Welcome to the 4's!

Another birthday came and went...well that's what Cory and I will be saying about this year's festivities for us.  Jack had a great one as he rolled into his 4's.  It was a mixed theme - Starwars and Pirates.

We celebrated simply this year after last year's big joint Jack/Duke birthday bash.  Just a cake at school and presents at home.  But simple it was not apparently.

I need to just get it into my head that Jack really needs major advance preparation and reminders for any event that is outside the typical normal day.  I mean why do I torture myself thinking this is going to be the last exhibition of a being overwhelmed by attention moment he will have.  He's the one on the right by the way.  On the left - his completely opposite tempered brother.  I should have reminded his teachers to warn him when leaving the playgound, he's only been in the room a couple of weeks, they wouldn't have had any chance at knowing what result would come of him walking into his classroom to find me and his father with a the big pirate birthday cake he has been drooling over at the Publix bakery every week for nearly a year and all the tables decorated with pirate plates and hats ready to sing him a great big Happy Birthday song!

Instead, upon entering the room and surveying the scene, a crumpled mess he became on the floor and I spent about 15 minutes trying to console him and calm him down while assuring his teachers it was ok to let the other kids share in the cake and not to worry, that this was "normal" for us.  Let's face it, although he is a sweet, kind, wonderful, curteous, happy child 90% of the time, it's the 10% of instantaneously being overwhelmed by too many people, too different a situation that I struggle to figure out.

Ahhhh hindsight, 20/20.

A much better moment came at 5:45am - guess he's a morning person like his parents.

The best part of the day was waking him up in bed, along with Daddy who had been gone a full week, with his birthday cupcake lit up with a candle in the dark.  Something I started last year and which I cannot wait to repeat in 3 months for Duke for his 3rd birthday.  Alongside the cupcake, some small seemingly insignificant trinket or figure, but one that has been so wanted for so long that you would think I was handing a 16 year old keys to his first car.  Last year it was Guido and Luigi from Pixar's Cars.  This year, the Battleship Droid Commander.

We did make it through the party at school and returned home to a quiet night of opening and playing with our fantastic presents (I still have lots of thank you's to send out!).  He was a trooper even insisting Duke open some of his presents for him and they've been sharing them ever since.  I just hope we see the same generosity in a couple months.

Best line of the week came yesterday when out of the clear blue Jack pipes up from the back seat, "Hey Mommy!  Hey, I'm 4 now!!!!"