Jake has been waiting for this day for a LONG time - 364 days, to be exact. It has been an excruciatingly long couple of months as he and I discussed and planned his party. We were supposed to be in Minneapolis for the weekend so he could go on the rides at the "Mall-a-ca-merica" but since most of us were sick we postponed the trip until next week. Jake has been drawn into Transformers and all their fabulous good vs. evil battles since we downloaded the old-school cartoon series for him to watch on the I-Pod last year. So today we celebrated at home with Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and all the other Autobots and Decepticons. Balloons, cupcakes, and a birthday dinner at Space Aliens rounded out the celebrations.Usually I feel nostalgic or surprised when I think about how big the kids are getting, but this time it's a little anticlimactic. For so long Jake has been telling people that he's already four (or five or six) and wanting so much to be a big kid that it's almost a relief that he is getting older! According to Jake, 4-year-olds:
Eat lettuce on their turkey sandwiches.
Play soccer on a team (he's signed up to play this Spring).
Go to preschool (he'll go in the fall).
Jake has been a firecracker since he was born, and continues to surprise us with his intensity, persistence, and energy. He is also so sweet, and loves to give hugs and "nuggle". At 4 years old, Jake loves cars (and especially the movie Cars), construction trucks, trains, Transformers, space and rocket ships, super heroes, music, sports, the Wii, playing with friends, and Fruit Loops. He is a consummate little brother when it comes to tagging along and teasing Haley, but also a wonderful big brother to Alex, quick to get him a toy or play peek-a-boo with him. Alex starts laughing when Jake just walks in the room, and it's no wonder. Jake is wild, silly, and cracks us up with the things he says. A few gems of late:
-To himself, with amazement and wonder as he munched on some mini rainbow marshmallows I finally bought him, after months of begging every time we went to the store: "This is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"
-As he stomped into the house after I told him "no" for some thing or another: "I am Mad, Mad, Mad-agascar!" (The movie is one of our family favorites.)
-While driving home one day last week we were exclaiming about all the melting snow and how Spring was finally coming: ""We've been waiting for YEARS!"
Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet Jake!
O.B.L.: Official Beater Licker
Jake is a very focused and efficient un-wrapper.
"This is the Optimus Prime I always wanted!"
Check me out, ladies...Ka-chow!
This was the ONLY face Alex would make for the camera today..."Uhh..."
A bunch of new Transformers means lots of work for Dad...he has to memorize the steps so he can "fix" them after Jake has semi-transformed them.
Oh, how Alex wanted that cupcake. He just knew it had to be something good.
Yes, grandmas and sugar-patrol, we gave him one. Not even just little nibbles, but plopped a whole one right on his tray. There was no hesitation, that cupcake had no chance of survival...needless to say, he LOVED it.
