Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

Since Evan works late, we have to celebrate Nicholas' birthday as a family at breakfast time.  Nicholas wanted donuts for his birthday breakfast, which made Evan very happy as well. 

We got Nicholas up a little early, so we would have time for presents too.  All three of our presents went over well.  First, we got him a puzzle.  When we putting together the puzzle for our fundraiser, he always wanted to help.  Now he is happy to have his very own puzzle.

Next, we got him Batman Tri*o blocks.  He loves those blocks and plays with them all the time.  My mom got him the Penguin set for his birthday.  He kept wondering, "Where's Batman?"

Finally, we gave him the guitar that I bought in front of him.  His first question was, "Is this for me?"  As I type this he is playing with that noisy little guitar.  I hope I don't regret that one too much. 

I can’t believe he’s four today! Apparently, this is the age where suddenly everything he’s done before is for babies. Yesterday he kept boxing up his toys and saying he was going to take them to the babies at church. Also, in the last couple of days he’s decided that he doesn’t like some of the television shows he used to like. He told me that they were for babies too. Unfortunately, the two shows that I am absolutely sick of did not make it into the baby category.

Lately he’s been working hard on speaking correctly. Considering that he has only been speaking English for less than two years, he’s doing pretty well. He has a tendency to mumble sometimes which makes it harder for others to understand him. He also has trouble with his “sp” and “sc” words. I taught him a little trick the other day and he is finally starting to say “spoon”, “sports” and “school” correctly more times than not.

He can read basic sight words and has recently started writing his own name. We love to read together, but I also find that he likes to sit and “read” by himself a lot lately too.

Nicholas is really a well-behaved kid. He has two parents that are or act like firstborns, so we are learning to extend grace to him. He really does make it easy for the most part. He’s not perfect, but seems to be sincerely apologetic and remorseful most of the time.

He continues to be friendly and outgoing. He has started hanging around some friends at church. He also has several adults that he makes sure to talk with each week as well. Nicholas’ smile continues to brighten up many people’s days and he loves to flash it to people when we’re out and about.

He’s got his buddies and his best friends, but he still wants to marry his mom – almost every day. We spend the most time together and as hard it is to be a parent, I really love being with him. He’s funny and sweet. I love hearing him try to process what he’s learning. My sister and I laughed the other day when he told us to “get a zip”. That’s a cross between “get a grip” and “zip it”.

While he is friendly and fun-loving like Evan, he’s also a lot like me in personality. When we were at the dentist last week, the hygienist told him that she was putting some things in a goody bag for him – a toothbrush, toothpaste, some coupons.

“Coupons!” he exclaimed. “I love coupons!” Yes, that’s my mini-me. We may not share DNA. He doesn’t look like me, but we’re two peas in a pod sometimes.

Nicholas is spending his birthday in his class while I’m at Bible study. Then, he gets to go to lunch with a lot of female relatives on my side of the family. He’ll be in heaven.

I’m so glad that this little boy is my son. I am blessed to be his mom.