So, my "little" boy is now 4. He turned 4 last weekend and we celebrated for three days straight. I don't know why but I *really* had a hard time with this one. Maybe it's because "4" is the last age that sounds little to me. Turning 5 means one thing -- school aged, and not preschool. How in the WORLD is he so close??? Now I'm thankful that he gets an extra year before kindergarten -- not only do I think *he* needs it, but I know that even more importantly, Mommy needs it!! Anyway - -it was like he was moving out or something, I was a little emotional about it all weekend...just feel like time is going too quickly. You know it will, if you are a parent you know that is the annoying mantra that every other parent of older children CONSTANTLY tells you...well, hey -- I might join the legion of annoying preachers myself because it's really true. His favorite story to hear is the story about when he was born...I almost couldn't do it on his birthday without tears.
Okay, so moving on-- birthdays and running -- when do they go from the best things in the world to things you dread? He was in HOG heaven for three days! He and his buddy (from our lamaze class) had a joint birthday party and a local museum that has lots of cars and trains. It was PERFECT!! We had this big room that had the exact amount of tables we needed already set up when we walked in, tables already set up for food, etc. There was plenty of room for the kids to run around and believe me, they did. For over an hour straight. The only real bummer of the day was that someone walked off with the big Lightning McQueen from the cake. Let me tell you how sad M was about that. I think his buddy A was, too. We were going to call Sam's and see if they'd give us an extra since it was a joint party, but now we'd need two more. I just can't believe someone would do that. Anyway -- hopefully it was an accident, but I'll tell ya, if I was a parent and found out that my kid made it home with that, I'd be calling the birthday kid's mom and 'fessin' up. That's a pretty big offense in the 4 year old world.
That night we went to the parade of lights. Beautiful and fun but REALLY cold. We got to sit in my hubby's office and watch though so it wasn't horrible.
The next day we had a pizza/cake party at my parents' house since we didn't invite any of my grandparents to the big party. (They're all near or actually are 85 and it snowed like crazy for his party -- does every year, actually -- so we didn't think they needed to be wandering around in it.)
The NEXT day -- yep, I was wiped out by then -- he got to do a cupcake thing at preschool for snack. I sent hats and napkins for the kids and had ordered some Cars toothpick things and cupcake liners so he was ALL excited about that.
So, that was the birthday extravaganza around here. Delayed our getting Christmas decorations out, but that's happening tomorrow. We were gonna do it today, but tomorrow is fine. We're just hanging out today.
M also had his program at school on Thursday night. Last year he FREAKED out and wouldn't sing at all, just stood there with his fingers in his mouth at the Christmas program. For the spring program, he freaked even more and when he saw me in the aisle, he refused to go up there.
I was cautiously optimistic about this one. He loves to sing and much like his momma, LOVES Christmas music. We have it on all the time right now and he sings along with me -- I love it! Anyway -- he knew all of his lines, all of the songs, and all of the little hand motions. He was so excited about his program, but I couldn't be sure if he really would do it or just get up there and freak out again. My gut said it would be okay, but I didn't want to be disappointed, because I have to say, that's a pretty intimidating thing to be so little and up there in front of a whole CROWD of people that are snapping photos and shooting videos like the paparrazi. Lots of pressure, especially if that sort of "performance" is not in your comfort zone to begin with.
Well, we got there and hurdle one was overcome...he went into his room with no problem. Happily shed his coat (no hat -- couldn't risk the hat hair) and started doing some puzzles with his buddies. He looked so handsome...he had on a cute button down shirt and a "tight" just like Daddy. He also had on some cute navy cargo cords and his "Handy Manny" shoes -- aka, penny loafers. (Don't ask me about the HM thing -- he wears boots, but M swears they are his HM shoes. He loves to wear them -- puts them on with sweats and everything. My brother had a pair of cowboy boots like that -- I guess we're doing the loafers version.)
I never post pics here, but I just have to share this one. This was right before I left to go get my seat. Doesn't he look adorable and excited???
I get settled into my seat in the 2nd row that the awesome grandparents had scored...too bad it was on the wrong side...his class was on the other side of the aisle, but that's okay. The music started playing and my hubby and I looked at each other like "here we go". They started walking in and here came my little buddy...holding onto each of his ears like they were going to fall off. Hee hee. But dang it -- he got up there and wasn't crying or anything -- he was actually smiling, just holding onto his ears for dear life. (He's had a thing with his ears since he was tiny - -they're his little comfort thing -- some kids suck their thumb, our little man just plays with his ears. Again, don't ask me where that came from.)
My hubby leaned over and said "Rrrrriiiibbbbbiiiittttt." I started cracking up. We call him "Michigan J. Frog" because if you remember that cartoon from when we were kids...it's the construction worker that finds the singing frog who only sings when no one else is around. He even rents out this whole theater to do this singing/dancing frog show, but when he opens the frog's box all he says is "Rrrriiiiibbbbbiiiiitttt". So, my hubby does that when M is being all nutty and we know no one would ever believe what a ham he is because he gets so shy around other people.
So, about halfway into the first song, M decides he feels comfy enough to let go of the ears. We all were so happy because we knew we were home free at that point. It just made me so happy to see my little guy up there looking so cute and doing such a great job. And the best part? You could just see him beaming and having so much fun! I am getting teary just typing this. My hubby thought I was a total nerd and sap when I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said "He's doing it!!" but I just couldn't help it. It was such a special feeling in my heart.
My very, very favorite part was the first time he spotted us, and more specifically, me. He was already smiling, but when he saw my hubby's dad, his eyes opened a little wider, his smile, got a little bigger and he instantly scanned down the row till he saw me. We locked eyes and I smiled so big and waved at him...he started giggling his famous little (heeeheeeheee -- I could just hear it) M giggle and waved at me with a look of pride and pure joy.
In addition to the image of him burning rubber down the greenbelt path ahead of us on his tricycle pretending to be Dale Jarrett, I will also have that image of him giggling and waving to me forever imprinted on my Mommy's heart. (Yes, I'm now full on crying in case you were wondering. I'm a blubbering fool.)
He also provided a little comic relief for us a few times. His buddy who is our neighbor is in a different class and on a different day, so they NEVER see each other at school anymore and this was neat for them to be up there together. She was right in front of us and when she finally saw M, she just HAD to get his attention. Unfortunately, this moment happened exactly when her class was saying their speaking part. Her whole class is reciting their memorized lines and she's totally leaning forward, bent over and wildly waving her arms whispering "Miiiitttccchhheeelll". He was in la-la land but finally saw her and starts waving just as wildly. OMG -- I was laughing so hard.
The other funny thing he did was during "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". They did this thing with their arms that looked like what you might do if you're a grouchy grandpa --- ball up your fist and swing it in front of you to say "Oh, rats." Anyway--this little arm swing was only supposed to happen on "wish". Well, our little spazmobile decided to adopt it throughout the song and exaggerate his movements on top of that. He almost gave the poor little girl next to him a bloody nose about 4 times. We just watched my mom's videos of the program last night and her camera is shaking like crazy because she was cracking up. I looked at Chris and said "Well, I guess we had nothing to worry about."
So -- I go from not blogging for 2 weeks to a post that will take you 2 hours to read. Nice.
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