Bryce had a great birthday. Actually, he had a few great birthdays, as we celebrated over the course of a week.
On his actual birthday (Wednesday), Alex and I took him to Chuck E. Cheese. Yes, I believe I just heard groans from the readers. That's exactly how Alex reacted to my suggestion of going there. Bryce had never been to a place like that before, and since they have a Toddler Zone with stuff for the little kids, I thought he'd enjoy it.
The CEC trip started out on the wrong foot... When you walk in the door, there's a kid check-in desk. (Essentially, they stamp the kid's and the parents' hands with the same special code. On the way out, they check to make sure you are leaving with the correct child. Great idea, actually.) As we were checking in, the attendant asked if we were celebrating anything special. Upon hearing it was B's birthday, the guy pushed a button. All of the sudden there were flashing lights and a loud voice and trumpet announcing the birthday. Bryce immediately donned the block-head face and started crying.
Luckily, it went uphill from there. He loved the mechanical dancing/singing mouse while he ate his pizza. He didn't seem like he was going to like the live version of the mouse, but luckily, the mouse has an eye for that sort of thing and kept right on walking! After pizza, we played a few games: the baby whack 'em game was a hit and another game that had a steering wheel. The only one he didn't want to try was the Barney car ride. He was scared of the giant purple dinosaur sitting in the passenger seat... and really, can you blame him?
Then there was the birthday party! We had an Elmo cake, which of course meant red icing. Gross, I know. But, Elmo only comes in one color, so red it was. Bryce once again proved he's our son, as he wanted nothing to do with the sugary sweet icing, but eventually ate the cake.
