Will loves Birthdays. If anyone is having a birthday he is always eager to wish them a happy birthday and ask about cake. He really likes cake!
In August we travelled to Adelaide to surprise Bill on his birthday. What was gorgeous was when Will jumped out into the hallway upon Bill's return home from work and said "Happy Cake Grandad!" Will's cousin Meagan also used to call birthday cakes Happy Cakes.
With both of my brothers having birthdays in December and then Christmas, Will kept asking when his birthday was. He would also tell people wherever he went that it was Will's Birthday and Will's party. He did this for about a month or so before his actual birthday. Will is at the age now where he is starting to really express individual preferences and extreme independence. It's great but also exhausting. He was very clear when I asked him what kind of cake he would like. He wanted a 'train cake.' I was actually happy with this as the first thing that came to mind was the beloved Choo Choo train cake from the Australian Women's Weekly cake book. My brothers and I grew up with my mother making a cake of our choice (selected from this special book) each and every year for our birthdays. We really had such amazing childhoods and my mum organised parties for us each and every year. I don't know whether I'm up to that challenge but my birthday parties are wonderful memories for me and I hope Will can look back in years to come and remember his birthday with fondness...and hopefully realise how much effort goes into it.
With Will's birthday being on Australia Day we have had a pretty big party the last 2 years with lots of extended family and friends. This year I wanted something low key and asked Will which of his friends he wanted to come. He was pretty good at naming all his friends and I just sent the word out. Didn't even worry about fun invites like we had the past 2 years. When I showed Will a picture of the train cake he told me "Nana make my train cake." Nana come to Will's house. It was really sad having to tell him that Nana wouldn't be coming to his birthday this year and that Mummy would be making his cake. He would still insist that Nana was making his train cake until he spoke to her via skype a few days before the party. Mum almost cried but of course she needed to be in Tassie with dad. On his birthday he didn't seem to notice the absence of both sets of Grandparents which was probably for the best.
A few days before his birthday on the 26th Jan, cards started arriving in the mail. Will loves opening the mail and was particularly excited to know they were for him.
His reaction at getting a bit of money in the mail was hilarious. He was jumping around going "Money, money, money." I almost broke out with some Abba for him. I really should have as he loves music and dancing...
The cake turned out great and Pete assembled it with ease. It took forever to ice and decorate the cake though. We were only just finishing as our guests arrived. It was a very laid back birthday. I let the kids just play for an hour or so and then played pass the parcel. It was the only game I organised as I think kids at this age (especially boys) just like playing with toys and running around with each other.
Didn't Pete do an amazing job on the cake! I had the easy part for sure!
The birthday boy did a great job blowing out the candles. He is so funny though, after all the buildup he didn't even eat his cake. He had a nibble and then wasn't interested. I tried to get him to eat some over the next couple of days and he still wouldn't. I eventually gave him the piece of the cake that uses jam sponge and he ate that fairly well. I just don't think he likes butter cake. Pete's mum said we'll have to use her Devil's food cake recipe next time as it is great for cutting and assembling and still yummy and chocolaty.
This was the only shot we ended up getting of Will and his cake. I should have been a bit more on the ball but oh well. At least you can see how excited he is at blowing out his candles.
When everyone had gone home Pete and I let Will have fun blowing out his candles again and we had some photos with him.
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Henry looks mesmerised by the candle
I love my boys so much!
I guess I should give a little summary about our big 3 year old.
Will LOVES music and is constantly singing and dancing. His dancing consists mainly of spinning around and around until he falls over. He loves 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams and anything by Daft Punk. But his favourite and most requested song is Pepponi by the Piano guys. (It's a gorgeous cover of the Coldplay song 'Paradise'). He loves instrumental and some classical and will often comment that the music is beautiful - not a word I've ever heard him use when listening to other genres. He loves singing to Henry with me and enjoys my singing. He asks me to sing again if I stop singing during a song. I'm sure the day will come very soon when he asks me to stop singing. I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Henry loves being sung to and enjoys his brothers antics with singing and dance.
Will is testing me all the time. He cries at the drop of a hat but generally responds well to discipline and will express regret. He will tell me "I'm really sorry mummy" etc but of course will repeat the same behaviour soon after. I'm trying to be as patient as I can but I can tell you that it is so hard to remain composed at times....Like the time he whacked Henry with a thick cardboard roll and the time he deliberately woke Henry up when it had taken me ages to settle him...and I was trying so hard to have one on one time with Will by getting Henry to sleep!
Will loves swimming and is growing more confident. He wants to go under all the time and uses his pool noodle in a variety of ways to get around the pool. This has been wonderful as I can have Henry in the baby floatie and keep Will at arms length. I'm pretty proud of myself for taking them swimming on my own. I love having access to the estate pool and we've been for swims almost daily this summer.
Will is very safety conscious. There have been occasions where I've gone to drive off and he has exclaimed "seat belt mummy, seatbelt!" I'm so glad he is aware and eager to remind me. I really have to get more sleep!!
He cracks us up constantly with funny quotes and his cheeky ways. Sometimes he will say something hilarious when we're having a stern word to him and we have to turn away and stifle a laugh as he says the funniest things. Upon seeing a photo of my friend's beautiful baby girl all dressed up in a gorgeous frilly dress Will pointed excitedly and said
"Look, Henry's a fairy!"
I laughed so hard and explained that it wasn't Henry but baby Keilani. He then said "She's so cute!" For the most part he's pretty good with using the correct pronouns and I'm quite chuffed about this as it's a hard thing to learn.
Here is another example of a funny conversation from the other day:
Me: "I'm going to run you a bath."
Will: "You can't run in the bath. Silly mummy!
Will speaks with an occa accent but then can sound quite British at times.Pete says that like me, Will's accent becomes more occa when he spends time in Tassie. I don't know if that's the case but Pete insists it is so. I must admit when I talk on the phone I sound a bit bogan at times :-P
Will's memory is incredible and is great at remembering people and people's names. He definitely gets that from me and not his daddy! Just yesterday when we arrived in Tassie and my parents house Will looked around and then asked "Where's Rosie?!" Rosie is a dear friend's Grand-daughter and happened to be here for dinner on our last night in Tassie on our recent trip here. She must have left an impression.
Will's imagination continues to delight us all and he is a great person to play with. I am trying to incorporate teaching opportunities during play and we count and discuss colours and sometimes I try to explain different words and situations. He now knows that a car that's broken needs a mechanic and not a Doctor...I'm trying to do things naturally and look for little lessons I can impart on him. It's not easy when I have limited one on one time with him so I hope he learns the things that will help him the most at this point in his life.
He has a big personality and though he has a tendency to be a little rough and brutish he is also very sweet and gentle...or at least has the capacity to be. This is one area I hope I can help him in this year, especially as he may end up at Pre-Kinder by the end of the year. Now that is a scary thought!
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