Emrick is 3 Years Old

Boy. I meant to get this up on Monday — you know, on Emrick’s actual birthday — but you know how it is, what with the toddler and the newborn and the sleep deprivation and whatnot.

Emrick’s birthday was pretty low-key this year. For the first time, we didn’t have any family in town celebrating with us. It was just the three four of us. It felt kind of weird, but also kind of nice, I guess. We kept things simple in both gifts and plans.

We started the day with a haircut. Sounds exciting, right? But Emrick has come to really enjoy his trips to the kiddie hair salon. He gets a sucker, a balloon, and endless trips down a little blue slide inside the shop.

One trip down, a million to go!

And then the best part of all… the sucker and balloon. Looks like Emrick went with blue this time.

I’m not sure what’s with the vaguely hipster gel job here, but it’s cute anyway.

We decided to let Emrick choose a restaurant for his birthday dinner, and then we got takeout from there. With the new baby and all, we preferred to eat at home. Emrick chose Firehouse Subs, which I think may be his new favorite, probably in part because of the fire hats they give out to kids.

Who knew a kid’s ham and cheese sub could be so fun?

Next he opened his presents.

And then he played with those presents.

Then we busted out the cake. Last year we did a truck theme on his cake, which he really liked. This year we did a safari theme. Well, safari is what we had in mind. The pack of plastic animals we bought said “Jungle Animals.” I’m not sure to what extent they would be the same. I am pretty sure you don’t see gorillas on safari, though. Or do you? Anyone? Anyone?

In the above picture, Emrick is holding up three fingers to show his age. He can’t quite hold up just those three fingers, though, so what he is doing here is holding down his pinkie finger (which pops up reflexively) to make three. He can make two and four with no problem, but three gives him trouble.

A couple of days after his birthday, Emrick was reluctant to settle down for his nap. I bribed him with the promise of cake. “If you go to sleep, you can have cake after dinner tonight,” I said.

“Birthday cake,” he stated.

“Yep. Birthday cake,” I affirmed.

“I’m four now,” he said.

Apparently he concluded that if he was getting birthday cake again, then it must be his birthday again, and if he was having another birthday, he must be four now! Thank goodness we don’t actually age another year every time we eat a piece of birthday cake!

Emrick is 1100 days old today. He weighs 27 lb., 11 oz. and measures about 34 5/8″ long. He’s a little guy, but in my arms he feels like a GIANT. He is as pookie as ever.

We love you, sweets. Thank your for being such a sweet boy and a sweet big brother. ~muah!~