's nice to be able to usually catch him when we can tell he is reaching a breaking point and ask him to use his words. We love that he makes up his own songs and stories now.
• Link hops up and down like a bunny when he's excited, he loves to make people laugh and tickle them, he likes to try to say silly things, he's almost always moving unless he's reading a book, watching something or listening to music.
• He's still nursing and we both are glad to have that short little snuggle time to reconnect. Although now he is also really great about giving big hugs and kisses too.
• Link really likes to have jobs to do, and is really self motivated. He already knows how to dress himself and put his own shoes on. Plus he takes them off and put his coat and shoes away when he comes in. He sets the table, helps cook, puts things away. He takes off his diaper when it's dirty. He's almost potty trained and will try to clean his potty and wipe himself if I don't notice that he's scampered off to use the bathroom. He even surprised me by running off into the bathroom, unscrewing his water bottle and filling it up then closing the cap so he could have more to drink. It's pretty amazing how quickly he picks up on things. I think a big part of it his he doesn't get very frustrated when he makes mistakes and is patient enough to try over and over until he gets it right.
• Link loves animals. He never hesitates to interact with animals whether it be a wild bird we found, pick up a snake or salamander or frog, hold an insect, or pick up a chicken or goat. He's gentle with the cats and wrestles and plays fetch with the dog. Sometimes I'm concerned he's a little too fearless, but it's easier to work on creating boundaries than knocking big barriers down. Which brings me to my next/last point:
• The kids is fearless. He's up for anything it seems like and tries some pretty crazy stuff. We have to watch him constantly. Did I mention he's an excellent climber?

Birthday Morning

Link was very excited about his birthday this year. Mostly he was excited about "cup-ah-cakes". I made him a birthday crown to wear and the charm he chose for turning three was a cupcake. For breakfast we made one of his favorite meals: blueberry oatmeal pancakes.

They were confused why I was making pancakes before feeding them

Open Gym at Maine Academy of Gymnastics

One of our newer friends that we met through Meo's theater class generously treated the boys to a session of open gym at the Maine Academy of gymnastics. This was probably one of the best ways for Link to spend his birthday. He was climbing, jumping and balancing on everything. They all had so much fun!

They all especially love the long trampoline that you can launch off into a pit of foam blocks. They spent a lot of time there!

Link and his new friend Basil had a race.

Seesaw with Basil

Thanks again ladies for a really great morning. We loved spending time with you and had such a fun time.


Lunch at Otto

After many years of having children who would not eat more than a bit or two of pizza, as of a couple months ago we now have pizza lovers. We went to one of our favorite pizza places and Link chose the tortellini pizza. He had two whole slices!

Cupcake Selection

Before going home, we stopped at Whole Foods so Link could chose one of their super fancy cupcakes for a birthday snack later. He chose a vegan chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting.

Birthday Cupcakes and Opening Presents

Link really loves being sang Happy Birthday to. Some kids shy away from it, but Link is all about it. I think we must have sang it to him like 20 times over the course of his birthday and birthday party.

Before dinner he opened his presents for us.

We got him his favorite Sandra Boynton Book "Green Hat, Blue Hat". We had taken it out from the library numerous times and it always makes him laugh. We decided he needed his own copy.

He got a Captain America action figure. Captain America is his current favorite super hero to pretend to be.

He got some wooden cupcakes for his play kitchen. I think this was the present he was most excited about. This guy really loves his "cup-ah-cakes".

He got a blocker and pad for his martial arts moves.

And a "Carnival of Animals" book that came with a CD. This is based on classical music symphony both the boys enjoy listening to.

After some homemade dinosaur mac and cheese (that he barely touched even though he usually loves mac and cheese) Link finished the night be jumping on the couch in his underwear with Captain America while listening to Guster.

And read our Dr. Suess Birthday book.

Birthday Party at the Bounce Zone

A couple days later we had Link's birthday party. We usually have it at home, but we were worried it would be too much to have 15 kids and their parents in our not-so-humongous house and we couldn't count on it being warm enough to have outside. So we had it at the Bounce Zone. This boys love this place and we used to go all the time when we had seasons passes. But we hadn't gone in over a year so it was a special treat for them and all their friends.

Since Link really loves trains we made it train themed, with a cute new shirt, train track table runner, and train whistles on the cupcakes I made.

All the kids had so much fun bouncing.  It was a really fun birthday party!

My favorite part about Link's third birthday party was that instead of worrying about entertaining all our guests and making sure everyone was happy (because I could see that they were), I got to run around and play with my birthday boy! We went through the obstacle course many times, laughed going down the huge slide, and jumped in the bounce houses with our friends. It was so fun! And it made my day when Link would come looking for me and take my hand to run me to the next fun activity.

Opening Presents from Family and Friends

We took the presents that friends and family got for Link home so that he could spend more time bouncing at his party. But we took lots of pictures so people could kind of see how happy he was with their wonderful gifts. Thank you all for your thoughtful presents; he was very happy about all of them and we are so grateful.

Thank you to everyone who helped make turning three into such a fun and special time for Link. He's such a sweet, passionate, wild, clever little boy and we are excited to see what age three will bring.