Konrad is 3!

We could see the look in his eye.  All during Natalie's birthday weekend, Konrad had the look of, "Just wait, it's going to be MY birthday in a few days!"

Today Konrad woke up to this in the living room:

Now if you pay close attention to this blog, you might notice that this bike looks suspiciously like Lukas' previous bike...and you would be correct.  And there's a story behind it.  Lukas received his first bike on his 4th birthday, and we thought Konrad was still too short for that bike.  However, Konrad has progressed with trike riding much more quickly than Lukas, so we thought, "Let's get a smaller bike for Konrad...he'll use it for a year and then progress to this bike."  So while I was at Target, I looked at small bikes.  One box said a 16" bike was good for kids 38" and taller.  Konrad is 40" tall, so I got a 16" bike.

But then we noticed that Lukas' old bike is a 16" bike.  Unfortunately, we noticed that AFTER Tom had already put together the new 16" bike.  (Insert Tom rolling his eyes.)  But we still decided to return the bike and clean up this bike for Konrad.  Once the handlebars and seat were lowered, he is able to ride it.

And boy does he love it!

It worked out so well that his birthday is on a Tuesday.  After we dropped Lukas off at his one-day-a-week at school, Konrad and Dominik and I came home and Konrad got to practice on his bike without his big brother around.  Then we took a walk around the block...and I realized Konrad needs a lot of training for riding in city streets: he tends to want to ride in the middle of the road instead of next to the curb.  But we'll work on it.

After he rode his bike for a while, he painted. 

For dinner, we had Konrad's favorite, hamburgers and fried potatoes and raw carrots (he doesn't like cooked carrots).  His chocolate cupcake (I made a full batch last week, used half for Natalie's party on Saturday and froze the other half for today) had chocolate frosting instead of Natalie's pink vanilla frosting.

What a day!  The December birthdays are over!

Konrad, we're so proud of you.  You have put a smile on our face every day since that wonderful day three years ago that you were born.  We love your personality and how much love you show to your brothers and sister.  You are such a fun kid!

Love,
Mom and Dad