The Older Crowd & The Birthday Boy

Today, The Boy turns 3, and each age becomes more and more fun.  I remember the awe of his early discovery of hands.  How fascinating!  And, like any over-the-moon mama, I recorded such things and rewatched them countless times and sent them to family and friends.  Now, I record less, because there is simply no time to grab the camera as my heart beats out of my chest at his daring adventures.  Of course, these would be the more interesting videos. 

On The Boy’s first birthday, I recorded this parenting gem: 

You’ve heard parenting is a learning process, right?  C’mon, you laughed at that video.  Don’t judge me. 

At age 3, I have learned that The Boy loves to mimic older kids.  Lucky for us, we live in a neighborhood filled with older kids, who are so good with The Boy.  He gets to play 8-year old chase, tag, hide-and-seek, received his first birthday party invite and has even been invited to go play Barbies with his 8-year old “girlfriend”, which did not go well as he wanted to destroy the Barbie home. 

Due to all of this interaction with the older crowd, we also get some great 8-year old phrases repeated in this house, which are nothing but laughable coming out of a 3-year old’s mouth. 

“That’s not fair.” 
I’m quite certain he has no idea what this is actually referring to, but he does use it a lot in contexts such as these: “Bath time, buddy!” “Ooooh, that’s not fair!”  “Time to go home.”  “That’s not fair!”  “No, do not feed your crumbs to Wrigley.” “That’s not fair!”  If anything, the dog seems to have someone on her side. 

“Stupid ­fill in the blank.” 

Sigh.  The “stupid” word.  It’s not a bad word.  I don’t mind it being used… By an older kid who understands it shouldn’t be an adjective for everything.  But, The Boy has been using it quite a bit.  If the helicopter falls, then he shouts, “Stupid helicopter!” If he trips, “Stupid floor.”  You get it.  I’m not making a big deal of it other than to repeat what he says but replacing “stupid” with silly.  First-child parenting problem?  Probably.   I’m not losing sleep over it.

“Pull my finger.” 
This is not something he learned from the 8-year olds.  This is something that indicates a man, my husband, now resides in our home.  Of course, The Boy still has it backwards, which if he farts, he then comes up to you, says, “I stinky tooted.  Pull my finger!”  But, the men in the house find it quite hilarious.  I admit, I get a laugh out of it too.  I just hope we have a few years to work on what is acceptable in public before a teacher approaches me about a pull my finger episode in class.  Hey, who am I kidding, the other boys in school will probably think it’s great. 

The Boy’s birthday celebration will just be us (and yes, he still brings up how he shouldn’t touch the candle- a memory like an elephant, this one).  I’m in the process of making a Hostess Cupcake replica for a cake.  In my mind, it’s amazing.  We shall see how it turns out.  Luckily, give The Boy something sweet, and it’s amazing to him, so I’m guessing I’ll come out on top. 

Each birthday and each year brings another year of joy and fun.  And, he certainly keeps getting cuter by the minute.  

Time to fly... I have a cake to finish,

Liz