Everyone say "Happy Birthday Franklin!"

He's officially three now. I swear we have been talking about this birthday for weeks, months even, and now the day has come and gone.

Get this: The photo you see here is the ONLY photo I took for the entire birthday. This was Franklin and I wandering around outside before the guests arrived. The box you see behind him is a big "bus" that is interestingly enough, a big hit with the three-year-old set. Who knew? Buy a printer for your work and bring the box home for hours of quality screeching.

The pinata was pulled, the playground was explored and thirteen children with parentals jammed into our tiny townhouse for lunch and cake.

Franklin was amazingly gracious with all his toys. I was impressed - as were the rest of the parents. There were NO tantrums for the entire party - from any of them.

None.

You may not have any idea what this means if you are not the parent of a toddler. It is a serious accomplishment and although I know I will get emails up the whazoo for this, I think much of it has to do with the fact that all of these kids are in some kind of preschool care or have siblings. They have those rules down pat. Although whining and tantrums may occasionally happen at home, when among a group of kids, there is no whining/grabbing/stamping of the feet and falling down in a shaking fit of terror.

Whatever the reason for the calming chaos (preschool, the alignment of planets, a new stack of toys), it doesn't matter. I love my son.

We had a good day.