Carson's Third Birthday...with Friends

Wow! I can't believe Carson is already 3!!! Carson's third year of life was yet another year of ups and downs. During this year, Carson presented with a delay in his speech and had to go through much testing. He had his hearing tested, his speech, language, and cognition tested, and even a blood test on some of his genes. The only action being taken at this time is that he was enrolled in the Early Intervention program to receive speech therapy. A therapist came to our home and worked with Carson every 2 weeks until his recent birthday. Now we are waiting for the school system to take over his therapy on a weekly basis.

In addition, Carson is waiting on an appointment to have even more testing done. Dr. Rutledge, the doctor for his PKU, has suggested we apply to the clinic where we already go for them to do developmental testing on him. If he presents with any more delays they will be able to recommend different therapies to help him, and us. At just 3 years of age, it is still hard to tell if Carson is just being a typical independence-seeking, demanding preschooler, or if he indeed has some other delays. He still is not advanced in feeding himself with utensils, nor will he use a potty, but he is finally starting to come around on these things. He cannot carry on an actual conversation yet, but he is finally jabbering more and more. He also has some screaming emotional fits from time to time, and he rarely wakes up from a nap in anything that even resembles a good mood. Alot of screaming and crying have gone on around our house this last year, but most of it has come from Mommy!

Perhaps the biggest change to Carson's life this year was the addition of a baby sister. This is the happy and positive news. It was hard to read Carson's feelings toward Maggie at first, but as he is growing and slowly maturing and becoming more able to express himself, we are seeing how much he loves his sister. He has always loved helping take care of her, and it becomes more evident every day how much he loves her. As she has become more alert, he has begun taking great delight in making her laugh at him. There is no greater joy in life than the laughter of children in the home! I LOVE hearing them laugh together. They are SO adorable. I cannot wait until they grow even more and start running around and playing together. I think they will have a lot of fun. Maggie seems to get the biggest kick out of Carson too!

Seeing what a good big brother he is growing up to be, how he interacts with her, and how he just seems to love people has been really encouraging for me this year. I am so proud of my baby boy, as he is trying so hard, slowly but surely, to grow into a little boy instead of a baby. Parents will always tell others that they grow up fast, enjoy every moment, and some even long for the days when they were babies. I feel for my son right now, that I want him to grow up at a normal and healthy pace. I see his struggles and I want what is best for him. I want him to grow up just like other kids, as much as possible. I take joy in watching him grow and celebrate each little step, tiny as it may be. I am hopeful for his future.

I decided once again, like last year, to celebrate Carson's birthday with friends so as to get him some interaction with more children and just plain have fun. On Saturday, August 11th, we had Carson's "Friends Party" at our house. I went with another summer theme, like a pool party, but this year with the kids all being a little older and the weather turning out a bit cooler, we added some things. I decided to get the kiddie pool out in case any still wanted to play in it, but we also had a sprinkler ring for them to run through. The biggest hit of the party was Carson's red covered wagon! Thank goodness for that thing! The water was pretty cool, although most of the kids did still enjoy some time playing in it. We also had water guns and water bombs to add some fun, and of course beach balls, bubbles, and balloons (Carson's 3 favorite B's).

Since I had it at 4:00 when I intended to say 2:00, silly me, I had to have supper. Papa Murphy's pizza came to the rescue. They were still running their $4 Friday thin crust one-topping special, plus we had enough card punches to get one free. Kept them in the fridge overnight and cooked them right before the party. That was some good stuff. For low protein snacks I made homemade graham crackers, which turned out to be my best so far, and low protein cupcakes. I found a recipe on Maddy's website, where I get cake and muffin mixes, for chocolate cupcakes. I used their yellow cake mix and put in a mixture of hot water, 1 teaspoon instant coffee, and 2 tablespoons cocoa. I decorated the tops with Pilsbury white cupcake icing from a spray can, and multi-colored candy sprinkles. Super easy. We also had tortilla chips and salsa dip and a colorful addition to match the party colors of m&ms in a bowl. Unfortunately, Carson liked those more than I thought he would! The cupcakes turned out pretty good as well. The texture of that cake is very dense, not light and fluffy like regular cake, but the chocolate flavoring gave it a better taste. It turned out better than I expected. And they all got eaten, even by Carson, although some kids only eat the icing anyway! We had some regular soft drinks, water, and I made a gallon of Tropical Punch Kool-Aid, which I REALLY craved by the end of the evening, only to discover a bee had somehow managed to crawl inside the pitcher and go for a swim! GRR!!!!

Everyone we invited made it to the party, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I hope they did. I know I sure did! I enjoyed every minute of it and honestly was not stressed out at any time getting ready for the party or during or after it. It felt like the most successful one yet. I guess not being pregnant helped my stress level! lol Last year I had just found out I was pregnant with Maggie!

I got some really adorable pictures and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful day, even thought it wasn't as hot as usual. Carson had needed a nap, but of course did not get one. He was so tired he was a little zoned out and played by himself alot, didn't smile alot, but he still played with the kids some and enjoyed watching them too. I think it was really good for him and for them too, and even for us adults. We got to spend time talking to each other and watching our kids get to know each other better. I want to thank everyone who came and had fun and made Carson's birthday extra special!

Another beautiful sunset at the Rice home to end another great birthday party!