I'm sorry your birthday post is way past due. We had to postpone your birthday party twice because the flu was making its way through our house. You were the only one that didn't get sick.
Wow! What growth you have made this year. You have definitely transitioned from being a toddler into a young boy. You are more independent in what you can do but you still want mommy and daddy around. You can ride a scooter and are learning how to ride a bike w/o training wheels. You can dress yourself, make your bed, set the table and dial the phone.
Your vocabulary continues to amaze us as you freely use words like "mysterious," "pterasaur," and "habitat." Some of your questions intrigue us and leave us scrambling for answers: Why do locusts shed their skin? Do spiders molt? Why do babies grow in mom's tummy? How do they come out? Not wanting to lie to you, we try our best to answer truthfully in age-appropriate ways.
You are into Transformers, Leggos, dinosaurs, outer space, bugs, sharks and other marine life. In fact, you tell people that you want to be a marine biologist when you grow up. Or, maybe an entymologist. I think you might become an architect or some kind of engineer since you use such creativity and symmetry in your Leggo and block building. Your Leggo building skills were definitely inherited from your daddy.
You can write your name and are beginning to sound out 3 letter words. You are not really interested in being taught to read but you do love to look at books and be read to. You get very excited when you recognize words as we're driving: "Exit," "Go," "No." Your math skills impress me as you can do simple addition and subtraction in your head. You go to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays and really enjoy it, especially on show n tell days. (I've been told that the other kids have a hard time getting a word in edgewise. Imagine that!)
I'm not going to sugarcoat it, there is a fair share of bickering between you and your brother, but on the days where you wear your big brother hat well, my heart is overjoyed. I love to see you explain the rules of your made-up games to M, take care of him when he gets hurt, try to teach him how to kick a soccer ball, or gently remind him to "obey mama." For over a year now, you have been telling us that you want "1 more brother and 2 little sisters." We'll see about that...
You love going to church and learning about God. I can't believe how many Bible stories you already know. You have memorized about 8 Bible verses and even know several of the lesser known characters like Mephibosheth. Though I'm sure you can't spell his name, you can pronounce it quite well. You remind me and others when things don't "glorify God" and you pray genuine prayers for others to learn more about Him.
We love you, sweet K, and pray for you to grow into a young man who glorifies God with every step.
-Mom & Dad
On K's actual birthday, he found a new Transformer waiting for him when he woke up. Can you tell he is excited?
That evening, we went to EJ's Pizza with some family & friends for dinner. After pizza, we sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed strawberry cake.
For his party, we had a Dino Dig in our backyard. Wes had installed a new playset this past spring and so I wanted to do an outdoor party that somehow utilized the "built in entertainment." The kids decorated bags with dinosaur stamps and stickers when they first arrived. After a couple of relay games, it was time for cake. I worked so hard on this volcano cake! I was excited and nervous as I started to assemble the tall volcano, but it turned out pretty cute. (I had a back up cake mix in the pantry, just in case.) I even put dry ice in the top and so there was a neat smoke effect.
Then the kids divided into 3 groups and did dinosaur themed activities, one of which was digging for bones, of course. I requested ribs for my bday dinner a few weeks ago and now you know why. We hid the ribs ("dino bones") and plastic dino eggs in a sandbox.
The last thing was the pinata. We had to get out the metal baseball bat because that thing would not break.
When all was said and done, I think everyone had a great time and I had fun planning it, even if the teacher in me did rear its head. Yes, I confess that I had a minute by minute schedule and that I did give out a book as a party favor...but I tried to be nice and didn't make anybody sit in timeout.
K, I hope you enjoyed your Dino Dig and remember it fondly for years to come.
