So last Thursday The Boy turned 4. I won’t go on and on here about how quickly they grow up (they do), or how amazed I am that I made it this far (I am). I will tell you that this event has really got me thinking a lot about what I value in life and how I want to live my life. And I must say that these days, things for me are better than they’ve ever been, and much better than I ever expected my life to be (why I never expected this is between me and my therapist). And The Boy turning 4 has helped in this. It’s prompted me to slow down a little more and really appreciate as many moments as I can. I know life will always have its ups and downs, so at the moment I’m just reveling in what a nice up this is.
And The Boy is FOUR already! Wow. And what an amazing little being he is.
Of course he’s been anticipating his Birthday for a good four or five months now, ever since his friends started turning four he’s been asking, “Is it my birthday soon?” “When is my birthday?” “It’s my birthday too, right?”
On his actual birthday, we took it easy in the morning, playing trains (he likes to play morning commuter rush-hour with his subway trains), and though the little people catching their trains were in a rush, The Boy and I were in no hurry to do much of anything. Then, in the afternoon, we rode the ACTUAL metro train into town (one of The Boy’s favorite pastimes, of course), rode plenty of elevators along the way (another favorite activity), then went BOWLING (his new fav.).
He discovered bowling over the Christmas break we went to The Grandparent’s house in Tennessee. The Boy LOVED it! The balls! The pins! The objective of knocking things down! What a perfect game for a three (and now four) year old!
Sunday was the party and we were lucky to have it at our Pool. Honestly, the Pool is one of the very best things about living here. I mean, it’s like an unplanned party every day and every night. Most of the people we know are members, our kids all know each other and play together, it’s always at least 10 degrees cooler over there than everywhere else around here, and we don’t have to plan playdates for kids OR adults. Everyone just shows up, cooks food, eats, swims, hangs out. I LOVE the Pool.
So it was a great place for a 4th Birthday Party. Kids went swimming, parents went swimming, grandparents went swimming, we all sat around chatting in the shade… After everyone had played and swam for awhile, we busted out mini-cupcakes with sprinkles served on a fancy cupcake tree and sang Happy Birthday. The only “planned” event was to Make Your Own Sundae, which involved me scooping delicious vanilla bean ice cream into bowls and everyone else piling on as many toppings as they wanted. We had fresh strawberries and blueberries and pineapple (which I cut and crushed myself that morning), all sorts of chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, white), peanut butter chips, cookie crumbles, sunspire chips, nuts, whipped cream, cherries, bananas… If it tastes good on ice cream, we tried to have it. People had a blast making their fantasy sundae, and no indulgence was seen as “too much”. Honestly, it was the perfect summer Birthday Party.
And the bonus is, The Boy has had ENOUGH of the whole Birthday thing for awhile. By the end of the party, when people were leaving and saying “Thank you” and “Happy Birthday” to him one last time, he was saying, “I don’t want you to say that any more. I’m all done with that.” Ah, to be four and to be so straightforward and honest again.
It does go by so incredibly fast. I was organizing pictures last night and got all teary eyed because of it. Adia’s change so much in the last few months, what will she be like at age 4?
I’m definitely thinking about doing the sundae thing for Adia’s 2nd birthday. She loves ice cream and there’s plenty of ice cream toppings that are gluten free.