Happy Birthday Toser!!!!

Toser is 3!!! His birthday was Sunday! And I literally just got a chance to sit down and write about it... Saturday, we brought Toser to Birmingham to spend the night and he was so excited to be in "Burmigham." He was very grateful the entire time, continuously saying, "Oh Tank you," and was perfect during breakfast at The Pancake House on Sunday. We had plans to take him to Thomas and Friends at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum but they had storm damage and all Thomas train rides for the weekend were cancelled. I was crushed. Toser didn't know we were planning on taking him so he was fine but I don't think I've recovered from the disappointment. I really wanted to do something special for him and this would have been perfect. :(

But all is well. We took him to the McWane Center here in Birmingham as a plan B (this was plan B because the Bird Family gave us gift certificates to the McWane Center-thanks so much Bird Family!). Toser had an absolute blast. He wore us out and had fun and was perfect the entire day. He did freak out a bit at how LOUD the IMAX dinosaur movie was but recovered from that and ended up eating popcorn and being fascinated by the dinos. I'm serious when I say he was perfect. We went to a little dive for lunch and had to wait 20 minutes for food and although Toser was starving and tired he never once got whiny and impatient. He stayed that way while we were at the McWane Center and until we got back to the hospital where Manny was waiting to take him back home.

Toser has grown so much the last 2 months and I'm very sad I've missed it. He's gone from being 2 in every sense of the word to being a grateful, polite social butterfly. When Tater went into the hospital, we couldn't get Toser to say hi to people he didn't know well and now he'll talk to anyone. Last Friday the vent program staff went to our house for a home inspection visit to make sure we didn't have lead paint peeling off the walls and had adequate space for the vent and supplies. As soon as they walked through the door, Toser was trying to get them to go upstairs to see his room and his ride on Thomas train. Mr. Awesome and I just stood there with our mouths open because we couldn't believe how talkative he was being. And he was that way Sunday at the hospital, telling everyone who wished him a Happy Birthday, "Tank you." I'm sure we'll all "get back to normal" when we get back to normal but it was great to have this weekend and see the new Toser.

I attribute the "new" Toser to the family that has stepped in and taken care of him. Everyone has such different, wonderful ways of taking care of him and he's flourished with the diversity. He's definitely learned to roll with the punches and I know he's a better kid because of it. And he became a social butterfly because each one of his aunts is one in their own way and he really had no choice. We love you Toser. You make our lives rich with experience and fun with wonder. You're a great kid!