We planned a pretty low-key day for him, and decided to let him chose to do his favorite things. It all started with him picking out what he wanted to wear. Of course, he chose everything red that he could find. He even chose red socks. In the morning I told him that he could watch whatever he wanted on TV. I thought that he would ask to watch a movie about Santa Clause or the movie Cars, but he surprised me by choosing Toy Story 2. He did not budge during the entire movie and laughed repeatedly.
We started letting him open his presents around lunch time. Awhile ago my sister told me that she lets her kids open things throughout the day to spread it out, and it works really well! Charlie asked for only one thing for his birthday. He wanted a new Lightening McQueen car. Every time I asked him what else he wanted, he would answer, “I need only one present!” Of course, we weren’t going to give him just a Lightening McQueen, but it is nice to know he could be so easily satisfied! Andy and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what else he would want during the two months prior to his birthday, but every time we showed him something he would only answer, “I don’t have that one.” He is too funny. Of course, on his birthday he all of the sudden started saying that he wanted dolphins and dinosaurs. We did not know to buy him one dolphin or dinosaur, so we suggested he put it in his letter to Santa. By the end of the night he had so many things he was excited about, the dolphins and dinosaurs were temporarily forgotten.
A few days before his birthday, I told Charlie he could have whatever he wanted for dinner, and he looked at me with a blank stare. So I asked him what his very favorite food was. His answer? MCDONALDS!!! Sounded fine and easy to me, so he got a cheeseburger Happy Meal for dinner. He was so distracted by the presents and excitement that he ate the apples, took about one bite of his cheeseburger, chugged his milk, and wanted to open more presents. Of course, we let him. (He finished the cheeseburger the next day.)
Charlie got a lot of things that he was very excited about. Andy and I have done most of our shopping by Amazon lately, and we believe in their frustration-free packaging, which means that a lot of things are in brown boxes. The first box that Charlie opened contained a pirate ship. He was so excited when he unwrapped it, he started screaming, “A box, a box, I got a box!” And when he found out what was inside of it he was even more excited. Every “box” he opened after that got the same reaction.
Charlie’s only other request for his birthday was a cake with cars on it. We took advantage of our local Safeway bakery and bought one. Charlie was really excited to get two hot wheels from his cake. He was also excited to eat the cake. We were a little surprised at how he attacked that thing!
Charlie literally opened presents all day long, and paused to play in between. We watched the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the old cartoon) and then tucked him into bed. He had a huge smile on his face. Now all he talks about is opening presents on Christmas!
1 comment:
cute cake!
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