A sweet little boy had a birthday recently. We decided to give him a very unique gift that few 4-year olds ever get to have. He got to watch Dulci birth QUADRUPLETS! Ok, so maybe that was Dulci's gift to one of her favorite admirers and not so much our's, but it does exemplify our dreams for our children: that they be enraptured by the miracle of life, treasure it more than worldly possessions, and understand how fleeting it is. You can see him peeking over the side of the barn as Dulci was laboring to bring these little furballs into the world. Meet Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter, born the morning of Aaron's little family birthday gathering. Just as we were leaving for church. We were late. Sorry.
A couple weeks before the big day, I started asking Aaron what kind of cake he wanted. I offered Batman, Spiderman, Strongman (Incredible Hulk) or Cookie Monster. The answer changed every day. The day I made the cake, the response was Batman. So that's what he got. The following day when we were going to be eating the cake it was Spiderman, but tough luck, kid.
And because Aaron shares his day with Grandma Dedee (or Grandma Dedee shares her day with him), Aaron turned himself into a froggie! In truth, our church was having a grand opening celebration that same day (yep, and we were late). After the service they had bouncy houses, pizza, games and face painting. Next thing I knew a pretty little G-girl was climbing up the slide I was patrolling with a butterfly on her cheek. Then Aaron, of his own doing, marched straight to the face painting table and asked for a frog on his face. I thought the lady in charge did a pretty good job.
I didn't get many pictures of our little party. Aaron asked to make pizza so I had pizza toppings cut and ready and the crusts rolled out for them. He and Gloria then applied their skills to make us all some yummy pizza. He asked for carrot cake (and his great grandfather didn't object one bit) and he and I had taken a little shopping trip, just us, so he could pick out his ice cream. Funny story about that. It was late, about 7pm, when I was finally ready to go shopping. I got him clean and into jammies to make the coming home process easier and he and I went off. I had to stop at Family Dollar before Publix. There were a few people in there but mostly it was quiet. When Aaron gets away from Gloria, he turns into a chatterbox. He chatted and babbled and made many loud exclaimations at the wonderous sights to behold in the aisles of Family Dollar. Then all of a sudden he grabbed himself and said LOUDLY, "Oops! I go peepee!" Well, I knew he had not wet his pants but was just telling me he needed to go. I looked around and knew of no bathroom there. I asked if he could wait until Publix where I knew the bathroom was clean and easy to manage. He said "Yup!" and continued to hold himself. I went about looking for my last item. Then he again, LOUDLY, exclaimed "Oops! I go poopoo too!" I look at him and he's got one hand on his front and the other hand on his butt. I ask again if he's ok and he says, "Yep! I got TWO hands!" I had to chuckle. I dismissed the last item and hurried him to the check out line where he chattered about how it was his birthday. The friendly checkout lady noticed his "positioning" and asked if he had to go potty. He merely replied, "I got two hands!" She pulled out a key and unlocked a very clean bathroom for us to use.
Another little story about Aaron, turns out he's amazing at puzzles. He still puts his shoes on the wrong feet and puts his pants on backwards, but he can easily do 70 piece puzzles. His birthday was a big puzzle extravaganza. He got many new puzzles and he completes them on the puzzle board my dad made us when we were little. I love seeing his little brain work. Sometimes he just disappears. When we notice he's missing, we know where to find him... in the family room puzzling.
Happy Birthday, sweet boy. I love you so much!
