Parker Has a Birthday

We had a fun celebration on Parker's birthday.  In the morning we went to the Living Coast Discovery Center.  It's a small nature reserve that has marine animals and birds on display and it was the perfect size to hold a toddler's attention and also allowed us to see everything in between Kate's morning and afternoon nap.

On our way home we stopped and got a little treat.  (Paul has instilled in Parker a very fervent love of all things donuts.)

We asked Parker what kind of cupcakes he wanted for his birthday.  Initially he kept saying, "pink ones!" (which didn't go over very well with Paul).  We asked him if we wanted chocolate or vanilla or lots of different colors like last year.  He just kept saying pink, but eventually consented to red, which I then interpreted to mean red velvet.  Parker helped decorate them.

We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner where Parker got to eat one of his favorite foods (french fries) and play in the play place.  Afterward it was time for presents and cupcakes.  Parker elected to open presents first.  We had been trying to really hype up his birthday in the preceding weeks to get him excited.  Any time we asked him what he wanted it was always the same answer: a Lightning McQueen race car toilet.  This was a win-win all around.  It was a great way to get him excited about getting potty trained, plus, we would have gotten him a training potty anyway, so to have him want it for his birthday was perfect.  We also got him some big boy undies.  Since his birthday he hasn't shown any additional interest in getting potty trained, and I'm really in no rush, but the seed has been planted.  Soon enough, soon enough.  He got some other fun gifts too...

Turns out that Parker did not inherit my love of cupcakes; he didn't eat a single one. A kid who doesn't like cupcakes?!  Sounds to me like that should be illegal.