Birthdays ... uhg

I'm feeling so much UHG about the kiddo's upcoming birthday. First, he'll be 3 years old, which is like, what? No ... what? But, like, .... what? I'm having a hard time with it.

Second, I won't actually get to celebrate his birthday on his birthday. I am having Radioactive Iodine treatment on the 11th, after which I will need to be quarantined from the entire human race for 3 days. Just me and my Netflix and my knitting and painful salivary glands. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm am looking forward to -- also not having an overactive thyroid, which sucks, let me tell you. But the fact that I don't get to do birthing things with him, that sucks even more.

Finally, he'll be three. Wait, I already said that. It deserves saying again. He'll be three. He was never a terrible two-year old, but all of a sudden, as Three starts to peer around the corner, he's turned into this ... well ... toddler! UHG! He's such a ... TODDLER!!! He doesn't listen to reason, he doesn't want to do what I tell him to do, he's gone from only freaking out at me in the privacy of our own home to freaking out at me wherever we happen to me, which usually means there are other people around who, you know, notice the small child flailing around on the floor and the mother trying to keep her cool.

But anyway ...

Birthday things. Probably the weekend before. Which is fine, he can't read a calendar ... yet. He can tell time, and use a mouse (not that that's relevant to reading a calendar, he just happened to learn that today).

Themes ...

He's a big fan of the Mo Willems Pigon books (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, the Pigeon Finds a Hotdog, etc.), and sometimes they talk about hotdogs. Because hot dogs are awesome. In Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late he dreams about a Hot Dog Party. So we could do that.

I've also been knitting Pigeon Hats and putting them on Etsy, so he's used to A LOT of pigeons around the house.

So we could have a Hot Dog Party. Only problem is we don't have a grill, and if you're going to cook 800 hotdogs for a party, it would be nice to have them on a grill.

Even though he likes his hot dogs cold now. Yuck. Apparenty my brother used to do the same thing when he was little.

But maybe the food isn't important.


Cake. now CAKE is important.

Thinking I could do a bus-shaped cake and draw the pigeon in the window.

Or a pigeon-shaped cake (but that pan might be hard to find, for free)

Or just a regular cake with a pigeon drawn on it ...

Or ...

too ambitious? He would just love them.


Decorations.
God I love pinterest.

So simple.
And we could do games like Pin the Pigeon on the bus, or whatever. Toss the pigeon into the thing. Don't let the pigeon do something. Nothing over the top, because this might just be the grandparents. We don't have very many little friends at the moment.

Play Cash Register

I bought a bunch of big frames for my teaching space, and each of them came in a big cardboard box (within another bigger cardboard box). Nice, thick cardboard. I just couldn't throw it out ... I may have a problem.

Ro has been obsessed with the grocery store. He loves picking out the food, putting it on the checkout belt, asking the cashier for stickers, etc. He has a little play kitchen and play food, and a really cute shopping basket, but no way to really play "store" at home. He doesn't have a cash register.

But I had a bunch of cardboard and about 20 minutes free. And really that's all I need.

(Please excuse any out-of-focus pictures ... thyroid disease-induced shaking ... another post for another time).

1. Design:

(the pieces of cardboard were about 20" long, so I made this 10" long, just for convenience)
There is an angled screen and an open area for a drawer that can slide in and out.


To use my measurements, you can download this template picture.

(Also, seriously, I used the Pythagorean Theorem. In real life. Go call your High School Math teacher and apologize.)


2. Measure and cut.

3. Tape together.

 

I used duct tape on the inside of the corners (tricky to maneuver all the pieces and tape the INSIDE, but it looks better). Had to reinforce the drawer with tape on the outside of the front corners because that's the piece you pull to get the drawer out.


4. Decorate.

I used a black sharpie and drew a screen for the checkout (with his favorite foods and their prices), a credit card swipe slot, and a keypad.


5. Fund.

I just cut out some green construction paper and drew presidents on them. Ro doesn't really get it, but I think he knows they are supposed to be dollars. Cut circles from any leftover cardboard and you've got coins. A little rectangle from leftover cardboard can be a credit card (make sure to have a serious discussion with your toddler about financial responsibility before handing over the card).


6. Buy things from around the house.
Gather food and other things, and pretend to buy them. With older kids, you can talk about dollars and making change, but here we're still working on the concept of "I give you money and you give me the stuff I want/need".


7. Post to Pinterest and get famous.
Is it a problem that my financial planning involves Pinterest-based fame? ...