No place like home

Today we rejected all other ideas for how we could celebrate turning 3 years old and spent the day at home.

Just what does a birthday at home entail?

Well, if you ask Louis, he'll tell you that the day has to start with cereal...

 

followed by a second bowl of cereal about an hour later--the ever-popular second breakfast, of course.

Add chicken noodle soup and strawberry cream cheese ("no crackers today") for lunch and spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and you may be getting close to our boy's ideal--at least for the birthday menu.

Louis knew his party would be this evening, and he jumped right in this morning to help with the decorations, which are essential to any third birthday party...

sparing no expense, of course...

 and certainly casting aside any concern as to traditional decorating standards.

 After all, if the vacuum is sitting in the middle of the dining room, it might as well get dressed up a bit.
 
Louis didn't ask about the guest list, the attire, or what time the celebrations would begin. We kept it small for his first birthday celebration in the U.S. and in our family--just Louis, Mama, and Baba--and Louis knew that when Baba walked through the door, the party was underway. Of course, that's true every night, especially when Mama gets to become the Jacket Monster and scare the boys.



No birthday celebration is complete without cake, and Louis was happy to critique Mama's efforts.



He adored the cake. He thought it was wonderful. He couldn't have been more appreciative, noticing every detail of his mother's culinary masterpiece.

He loved that Louis was driving the steam engine while his friend Cat in the Hat sat on the other side.


He thought it was great that the hoppers were full of "coal." He liked seeing Percy and James in the roundhouse-type structure I formed out of the cake batter that didn't fit in the train cake pan. And he thought the tracks were terrific, and recognized them as leftover Halloween candy right away.




Still, admiring a cake's visual appeal doesn't always translate into eating a piece. After insisting he wanted the caboose, Louis took two different pieces and returned them to the train. He liked the candy and the ice cream. And I believe he wanted to like the cake. But he never actually tried it.



I could blame my recipe choice but he never took a bite. I am choosing instead to blame the five homemade meatballs he inhaled before and during dinner.

Or maybe it was that pot of alphabet soup he made throughout the afternoon.






Yes, we could have done something really exciting or different outside the house for Louis's birthday. And I was tempted. But if there's one thing Louis loves, it's "Louis House." And with both his parents working and his weekdays spent primarily at Grandma's, he rarely gets time to play with his toys all day. So this morning I told him I had taken today, tomorrow, and Friday off, and that we were staying in all day.

I would say it's my gift to him, but we all know which one of us is more excited about three days of Mama and Louis time.

Today we learned yet again that there are advantages to staying in.


  You can wear whatever you want.



You can listen to Puff the Magic Dragon 50 times in a row and no one will comment. You can even dance around the kitchen all 50 times, if you want--and if you won't collapse with a growing 3-year-old in your arms.



You can play with all your toys at the same time--or at least leave them out until a horrified Baba arrives home. And yes, you can play Candy Land and Sesame Street dominoes while building with blocks and racing a train around a zoo. Just ask Louis.



Thanks to birthday gifts, there were plenty of new toys to play with today.

Yes, just a handful...

or maybe a few more than a handful.

When I offered a trip to the grocery store this morning, Louis immediately declined. He loves the store, but being home with no schedule beyond meals and nap is his ideal. And I had made clear that we had no schedule.

Instead we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.

We found sticks.

 

We posed for a few pictures. (Louis picked the backdrop. After all, he is the birthday boy.)

 We found more sticks.

We tortured Mama by saying cheese while pulling the hood over our eyes.



And then, sometimes, we cooperated. (Looking at this photo, I feel as if he grew an inch between yesterday and today. He's getting so, so big.)

We lay down on a sidewalk to try to see a kitten who had crawled under a car. We saw a scary pumpkin face that sent Louis jumping into my arms. We found huge leaves and threw them in the direction of the woods. We climbed on tree stumps and compared ourselves to the Lorax. We saw a man lifting a long ladder off the roof of his van, all by himself. We watched every vehicle that passed, and Louis declared that his favorite color for a car is green. And he announced that we can't touch motorcycles--a rule I don't even remember setting, but a sound one, nonetheless.

Louis loves the outdoors. After he accidentally slid on some pine needles, he laughed. Then he wanted to slide in the pine needles--even when there weren't any pine needles to slide in.

He loved the sunshine, except when it was too bright and he didn't.

 He slid some more. "One more time," he said over and over.

The whole day was such a joy. Being home meant we were home to take birthday calls for Louis. Being home also meant he got a real nap, which made the day especially pleasant for both of us.

And being home meant that when time came to light the candles on the cake, we were ready.

Louis sang along on "Happy Birthday to You." "A Birthday for Frances" is one of our daily standards, so Louis knew he was supposed to make a wish and blow.

We don't know what he wished. He didn't say.

But I wouldn't be at all surprised if he wished for another day of food and fun at Louis House.

Or maybe he just wished his Mama would find a new cake recipe. ;)