heroandkurtisfamily: Happy Birthday Leo!

Leo turned three today. I cannot believe that he is three. Three sounds so old, yet I look at him and he's still my chubby little baby, gorgeous and pink and soft. Ah, who am I kidding? Aidan still looks like that to me sometimes and he's almost nine.

We had Leo's family party yesterday. He enjoyed himself thoroughly and loved his cake, presents and balloons.

Or at least we thought he liked his balloons. He seems to have developed some fairly intense feelings of aggression towards Pablo, the penguin from The Backyardigans, and has taken to beating the air out of him...quite literally. Things look innocent and happy here but believe me, they took an ugly turn. The poor balloon is currently lying in a crumpled, defeated heap in the corner of our living room. Leo goes over and tackles it from time to time, just to make sure it will never rise again.

I don't know where this sudden and inexplicable anger came from. He normally loves Pablo and especially Surfer Pablo. Leo has a thing for surfing. He tried it for the first time with his dad this weekend and he's sure that he's a natural.

Today, we took Leo and Aidan, Cousin Manny, Auntie Erin and Gramma to Binbrook Conservation Area to celebrate. The kids

seemed to have a great time. Manny and Leo had the thrilling experience of dual diaper changes. I've edited the photo because of graphic content but it was quite a sight. And yes, I know, he's now three and still in diapers. We're working on it.

Binbrook is a great place. I feel really fortunate that we

live in an area filled with so much green space and things for families to do. The kids loved the lake and the splash pad and in August, they open up the park at night so that the Hamilton Astronomers club and the public can go and view the Perseid Meteor Shower. We went last year and it was fun. Both of the kids were fascinated. Aidan was enthralled by the meteors and the telescopes and Leo was just completely amazed at the idea that we were out, in the middle of the night, lying on the ground and being quiet, looking at the sky.

Overall, it was a great birthday weekend. We had lots of family around to help us celebrate and Leo spent some quality time with his cousin Manny to practice being a good big brother, just like his own big brother. He's working on sharing and being gentle and I'm sure he'll be wonderful when the time comes. As long as his little brother never wants to dress up as Pablo for Halloween. That might get a little scary.

Well, I'm exhausted and need to get to bed. I'll leave you with one last shot of cute Cousin Manny, just because he's so adorable and chunky and such a great snuggler.