Not that he would ever admit that.
See, Cole has decided he wants to be three forever. As a mother who has had a VERY rough year with a certain THREE year old, this was a bit distressing for me.
It was also quite amusing.
(I wish I had filmed him a few weeks ago. He used to get really mad about it and yell things like "I HATE FOUR!!")
No matter what we said or did, Cole was adamant that he was turning three. And you know what? Whatever. If the kid wants to be three years old then I say let him. I figure you don't meet too many six year olds who claim to be three, so I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually.
Cole claimed he wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday. We hadn't been in so long that I agreed. Lance even took the day off to help us celebrate. On the drive down we gave Cole his first
Once we got to the zoo he got his second gift: binoculars! He sure loved those and wore them around his neck all day!
(His brothers loved them, too, and kept trying to steal them. I knew there'd probably be trouble with Cole getting gifts, but you know what? It was his birthday, not his brothers. They just had to deal with it.) (I'm such a nice mom.)
Okay, here it must be mentioned that, surprisingly and against all odds, Cole and Tess were the best behaved children during our trip. Seriously, Josh and Spencer fought and whined and complained and FOUGHT the entire time! I was ready to feed them to the lions. In Spencer's defense, he was coming down with a pretty nasty cold. But still. All the fighting! And whining! Yearrghhh, it's gonna be a long summer.
Anways. Here's
We had to stop and have a snack. Josh was offended that I wasn't willing to spend $6.50 on Dippin' Dots for him. This kid has known me for six and a half years, but it's like he doesn't know me at all...
In other news, Tess was pretty darling in her giraffe print dress.
We ate lunch outside with half a million school children. Their garbage kept blowing into us, which was pretty fun. Poor Josh had some blisters on his feet because he wore his new sandals. (Even after his mother warned him not to.) Poor kid. Towards the end of our trip I carried him around on my back, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Cute, darling giraffe Tess in front of giraffes! Tess sure loves Daddy lately. I'm okay with that.
Cole checking out the lions. True story: the male lion was getting all settled in on a comfy, sunny rock when a female came up and totally took his spot. He was like "Oh, you wanted that spot? Um, okay, I'm cool with that." He was the wimpiest lion I have ever seen. It was awesome.
We caved in and let the kids play in the splash pad for a while. Spencer and Josh had been whining about wanting to go swimming or play in water ALL DAY, so what did they do once we were at the splash pad? WHINE AND COMPLAIN and not play in the water. I was ready to pay someone to take them off of our hands. Fortunately, the birthday boy had a blast. So much fun, in fact, that I couldn't get him to hold still for a picture!
Tess spent most of the time taking a little siesta.
Finally, it was time for the dolphin show.
Despite Spencer and Josh being such dang-blasted punks, it was a good day at the zoo. I know Cole enjoyed himself, and that's most important, right?
That evening it was finally time for cake.
But first, a little back story. Cole loves this book:
We inherited it from my Dad this past summer. (I'm pretty sure it was my mom's when she was a kid, but don't hold me to that. I just remember always having it when I was a kid.)
Cole really, really loves this book. As in, for a while there I was reading it to him at least three times a day and Lance was reading it to him every night. Doing that drives a person a little batty. The fact that it was written as if translated into English from some little-known Eastern European dialect - and a little poorly at that - makes it even worse. But oh well, each child has gone through a favorite book faze and Cole's just happens to be the most obnoxious.
The point is, Cole loves that book. And he loves that fish. So I made him a fish cake.
Not so bad, right? I had originally meant to use a fish-shaped pan that my friend Melissa let me borrow, but when I showed it to Cole he said "That's not a fish! That's a snake!" And it did kinda look like a snake. In fact, I realized that it would take a whole lot more talent than I had to use that pan and really make the cake look like a fish. So I browsed Pinterest and came up with this easier idea. (Sorry, Melissa!)
Cole loved it. He didn't even put up a fuss that it had four candles. Although at the end of the video he still claims to be three. (It's pretty cute.)
He opened a few more presents -
with Spencer's help.
The only time the entire day these two weren't bickering. It's almost enough to get me to feed them cake all day, just to keep them quiet!
We saved the best gift for last: a green (Cole's favorite color) shirt with his name and the number 4 on it! Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie bought it especially for him, hoping it would help him ease into being four.
It didn't work.
Josh got this fish soap on the last day of school for a classmate's birthday and he decided to give it to Cole. 1) Isn't that totally cute and nice of Josh? It makes a momma proud. 2) I kinda really like the idea of giving a gift like this instead of pencils or cupcakes or any of the other junk my kids get. It makes a momma think...
Cole still loves his ABCs so we got him this really cool magnetic toy to help him learn to write his letters. He loves it. (It's so hard to find toys for the THIRD boy - I felt pretty proud of myself in finding this one!)
I thought for sure that Cole would take forever to agree to wear his new shirt. But he surprised me and requested to wear it for bed! (And then this morning while strawberry picking.) Will wonders never cease...
Cole, you are definitely my hardest child. It's no secret that this past year has been rough. But I've also learned the most from you and I think you've made me a better mom. I hope you had a great
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