Happy 5th Birthday, BJ!

We had a very nice day today, celebrating BJ's 5th birthday. (In spite of the fact that both kids tried to get the day going at 5 a.m.) He enjoyed his gifts, of course -- especially those that had a "human body" theme. Family was very generous, and we appreciate it very much. The Some Body game from Auntie B, Uncle R, and cousin B was a big hit.
He settled right down to reading the books from Grandma C and Grandpa D.
The bouncer ball from Giki and Pop-Pop was received so well that he bounced away before I could get a picture! And the Pop Bottle Science kit they gave him promises to be a source of much enjoyment -- he's already planned which experiments we will do first.

But perhaps the most exciting gift was his New Bike (which he talks about as though it were indeed capitalized). It's his first, and since he didn't really do much with the trike, it's really his first extended opportunity to work with anything that has pedals. He loves it.
We spent a good part of the afternoon going around and around the sidewalk loops near our apartment. He kept telling me that he was getting really good exercise. He'd run up to me and demand, "Listen to my heart, Mommy!" And he'd pull my ear down to his chest so I could hear it getting a healthy workout.

It turns out that there's a wee bit of a hill on part of the loop, which gave him a bit of a challenge. He was so proud when he finally got through that section without any assistance!
And I was so proud of him for figuring out that whole bike thing so quickly -- here he is, in the moment of triumph:



He's such a big kid! (Cue motherly catch in the throat...)

This morning, he insisted on helping me make and decorate the birthday cake, which was an interesting process. It broke into three pieces when I was taking it out of the pan, so I had to do a lot of repair work. Definitely not the prettiest cake I've ever made.
But it turned out a heckuvalot better than it might have! He wanted an ocean theme for the decorating, and he wanted to draw some of it himself, but he was having trouble getting the frosting to squeeze out. So I did the squeezing and he moved my hand where he wanted the frosting to go. He did the octopus (red blob with green legs) and then most of the jellyfish (red blob with yellow legs). Then he declared he'd had enough and I did the rest. That's a green parrotfish eating red coral, I'll have you know. And a yellow angelfish. Just in case you were wondering.

He'd asked to go to Race Street Fish Market for dinner, one of our favorite local dives.
But BB was having a hard time of it by the time the evening rolled around -- and this particular restaurant is one she doesn't especially like. Getting her to eat well is challenging enough at the moment (for whatever reason; I pray it's a phase, and a short one) so we decided it would be best to have me take him out to eat while S and BB stayed home. I had a lovely time sharing a meal with my little boy -- who is truly not so little anymore! The kid ate most of a hunk of grilled tuna, two large grilled shrimp, and a grilled lobster tail. He was in seafood heaven!

After dinner, we came home and had cake together as a family.

As he was getting tucked into bed, BJ declared that he'd had a really good birthday. Mission accomplished!