So, Madelyn turned three. I can’t believe it either. It was an epic birthday filled with lots of celebrating.

This was the first birthday that she really understood she was even having one. For the past couple months leading up to August 9th, Madelyn would declare, “It’s almost my birthday!” and then proceed to ask every day if it was her birthday yet. While she knows the date of her birthday, I don’t think she’s grasped the essence of time, and that it has to pass, day by day, first.

The day before her birthday, we celebrated at school! Madelyn enjoyed summer camp at her preschool and since the majority of her school years won’t include birthdays with her class — boo summer birthdays — I wanted to make sure she got to celebrate with her friends and teachers while she could.

During Tot Shabbat, she got to go up on the bimah and say her name and age, and then the camp sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She enjoyed wearing her birthday crown with Minnie Mouse on it that her beloved Miss Joi Joi made. It didn’t leave her head for the rest of her birthday weekend! At the end of the camp day, I brought in cupcakes for the class and she got another round of the birthday song. So far, the birthday love was flowing.

That night, as tradition dictates, we went to Lazy Dog Cafe as a family of four (Princeton included) to mark August 8th as the last meal we ever ate as a family of three (again, Princeton included). It’s where we ate the night before we had Madelyn, and it’s not that it’s such an amazing place, but it’s just special for nostalgia’s sake.

Madelyn wanted to get dolled up for the night out at dinner. She requested a tutu — “but the black one, because it’s fancy” and she also requested a pre-dinner photo shoot. Who am I to deny the birthday girl her wishes?

At the end of dinner, she had a brownie sundae and she sang “Happy Birthday” to herself. It wasn’t even August 9th yet, and she was nailing the birthday shtick.

Due to the build up, and the fact that I am also a sucker for birthdays, I wanted to do something extra fun on the big day as a family. Her birthday was on a Saturday, so we really had freedom to do whatever we wanted. I know she would’ve been happy with a “Frozen” marathon and some ice cream, but August 9th is a special day for me, too, and I wanted to mark it with something we don’t normally get to do. So it was perfect when I remembered that the Ventura County Fair was in its final weekend and I thought she’d be old enough to finally enjoy it. We told her we were going to take her to the fair to show her the animals, eat yummy food, and ride the rides, and she totally loved the idea!

When we put our two-year-old to bed on August 8th, Bryan and I blew up balloons and flooded them in her room while she slept. On her birthday morning, we woke up to her waking up to the balloons. Over the monitor we heard, “Oh, purple! That’s my favorite! Oh, pink! That’s my favorite, too! Oh, yellow! That is so my favorite!” It was pretty funny how she found the balloons so magical.

For her birthday breakfast, we surprised her with a candle in a donut. There’s no other acceptable way to start your third year than with donuts.

And from there, we were off to the fair!

Madelyn absolutely loved the sights, sounds, and smells of the fair! She cooed over every animal and cheered for the piggies at the pig races. We went into a petting farm that had the usual suspects: goats, sheep, pigs, chickens. Oh, and DEER. Yeah, Bambi was there and let me tell you: deer are bitches. The $3 we paid to be in there essentially went to Madelyn’s future therapy bills because the two deer were skirt-hungry and kept stalking Madelyn and nibbling on her tutu. She was none too pleased. I had no idea that deer were so drawn to clothing, and we both felt very violated by their attempts to eat Madelyn alive and naked.

So after some vigorous hand washing, Bryan took her to meet some other interesting characters: the gamers. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a fair and nothing has changed. Even though we all know that carnival games are for suckers, it’s like one of those stupid-but-fun rites of passage that is totally a father-daughter moment. And just like out of a cheesy movie, he won the game and got a stuffed animal for her. Granted, it was Team Brydelyn vs. a poor kindergartner who didn’t stand a chance. And the stuffed animal was worse quality than the junk inside the claw machine that you find in the lobby of Denny’s. But still! (Digital) Kodak moment!

After praying to whatever God was most convenient, we went up in the tallest Ferris wheel and I tried to enjoy the views of the pristine beach on one side and the colorful fair on the other in order to distract me from the fact that this thing was meant to come apart at the hinges and travel from city to city, prepared again and again by the country’s finest higher thinkers. I’m such a buzz kill. But I write this to you two weeks later, alive and well. So there’s that.

We used up more tickets on some kiddie rides that Madelyn owned like a champ. I wasn’t sure how she’d do going on rides all by herself for the first time ever. We stood and watched her go around and around and cheered her on. She totally loved it.

The end of the day drew near, and a nap was still in the cards. Madelyn snoozed until dinner time and we met up with both sets of grandparents for another traditional meal: The Cheesecake Factory Birthday Feast. And brown bread.

A mini ice cream sundae with a candle in it sealed the deal for a successful birthday dinner, but we still had presents to open, so we went back to our house with the grandparents and Madelyn ripped apart gifts like a pro. The year before, she needed me to assist her in opening presents, but now she’s able to lay into them like a human machete.

And lay into them she did! Literally. Both Grandma and Grandpa and Mimi and Poppa know their girl loves to dress up, so they supplied her with all the ball gowns and fins and lab coats any imaginative toddler could dream of. She squealed with delight over each get-up and then we proceeded to be audience members in a fashion show displaying the hottest in Disney character couture.

She opened each one and laid them out on the floor. Then, when all were revealed, she took turns strutting her stuff in them. After that, she placed the costumes on all the adults in the room and made us do the coordinating characters. It was definitely Madelyn’s world and, as usual, we were in it!

Bedtime came and we all said goodnight to the new three-year-old. I think it’s safe to say that her birthday weekend was a hit and she felt all the love and then some.

And yet birthday celebrating wasn’t over. A trip to Disneyland and her big party were on the agenda for the week ahead and between the two of us, I really don’t know who was more excited!

Happy birthday, Madelyn!

I remember it like yesterday. But, it was actually two years ago. I was up in the stirrups and Dr. Fiiiine did a check that resulted in a casual question: “So how would you guys like to have a baby tomorrow?”

Record screech.

Whaaaat?

Why did we act so surprised? I was three days late, swelling out of my own skin, and she was about to go on vacation. But the whole “scheduling” of our first child’s birth seemed too unorganic for me. And I’m not even a hippie. I don’t even shop at Whole Foods (regularly). (It’s really just too expensive, ya know?).

Setting an alarm to wake up and go have a baby felt very anticlimactic, especially since every tick-tock I heard throughout the final week of my pregnancy left me in “IS THIS IT?!” “IS IT HAPPENING?!” “COULD IT BE NOW?!” “NOW?!” “NOW NOW NOW???” I was on edge and totally expected that with every step I took, the very next one would be in a pool of my own water.

Yeah, that never happened.

So when Dr. Fiiiine suggested we induce the next day, that left Bryan and me a handful of hours to live it up as a married couple with no responsibilities.

So what did we do?

We tidied up the house, packed the last minute toiletries, set up Princeton’s overnight bag (yes, he had a bag!), and had our last dinner out at our first born’s favorite restaurant: Lazy Dog Cafe.

We’d sat out on the patio with Princeton dozens of times. People would always crouch down and gush over him and he loved the attention, wagging his tail in delight and with pride. I loved seeing other dogs there and talking with all the fellow dog lovers at the dog-themed restaurant. It’s a special place for that alone. And we felt we owed it to Princeton, to give him a night out at his favorite restaurant on his final evening as our only child.

So last year, we brought Madelyn the night before her first birthday. The hostess who’d seated us the year before when I was a night’s sleep away from being admitted to the hospital remembered us on Madelyn’s birthday eve. “You’re the couple who came in the night before you were having a baby, right?” Yes. “And this is her! Wow. That’s amazing.” We got free dessert last year.

And just like Tevye, we believe in tradition. So tonight, we went back to Lazy Dog for a 3rd Eighth of August dinner. Princeton got attention and Madelyn did, too. She performed for all the tables around us. Last year, she couldn’t speak any words and had no interest in crayons. This year, she did a one-toddler show for the other diners on the patio and also passed time drawing pictures and naming the crayons’ colors. Birthday Eve has changed again.

Madelyn was in a great mood tonight. It’s like she understood that tonight and tomorrow and the whole weekend ahead are all about her. She confidently announced that she’s TWO and couldn’t stop asking for tickles and kisses at bedtime. We had a mini photo shoot and made silly faces at each other and then ruined our staring contests with uncontrollable shrieks of laughter. She brushed her teeth like a big girl and I stared in awe as she went through the motions of her routine. Last year, she couldn’t even walk to her sink. The year before that, I could barely walk at all.

Maybe I’m overly nostalgic and sentimental, but I can’t help but mark time with events like Birthday Eve at Lazy Dog dinners or reflecting on the changes over the course of a year. I suppose time is the one thing we truly have no control over. That, and the fact that Madelyn will always be my baby, no matter how many birthdays we celebrate together.

Happy 2nd birthday tomorrow, Madelyn.