Five Years, Five Days

Toe turned five...and there was much celebrating. Due to scheduling, this birthday turned out to be a five-day party. I don't think he minded too much.

Day 1 -
Toe got to wear a Birthday crown at preschool and all around the store as we grocery shopped.

Day 2 -
His actual birthday. J had to work, so we played pirates and then went to Dama's (my mother's) for dinner (where J joined us, and then returned to work).

Dinner with Uncle Cool, Dama, and Grandpa Ron

Cheesecake

 Day 3 -
We had brunch with some dear friends who really turned it into a party. We had heart shaped waffles with homemade blackberry compote and sprinkles. And of course balloons. It's not a birthday without balloons.

 Day 4 -
J's day off. We went to the zoo with Uncle Awesome and Grandpa Boat (who flew out from Texas for the occasion) and then were joined by my mother at Chuck E. Cheese's. We sorely missed Grandma Gus (J's mom) who had to stay home sick this visit.

At the zoo, we watched the bats, warmed up in the Amazon Rainforest display, and got a peek at Lily, the two month old elephant. It rained the whole time and was a *balmy* 40 degrees. Boat and Awesome get major points for sticking with us...

At Chuck E. Cheese's, J and Toe played games while the rest of us sat and talked and ate. It was actually pretty nice. And then J and Toe discovered Guitar Hero. And I just couldn't capture it on film. Too amazing. I did get photos, which I will share at some point, but it's just not the same.

Day 5 - 
HOME. J and Toe spent the entire day in a massive HeroClix match. I was able to sleep in AND have a nap. I'm still worn out. Toe goes back to preschool tomorrow.

Toe spent the day crawling all over his dad.

Hand-Full

 My son is turning FIVE on Saturday. I am a little bit in shock. Where did the past five years go? I changed diapers. I remember that. I vaguely remember pacifiers and bottles and pumping. I think I have mostly blocked pumping. I remember baby smell long gone, and carrying the kid on my hip. It all is sort of a blur. I can't remember Toe's first steps or how he learned to read. I bet J can. His memory is so much better than mine. I do remember that "moon" was one of Toe's first words. The thousands of breathing treatments we have done all blend together, as do afternoons in the backyard or walks into town.

It just happens so fast. I literally stopped a mom with a sixteen month old boy on her hip at the grocery store yesterday. I told her to enjoy every minute because it goes by so fast. The good news is you can get away with that in our part of the country. She smiled and told me that she is already noticing that her son's baby cheeks are changing.

Toe is ready. He knows his birthday is coming and has announced to all of us exactly how it will go. On his actual birthday (Saturday) his dad has to work, so we will be spending the day with my mom and "Uncle Cool" (my brother - not to be confused with "Uncle Awesome," J's brother). Then J's days off we will go to the Oregon Zoo and get a stuffed animal snake (just like Toe's cousin did a few years ago) and then we will go to "Chuck E. Cheese-Its" for a meal and of course to play many driving and video games. He has invited a few adults to the meal part of the thing and has not shown a need to invite any peers. He has friends in preschool; but somehow this does not translate to birthday parties. The kid has not really been to a traditional child birthday party yet, so I suppose this is natural (he has been invited, but they are always held at places with some kind of indoor play structure or other germ magnet, so we have abstained thus far). He has it all so clearly in his mind, I am curious to see whether the day lives up to his expectations.

So here is a snapshot of this almost five year old boy:

He loves pretending to be other characters. Many other characters. They change minute to minute and if I call him by the wrong name, I am briskly informed. "No Mom, I'm not Toby, I'm a baby T-Rex." "No Mom, I'm not a baby T-Rex, I am Nabbit" "No Mom, I'm not Nabbit, I'm a shark." This is payback for me. I adopted personae as a child and would refuse to answer to my real name. I think this is B on hyper drive, though, as I don't recall changing so many times a day.

Toe is currently interested in cars (no surprise there), dinosaurs, spies, pirates, makeup, reading, superheroes (especially Word Girl from PBS and Spiderman), Heroclix, photography, and MUSIC. He is happiest when he has a single song on repeat for hours at a time.

He has his father's sense of humor and is learning about puns and what makes something funny. He also TALKS. All. The. Time. It's really more like having the radio on in the background than a kid. I'm not sure WHERE he gets that. And loud. We're working on that, but he and J together are doubly loud. He's wiggly, on the move, go go go but is able to sit still for breathing treatments (I wish I could say the same about sitting at the table for meals).

He gives great hugs, is sensitive to other people's feelings and moods, he helps around the house, and is just plain fun to hang around with. J and I have talked it over and we think we might actually keep him.

Ahoy Mateys!

Captain Yoshi

Toe is a little late to join the pirate band wagon. It has only been this week that he has shown any real interest. We watched Peter Pan for the first time a few days ago and have been playing "pirate" ever since. Fortunately a friend had given Toe some pirate figurines for Christmas, so all we had to do was pull them out and start playing. It was really intense for three days. Every moment was spent building ships, fortresses, hiding and finding treasure, arranging pirate battles, and speaking in pirate voices. We used blocks as building materials, dinosaurs as treasure guards and general muscle, and cars for... pretty much everything. We have also watched Muppet Treasure Island multiple times per day.

 The cast of characters (we each have an identical team. They have the same names, except my skeleton pirate is Dead Tom (a tribute to Muppet Treasure Island) and Toe's skeleton pirate is Davey Jones, who recently escaped his locker because he was tired of being locked up.

Dead Tom/ Davey Jones

The Edge

               Blondie

Snooplepants

Bunny Fur

Bill

Captain Head

Most of the figures are identical. A couple of them have slight variations. One Bunny Fur has a sword that twirls in his hand, the other does not. One Bill has a misformed foot and can't stand, the other stands fine. When we still believed them to be completely identical, Toe still had preferences. He said to me, "Why don't you take THIS Bill? He's an even better knife fighter."

There is only one Captain Head. He seems to always arrive late to battles. Toe has informed me this is because he has three kids. Some mornings he has to get them breakfast and take care of their breathing treatments before he can come join the other pirates. He's a great cargo carrier, though, as he can fit more than four men in his belly. Just in case they go overboard or need to be transported.

A typical pirate scenario

Purple and Gold vs. Green and Yellow

This is about football. And a family rivalry. And favorite colors.

J's father's family are from Wisconsin and are huge Green Bay Packers fans. My understanding is that J's father moved to Minnesota right around the time the Minnesota Vikings were forming and so he became a Vikings fan. Dick (who is no longer with us) had/has (they are still alive) three siblings, all of whom are Packers fans. His mother was a Packers fan. His cousins and stepsons and nieces and nephews are Packers fans. They all loved to rib each other about this rivalry so much that it was even mentioned at Dick's memorial.

Dick's boys, Jason (my husband) and Scott are rabid Vikings fans. When I married into the family, I became a Vikings fan too. I own Vikings shirts. Friends gave us Vikings sheets for our wedding. I love watching games with Jason and Scott because they are so into it. The family ribbing of the black sheep Vikings fans continues.

When our son was born, some relatives sent Toe a bear with a Packers jersey. We took the jersey off and gave him the bear.

You see this coming don't you.

The game was not televised on local cable, so we headed to a local sports bar/ doughnut shop to see it.

Toe's favorite color is green. He LOVES green. And in case you didn't know the Packers' colors are green and yellow. Toe also loves ribbing his father. We spawned a Packers fan. I can hear Jason's family cheering from here. We think it is pretty hilarious.

If you follow football you might know that the Packers and the Vikings played last weekend. Scott drove two hours to see the game with us and our Packer-fan friend Brian came all the way from Redmond (5-7 hours depending on weather??) to add a little rivalry. Toe, ever tactful, said that he was cheering for both teams. But we knew the truth.

FYI, the Vikings won, which put them in the playoffs. Their first game? Against the Packers AT WISCONSIN. Saturday. We can't watch the game with Brian or Scott this week, but we will be thinking of them. And I just might suggest Toe wear green tomorrow.