Half-pint Turns 4...

I know, this post is nearly a month late, but better late than never, right?

Half-pint was really excited to celebrate his birthday this year. He was quite set on a few particulars, namely an ice cream cake (with chocolate cake on the bottom and "white" ice cream on top, and a layer of mini chocolate chips in the middle) and having a pinata. Both very do-able. We celebrated with a simple family dinner and then cake, presents and the always favorite pinata. I let him choose one from a party store and he picked a traditional bull. We let all the cousins and Aunt C6 take turns whacking that bull, even Quarter-pint and Cousin H. The kids thought it was great, but the darn thing wouldn't break. We laid it on the ground and let the boys really whack it, but eventually we had them pull it apart-each taking a hold on one foot. The poor bull was quartered! All the Kids, and especially Half-pint had a great time. Thanks to everyone who helped Half-pint celebrate his birthday!

It's continually amazing to me how quickly Half-pint has grown. He has truly turned into an adorable little boy. I am enjoying his personality more and more every day. He continually amazes me; with the things he says, the the things he understands. He has blossomed into a sweet, compassionate, social, happy, obedient, kind, fun, clever, smart, imaginative, helpful, loving boy. The list could go on and on... We are SO blessed to have him a part of our little family! Happy Fourth Birthday Half-pint!!! We love you!

Half-pint's Imagination...

As Half-pint crawled into bed tonight we was talking about different instruments. I was only half listening until he said something about me having a saxophone. I didn't even know he knew what a saxophone is!
"A saxophone?"
"Yeah Mom, like this..." and he played the air-sax.
"Where did you learn about saxophones?"
"I can't know. When I was a little boy, in Ak-carka (Africa). My Grandmother teach me about sacrahones (saxophones), and dums (drums), and dutes (flutes), and istruments like this... (and he played the air-violin)."
"A violin? In Africa? When you were a little boy? Grandma taught you?"
"Yep, in Ak-carka Grandmother, he (Half-pint still has trouble remembering gender specific pronouns) teach it to me."
Matter of fact, just like that.
I love his imagination!


At dinner tonight, I was telling Daddy a little bit about my day. I had a little trouble getting into a gated community. Half-pint was listening enough to pipe into our conversation...
"Mom, when you have a po-wabem (problem) you have to use your imagination to figure it out."
What a clever boy!

Boys Will Be BOYS...

Tonight for story time during our bed-time routine, Half-pint chose "The Potty Book". Fine, I thought, he's been doing a good job keeping his pants clean and dry, so a little more encouragement which hasn't originated from me is great! We read through it once (and thankfully) the button which makes a flushing sound is broken; so it wasn't too obnoxious. Then Half-pint wanted to read it to me. He's been interested in reading books to me for a few weeks. We read together with both of us pointing at the words and he repeats after me. I think it's great that he's beginning to show an interest in reading, especially because he doesn't have full letter recognition mastered yet. On the second page Half-pint accidentally said "toot" instead of "to". The pun was not lost on such a little soul. He instantly started giggling as only a child can. His laugh is truly contagious (at least for me). Unfortunately my giggling only encouraged him; by the last few pages, he was injecting either "toot" or "gas" about every third word and laughing hysterically every time. What a kid!

Quarter-pint Gets a Black eye...

Yep, it's finally happened...Quarter-pint ran into the dining room table-eye first as we were trying to get out the door for a birthday party. Of course, I was in the other room and didn't actually see the accident happen, but I heard his blood-curdling cries. When I got to him, he was doubled over on the floor. His little eyebrow was bleeding, but he quickly calmed down and the bleeding never really got going. Thankfully I realized quickly he didn't need stitches and he seemed to be getting around just fine. We went to the party anyway and he had a wonderful time at Chuck E. Cheese with his brother and cousins. The next morning, he woke up screaming! When Daddy got him out of his crib, his eye was swollen shut. No wonder he was screaming! I took him to our favorite pediatrician, who checked him out and gave him (and most importantly, his eye) a clean bill of health. She warned us the swelling would be bad for a few days and the bruise would probably spread towards the bridge of his nose and run through the rainbow of bruise colors. I was fully expecting the worst, but to my slight disappointment we never got to see the full spectrum of bruise colors. It healed quickly; after a week, the scabs were falling off and it's nearly completely healed. I had several strangers tell me it looked like he had been in a bar fight. Poor kid! He looks pretty tough, don't you think?

Christmas...

Wow, I'm really behind with my posts. This time of year always gets me a little behind on the extra stuff.

We had a wonderful Christmas! (Sorry, no pictures, we forgot to pack the camera.) We stuffed the car and headed to my parent's house on Christmas Eve and didn't come home until the evening of the 27th. It was SO FUN to be with my parents, siblings, brother-in-laws and niece for a few days. We have so much fun when we're all together. The kids absolutely adore their aunts and uncles (and token cousin on my side). Especially Quarter-pint-he LOVES Uncle J! There is a great bond between them. They just hang out together all the time. On Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful dinner, then we all sat around and played Christmas carols on the pipe chimes. It was hilarious, as we tried to sing along-but we (me most definitely included) often missed our cue or played our note at the wrong time. We eventually moved to the piano (which sounded much better) and sang several carols together. It's so nice to actually have a few more male voices to balance out all the girls! The kids all got new pjs to wear as they patiently and quickly went to bed to wait for Santa's arrival.

We had a huge breakfast on Christmas morning while we all played with the gifts that Santa left. Half-pint got a matchbox trick track, and a mini trampoline (Santa knows how much Half-pint likes to jump on the couch and the beds). Quarter-pint got a big set of fancy bristle blocks. The most exciting gift was a Wii Santa left for Aunt C5 and Aunt C6. Half-pint really enjoys playing the "weed" at Grandma's house (but it belongs to Aunt C3 and Uncle J- and they just left to go back to school), so it's a good thing Santa came through!

We all just hung out together-going swimming at the local rec. center (Half-pint finally got brave and went down the big water slide with Uncle D-and he's still talking about it), and some went to an NBA game. The girls went shopping together one morning. We had a baby shower for Aunt C3. We really enjoyed simply being together!

On New Year's Eve we packed the car again and headed to Grammy's house to have Christmas with Daddy's family. It's always great to get the cousins together. The 3 "big" boys always have a blast running around the stairwells-around and around and around. The present opening was fast and furious, with the little ones crowding Grammy the entire time.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful, loving, caring and truly great family (on both sides) so close. We enjoy the many opportunities to be with family, all year through, but especially during the holidays.