Happy Happy Four!

We have had so much fun celebrating you as you turned FOUR!

Not surprisingly, you awoke early with anticipation and excitement on your birthday morning and were surprised to see a pile of presents awaiting you on the table! Just as a sign of you getting bigger, we have you your first snowboard for your birthday! I'm so excited to watch you snowboard this winter with Dada! After opening the gifts, we celebrated with sprinkle pancakes and blew out your first birthday candle.

I was lucky enough to have the day of your birthday off of work, so I had a special lunch with you at school and then we shared your birth story and pictures of your life with your friends at circle. You got to walk around the circle with a globe while friends said "The earth moves around the sun...12 months...52 weeks...365 days. That makes one whole year." It was quite wonderful to see how much enthusiasm your friends had in celebrating you! On your birthday night, we went to one of your favorite restaurants for dinner, Phinney Market, and you chose creme brûlée for our special dessert.

Then, we had a birthday party! You invited 9 friends to our house to watch Monsters Inc. and to eat pizza and cups of dirt. It made my heart happy watching you have such a fun time!

Oh, little man...where to begin? You are FOUR! Such a big boy now. Yet, in so many ways, your personality has stayed true to its younger self. You are quite opinionated and extremely passionate about your wants and needs. You never have trouble telling us when you don't agree with what's happening by saying (emphatically), "that's NOT a good idea!" And, sometimes, during these emphatically passionate moments, you hurt my feelings and I have to take a million deep breaths and remember that in a few minutes you will be giving me your sweet kisses and rubbing my face in that way that only you do.

You love watching movies and looking at pictures of movie characters on our iPads. Our new bedtime routine involves watching two short movie clips or looking at pictures and then snuggling you and rubbing your back. You like to say, "come cuddle me," which melts my heart.

You continue to love stories and I think you might be just as good as mama and daddy at telling them. You pace (or run) back and forth across the floor talking just as fast as your mouth will allow you to, letting your imagination run wild.

Some of the great things you say: Do you want to see how high I can jump?

Did I like to do that when I was a little baby?

Just one more. No, mama, just one. Please, just one. You're not listening to me!

For real life.

Hunting is bad, right? They kill animals, so hunters are bad guys.

What the heck?

Ain't nobody got time for that.

Poppins Mary (for Mary Poppins)

Can we go look for some jewels?

I wish I could go in the sewer.

Oh, lord Jesus, there's a fiare. (fire)

When we have a baby, I will give her a bath and feed her in the middle of the night. And, when she grows up to be a big girl, I'll help coach her baseball team with you and Daddy.

Mama, I have to tell you something. (Then a shared whisper)

Regaly (regularly)

Chempicals (chemicals)

Let's hide from Dada.

I'm continuing the tradition I started last year by asking you this set of questions on your birthday...it was surprising to see the similarities in some of the answers one year later!

1. What is your favorite color? Green 2. What is your favorite toy? Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. 3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples 4. What is your favorite thing to watch on TV? Beauty and the Beast and Monsters Inc. 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Salami 6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Mike (Monsters Inc) clothes (He has this on his wish list for Christmas) 7. What is your favorite game? Puzzles 8. What is your favorite snack? Cherries 9. What is your favorite animal? Giraffes 10. What is your favorite song? Beauty and the Beast soundtrack 11. What is your favorite book? Lorax 12. Who is your best friend? Preston and Hanna 13. What is your favorite cereal? Gorilla Munch 14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play on the playground 15. What is your favorite drink? Apple cider 16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas 17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Dinosaurs 18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes 19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Oranges 20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Superman!

Past year's birthday posts...look at how Jack has changed! one! two! and more two! three! more three!