Last year, Derek had a blast on his 2nd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. He has been back there a few times over the past year. And he still remembers that birthday party. So, after going to Chuck E. Cheese one day, and again talking about his birthday party, I asked Derek where he would like to go for his next birthday party. He said "Bear in the Big Blue House." Ooops, didn't see that coming! But (luckily), he soon changed it to Chuck's.
Last month on my birthday, Derek asked me if I wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I said no. He said "You can if you want. Let's go!" I told him I wanted to stay home with him. He tried one more time to tell me I could go "if I wanted to", but this time I distracted him by asking him where he wanted to go for his next birthday. He said Chuck's (of course), and he stopped trying to get me to go there.
This year Derek really seemed to understand what it meant that it was his birthday. He was all excited, for several weeks before the party. We got to Chuck's a little before lunchtime, which gave the kids some time to play (and get a little of the excitement out) before it was time to eat. That seemed to work out well.
We started with the pizza. Just like the other times he's been to Chuck's, he didn't really want to eat because there was so much else to do. He somehow managed to eat a little bit.
Then we moved to presents. It seemed to me that Derek got a TON of stuff this year. Some of the highlights were a track for his Hot Wheels cars, some roller skates (and a helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads), a backyard bird book for kids, and a lot of spring and summer clothes. What a haul! There was a little present wrapped up and put on top of a bigger present. Derek opened the little one and held up what was inside. "Batteries!! I got BATTERIES!" (I then suggested Derek open the other present to see what the batteries might be used for.)
After presents, it was time for the cake. When it was put in front of him, Derek was about to blow out the candles. I told him we needed to sing Happy Birthday first. As soon as we were done singing, without any prompting, Derek blew out all three candles in one breath. (He did it so fast, I almost missed the picture.)
The energy level went through the roof as it was then time for the playroom. There was a dramatic difference in the things he was interested in this year versus last year. For example, he really didn't spend much time in the Ball Crawl, and he did not go up into the tubes at all. And he only rode a couple of the rides. He went on the firetruck, the dragon ride, the train, and the helicopter. He was really liking the different games. His two favorites seemed to be the ones where he could bash something. Whack-a-mole and something that resembled what you'd find at a carnival where you hit the bottom and try to make the thing go all the way up and ring the bell. (This version had a padded mallet, and lights that lit all the way up.) Derek managed to get it to the top (after selecting Under Age 4). He wanted to get a lot of tickets. (The tickets can be turned in and redeemed for a toy. It takes a lot of tickets to get some little toy.)
When we were out of tokens to play the games, and it was time to go anyway, Derek turned in his tickets and selected his prizes. Derek chose a little Chuck E. Cheese puzzle and some little clapping hands. After getting them, he said "Now let's go get some more tickets." Sorry, Buddy, it's time to go.
A couple of days later, Derek was walking around the house with his helmet on. I asked if I could take a picture. He wanted to hold his new Scooby Doo ball too.
