Unless you count Halloween, Maya’s birthday this past November was the first event in a crazy month-and-a-half long string of celebrations. She’s so much more aware of things now, we really wanted to try to do something special for her. Alas we defaulted to more or less the same thing we’ve done for the past couple of years, but you know what? She loved it anyway.

One of Maya’s birthday gifts – a ball pit!

For one, there were balloons. (Bawooooons!!!) Sean sprung for a few helium-filled mylar type balloons that deflated ages ago but that I’ve only recently managed to throw away. We also got several smaller balloons that we just sort of blew up and let her play with. She was so happy. One of her little friends from gymnastics class came over to celebrate with her, and Maya simply could not understand why the girl wouldn’t immediately take the balloon she offered. Because bawooooooons!!!

This is the first of her birthdays where she’s been able to really talk, so we actually got to ask her what she wanted. When I asked Maya what kind of cake she’d like, she was torn between an octopus cake and a rainbow cake and a duck cake. The best looking mold I could find was for the duck. I used 1.5 times this Smitten Kitchen recipe, some basic buttercream icing from the Wilton site (makers of the ducky cake mold), and more finesse than I’m generally capable of to construct her cake. The cake matched the pillow she sleeps with, right down to the blue water. Maya was suitably pleased, though she insisted the icing be removed from her piece.

Blowing out the candles

We were lucky to have my parents (aka Grammy and Grandpa) visit for her birthday. We were a little unlucky otherwise this year. Our normal group suffered illnesses and alternate plans, and so we were fewer in number than we have been in the past.

This year we sprung for a Franklin brisket (purchased cold and reheated), and augmented with sides from Rudy’s. As usual, it made for delightful leftovers for quite some time after that. I actually still have some brisket in the freezer that I’ll use to make Franklin’s pinto bean recipe.

Tall girl could reach the gifts we lined up “safely” on the banister

Maya is definitely hitting her “threenager” stride. We are pleased to report that she’s becoming ever more independent. She has her own opinions about how she wants to spend her time, and often, how you spend your time as well. We do regularly get cold-cocked by the random temper tantrum (“I don’t wanna pee,” “I want to play with [whatever Ian has picked up],” etc), occasionally in public. Potty training is a pretty sore subject around here.

As with all kids though, she tempers the crazy with sweetness, kindness, and a budding intelligence that we just can’t help be admire. She worries about the people around her, fussing over us if we bump an elbow or have a headache. She still tries to make Ian feel better when he’s crying (“It’s okay Ian, buddy.”) Her new thing this week has been to drag her bed – yes, her bed – around her room so that she can climb on it to reach things in the upper drawers of her dresser.

Lately she spends most of her nap time playing instead, often wrecking her room in the process. It felt like it was causing more stress than good, so with much sadness, we’re trying to skip Maya’s last remaining nap now. We’ve implemented an earlier bedtime, so we’ll see how she adapts.

Birthday dinner for the big 3 year old

For the night of her actual birthday, we asked her what she’d like to have for dinner. Of course her answer was “hangewbangew … and fwiiiiiiies,” so we took her to Hat Creek Burger for some hamburger and fries, complete with chocolate milk. And then our big three year old girl spent several minutes trying to figure out how to negotiate a play area full of even bigger and faster kids. Needless to say, she had a fantastic time, and we had fun celebrating with her.