How Fun to Be Four!

Max and I have been talking about his birthday a lot over the last few weeks and he's been getting more and more excited about it. We talked about how he would be four instead of three on his birthday and that we'd have a little party with the papas. I figured he was probably old enough to have some say in his birthday cake, but when I first asked him what kind of cake he wanted, his only request was, "CHOCOLATE cake!" When I pressed him to tell me what kind of design he wanted on his cake, all he would say was that he wanted a "Max" cake. Thinking I could get away with a Where the Wild Things Are cake theme, I showed Max the pictures of Max the Wild Thing in the book and tried to jazz him up about having Wild Things on his cake. He looked at the pictures, turned to me, and said, "No, Mama. I want a picture of ME, Max!" Vain child!

After working on the cake last night, I stayed up just a little past midnight and tiptoed in to give my sleeping boy a birthday kiss and whisper a "Happy Birthday" to him. He looked so sweet and peaceful and healthy and BIG sleeping there in his bed. I have a very clear memory of exactly what he looked like right after he was born. I was able to hold him briefly on my stomach while Dad cut the cord, before they had to whisk him back to the NICU SWAT team. I remember trying to soak him in and memorize every little detail before I had to hand him over, because I had no idea what the future would hold for him. I can look at my great big boy and still see that tiny baby -- it's funny how they can change so much without really changing at all.

Max was up early on his birthday -- bright eyed and bushy tailed. When I talked into his room, singing "Happy Birthday," he said, "Mama, is it my birthday now?" I told him it was, to which he gleefully replied, "I not three any more ... I'm FOUR!!!" I offered to make him birthday pancakes, but he wanted his normal "oatmeal breakfast." He had a nice day, since he got to rule the roost and pretty much do anything he wanted (which involved watching some videos and playing on some kiddie websites).

Max actually took a nap today, which probably made the afternoon more enjoyable for everyone. We had wrapped his birthday presents while he was napping and had them all set out in the family room. Max spotted them as soon as he got up and was dying to open them. He had to wait a little while, since the Papas were coming over for a little family party. When he couldn't stand it any longer, he'd sneak over to the pile of presents and start poking at them and shaking them. It was pretty much the perfect part agenda for a four year old -- Max got to have pizza, salad, and juice boxes for dinner, open a bunch of presents, and eat chocolate cake and "cold ice cream."

Grandma and Grandpa gave Max one of those spring-mounted ride-on horses for his birthday. Before we picked up the pizza, Grandpa and Dad put it together (with help from Max). Of course, Max's help involved him dropping a piece inside one of the bars, which Dad and Grandpa didn't discover until the horse was almost fully assembled. So, the long assembly process ended up taking even longer, but I think being able to "help" work on the horse was probably one of the high points of Max's day!

When it was finally finished, Max and Molly liked it so much that we had to set a timer and make them take turns. Of course, a true cowboy isn't complete without a cowboy hat, so Max and Molly borrowed Dad's hat (since, with all the dress up stuff they got for Christmas, they had no cowboy hat of their own). He also got some Duplo blocks, some Mega Blocks, Colorforms, a Doctor play kit, some stencils, the Snowman DVD, a kaleidoscope, a stuffed snowman, and a few other bits and bobs. So much for trying to avoid a present overload!

We ended up saving one of Molly's Christmas presents (a play birthday cake set) so she could open something on Max's birthday. Well, Max opened the doctor kit first and Molly didn't want to do anything except play with that. She opened her present, but didn't even look at it because she wanted to get back to playing with her "doctor ears" (stethoscope). I might just pack it away and save it for her birthday!

Max really liked his birthday cake and I was pretty happy with the way it turned out (especially considering I had no idea exactly what I was doing until this morning). It's was chocolate cake with 7-minute frosting filling and chocolate frosting on the outside. On the sides, I tried to put decorations that reflected things that Max liked or things about Max.

We always light an extra candle on the cake "to grow on." This year, I bought some relighting candle and Max's extra candle was one of those. He thought the relighting candle was HYSTERICAL and he had a blast continually blowing out the candle and cracking up when it lit up again.

So, it was a nice (exhausting) day. I can't believe my baby is four. And, every time we celebrate his birthday, I can't help but think of the day he was born and how amazing it is that we're where we are today.