Beanie Cole Turned 4!

 

Beanie Cole, aka Bean, aka Ash, aka Asher turned 4! His birthday did not go as planned when his early morning vomiting ruined our plans for the trampoline park. That had to be put on hold, and the fate of his party planned for the following evening was undecided. Finding a convenient time for it was already a hassle because of a basketball tournament, so I really didn’t want to reschedule it. His stomach bug was short lived, and he never spiked a fever, so we went ahead with the plan, but I made sure to let everyone know about the risk. As far as I know, no one else became sick, thankfully. 

That poor kid was so bummed we couldn’t go to the trampoline park on his birthday, but he did get to open his gifts from us. He said he really liked everything he got, so that was good. 

Brain rot toys are some of his fave. I don’t understand them, but he likes them. 

Later, he had fun playing with Brother in a fort they made in the kitchen

All of that fun wore him out, though, and he took a rare afternoon nap. 

I spent the entire next day preparing for the party, sanitizing all commonly touched surfaces and our bathrooms. Ash wanted me to get food from Pizza Hut for his party, and I made his cake according to his specifications—a yellow cake with white icing, chocolate sprinkles, and Ronaldo 😂. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was delicious!

He makes the best reaction faces 

We did finally make it to the trampoline park the next weekend, but after all of the anticipation, the experience wasn’t what we hoped for. Ash’s separation anxiety has recently escalated, and he struggled to go off on his own, even with Quinn by his side. Philip and I jumped with them on his birthday celebration last year, but when we went to the one at the beach, they didn’t really care that we were there, so I figured they would be fine jumping by themselves, while we just watched and followed them around. That was true for Quinn. He had a fantastic time. Ash made it for about half of our 90 minute session before having a meltdown. I was hoping he would take a break to calm down and then rejoin the fun, but he dint really recover for more than a few minutes. We, collectively, decided he was done, and let Quinn go until he tired of it, too. Ash said he was hungry, but I don’t think that was his only problem. I actually considered buying a ticket for myself to jump with him, but then I didn’t think that would help and would be a waste of money. He seemed fine after we left. 

We hit the food court at the mall after the trampoline park, and then the Photo Booth on the way out 

🍕🍟🍪📸. 

I’m hoping this phase doesn’t last much longer because my patience is growing very thin. He’s not a super whiny kid, so I try to just breathe through it, but his sudden need to be stuck up my butt again can get overwhelming. The night before his trampoline park adventure, we attended the K Pop Demon Hunters themed dance at The Center for Children and Families. I asked the boys if they wanted to go, Quinn said no, Ash said yes. Quinn changed his mind after some convincing, and he had a great time! He found a pack of boys to play alien invasion with, while Ash clung to my leg like a leech. It wasn’t long ago when Quinn was attached to me like a third appendage. I credit school with giving him the ability to separate from me easily. Hopefully Ash will gain those same skills once he starts Pre-K in the fall. 

It was “comfy clothes” day at school for Quinn that day, so he wanted to wear his soft flannel pants. I could tell he was nervous about wearing them because he asked me more than once that morning if I thought other kids would be wearing pajamas. I told him they would, most kids like doing that. He rarely wants to participate in theme days though. Monkey see, monkey do, so Ash ended up wearing his that day, too ❤️🖤