Happy Birthday

Dear Miles,

Well your birthday came and went yesterday and it was an great day celebrating such a neat boy, You. The fun started Saturday evening when Grandpa G and Grandma Dixie arrived - complete with Chilis dinner. That nite we watched Cars - yes, the same movie you had watched on your 3rd birthday. I had tried to prepare you for the tractor-tipping scene so that you wouldn't have to run out like you had on your 3rd birthday. You were brave and stayed during that scene - but did have to convince yourself, and others watching the movie, that the tractors liked it and were having fun and that Frank the Combine was just playing chase with Lightning and Mater. You repeated this quite a few times to reassure yourself that all was okay. I'm not quite sure you convinced yourself.

You got to sleep in the Igloo Tent inside your room on your Birthday Eve. Dad slept there with you; Jonas choose to sleep in his crib. Dad is pretty sure that he fell asleep a lot sooner than you.

In the morning your dad, still on his baking-kick, made some delicious cinnamon rolls and they were enjoyed by us all. Grandma Dixie fixed up some yummy orange julius - without "bonus" blend-ins like blender parts or plants, which have become a typical occurence in her orange juliuses lately.

Church was great for you. The primary sang "Happy Birthday" to you and, as you exclaimed to me when church was over, "I did great!" Which your teacher verified. I was so happy because you have been telling me for the past few weeks how good of a boy you'll be when you turn four. I've been hearing so much of "When I am four I'll ____________" (be good in church, be nice to Jonas, share my toys, clean my mess, etc.). And it was true! Yesssss.

We came home and the birthday celebrations continued all afternoon and evening long. We started by knocking down the pinata. And, so like you, you didn't want any part of hitting the pinata. Because you don't like breaking things that you think are neat (you still haven't taken a bite of your V-day chocolate dump-truck). You were all for Jonas going at it, and Jonas was all for going at it, so it worked quite well. But Jonas just doesn't have quite the muscles to knock it down and so you wanted me to do it. Well I wouldn't do it until you at least tried. So you got down and said you didn't want to use the bat, just your hand. And then you just swatted at the air! I said no and gave you the bat. Then you went at it! You created some great dents in the pinata and then handed over the task to me. I knocked it down and tootsie rolls were enjoyed by you and Jonas.

We came back in and opened presents. You got a piggy bank, a wallet, clothes, a kid-piano with music, gum, a cape that you didn't want to wear, a Cars book. All fun things and you were thanking the people who gave them to you. Then you got the Big Spoiler Present. A "bike" front-end loader with a trailer attachment. How excited you - and Jonas - were! You did your giddy laugh and then hopped on. You even got to take it outside for a test run. Perhaps this will motivate you to learn how to push the pedals forward- you've nailed going backwards on a bike, but have yet to really go forward. We'll see.

After that we had dinner - Mac 'N Cheese. But not by good ol' Kraft. Auntie had a great recipe and that's what I made and my Krafty Kids and Dad loved it. Then of course was the birthday cake. I've been told ever since Jonas' birthday in December that you wanted to have a Track Excavator Cake. This is what I could come up with (it wasn't my original idea, I copied it from the internet). You, of course, loved it and didn't want to eat it -nor let anyone else eat it. But your dad let you choose what part you wanted to eat and you opted for the "Miles" part. Whoa. It was huge. By the time you had eaten all but the "s," I told you you had had enough and we'll save the rest.

The birthday ended with 3 overtired (darn Sundays) kids, including you of course, crying in their beds for 45 minutes. But for some reason I don't think that's what you'll remember. You'll remember the sleeping in the tent, eating cinnamon rolls, having grandparents there, the neat pinata you helped me make, the cake. . . . . .

All the good stuff. Life is funny that way. I've known you for four years - through the good, the bad, and the ugly - and my most precious, cherished, and vivid memory of you is seeing you for the first time ever, holding you in my arms, and telling your dad, "He is perfect."

Happy Birthday Big Boy.

Love, mom.