Edison Turns 3 - Trucks, Haircuts, Cake and More!

Our plans for one last summer camping trip this weekend were looking pretty rainy, unfortunately. So we've decided to stay home and I've decided to catch up on some much needed blogging!

Its hard to believe, but the middle of July brought about Edison's 3rd birthday! I can't believe that my first baby... isn't really a baby anymore. I remember in that first week after having brought Davis home from the hospital, I picked Edison up on day and suddenly thought: "When did he get so big?!?" My baby isn't the baby anymore and its crazy!

His journey from being a 2 year-old to a 3 year-old has been an exciting year for Edison. He hasn't grown a ton in size over this past year... in fast, the shorts that he was wearing last summer, he's still able to wear this summer. The big difference in Edison's world has come in the form of WORDS. At Edison's 2nd birthday, he only had a few words under his belt... and most of those words weren't actual words... these were a special form of Edison's own language. This year, for his 3rd birthday, his vocabulary is quite extensive! I'm actually totally amazed at how fast toddlers can learn a language. Although he still has a few consonants that he can't quite say properly (that darned "L" for example is particularly tricky), he is fully able to communicate and is constantly surprising me with the words that he is able to remember.

This year, Edison's birthday was on a Wednesday... the big birthday bash wasn't until the Friday. However, we still wanted to make his actual birthday special with a couple of gifts. Jonathan was very excited to find a Power Wheels truck on Craigslist for a great price. Brand new Power Wheels vehicles are darned expensive! And we weren't even sure how much he was going to like it, so we though we'd try out a used one first.

Jonathan picked it up about a week before his actual birthday... so for a week, it sat in our garage under a blanket. It was So cute because Edison knew that it was a birthday present and that it was a surprise until his actual birthday. He never once tried to look under the blanket! In fact, we played funny guessing games with him about what he thought could be under there.

Finally the big day rolled around and he was very excited to see his present! Jonathan put it in the middle of the garage, under the blanket of course. We all stood on the outside of the garage, Edison pushed the button on the remote to open the garage, and finally got to go in and take the blanket off!

Waiting at the garage... 

Opening the garage... 

What could it be? 

Removing the blanket... TA DA! 

Buckling him in 

Now... we've discovered that this Power Wheels is a bit of a challenge for Edison in a couple of ways:
 1. He has a hard time understanding that he needs to push the pedal down AND steer the wheel at the same time. He can't quite multitask this way yet, so therefore, can only drive straight.
2. It has a little toy radio built into it... which he calls his phone. He is actually more interested in siting there "talking on his phone" than he is in actually driving the truck. Most of the pictures I have are of him parked, and talking on the phone.

Here he goes... 

Pulling back in to the garage after taking it for a spin down the back lane 

Edison also got a Strider bike for his birthday which he has become remarkably good at in a very short time. His balance is pretty awesome! 

The day after Edison's birthday, we decided it was time to cut off his luscious locks for the first time. I think that because it took him so long to finally get a good head of hair, I was very reluctant to cut it off.  When it started to get a little bit long I decided that we would wait until he turned three and then go get it done.

So the day came, I packed the camera and off we went to get him a haircut. Jonathan's hair was getting long as well so we decided that Jonathan would get his hair cut first, Edison could watch and see how it was done, and then he would have his turn. Edison was fine for the watching part, but when his turn came he dug his heels in and had to be literally dragged to the chair. Even sitting on Jonathan's lap... he still wasn't too happy about the whole thing.

So the hairdresser goes to take the first snip (which I kept in a little envelope, by the way), and I take the camera out for a picture and.... the battery is dead! So the pictures I have from his haircut are from my phone... not quite as good quality as I would have liked, but better than nothing.

My long-haired boys, waiting for their turn 

Here she goes... 

The new do's

Then, (sorry about doing such a long post, by the way!) Edison's party day was on the Friday. He had lots of family and friends over, we ate yummy Mexican food, Edison got balloons, he opened presents, and we topped it all of with scrumptious ice-cream cake.

If there is one thing I will always remember about having Edison's birthday parties at our house, its the heat. It was HOT in our house, it was hot outside... and it was the same for the past two years! I think next year we should have his party somewhere else... where air-conditioning is involved! Nonetheless, the Birthday Boy had a lot of fun and it was great to see everybody!

I went with the rainbow theme this year... as you can tell 

Hanging in the kitchen... there's Grandma, taking pics with her iPad again! 

Candle's lit and ready to sing! 

He was a bit shy about blowing them out, but he eventually did it! 

Yum! Taking his cake very seriously 

An awesome airplane from his friends Cassey and Elliot!

A GIANT book of paper airplanes from his friends Brea and Rhys! So cool! 

A honkin' big box from Grandma, Grandpa Andy, Auntie Sara and Ryan... a kitchen! 

Edison approves of his new kitchen

Thank you to everyone who came out to make his birthday special. I think that Edison had a blast and it was great to have such amazing friends and family over to share it with. And, happy birthday to Edison! What pure joy he is in our lives!