Birthdays should always be a big deal, don't you think?
I mean, you only get one every year, so it needs to be a big deal. But for some reason, when it comes to The Hobbit, it hasn't worked out that way. Perhaps it's because all his friends are named "Sam."
Coincidence? Methinks not.
Now that we've been doing this kid-birthday thing for almost eleven years (good lord, we're getting old)...I can say, I've learned a thing or two about The Birthday.
Here are some tried and true things you can expect when preparing for your next kid-birthday:
1. No matter how posey he is for photos, if the Birthday Boy gets woken up at 6 a.m. by an altogether too-excited older brother, he's NOT going to be fun.
2. Despite all attempts to buy only gifts you haven't told anyone else to buy, you will get doubles. Your newly four-year-old will handle this with grace and the maturity of a child three times his age.
"WHAT?! I ALREADY HAVE THIS ONE!"
You'll watch in horror as the box goes flying across the room and the pout spreads across his face.
"We're working on being thankful."
Sometimes, you even get duplicate presents while the other person who bought the same gift is standing in the store with you.
No, really. She was standing beside me while I paid.
I call her Mom.
3. Cupcakes are an ideal birthday treat. Everyone gets to pick their own kind...and they're preportioned so you can't eat all the corners and claim that you haven't really had a piece.
Three of us had pumpkin with cream cheese frosting.
Others had less tasty flavors.
Still others simply played with the sandwich skewers and frosting, claiming to be "full"...as if he couldn't bear the thought of forcing down the frosting. I'm still wondering if something happened in the hospital and they gave me the wrong kid.
Just kidding.
This one is all mine.
4. When your husband gets a hold of the camera, you can almost always expect embarrassing shots to pop up that you weren't even aware he was taking. And some that he force-posed you for that turned out ridiculous.
Feel free to blame him completely. Surely it's his poor photography skills that made you look like a pasty white snowman with straw for hair.
Perhaps that assessment was too flattering.
5. Big brother love birthdays. It means they can begin concocting manipulative plans to unarm the birthday child of his new booty. And by "booty", of course I'm speaking as a pirate.
And not insinuating he wants to steal Sam's butt.
After this weekend, I've nicknamed Ethan "The Hoverer..." because boy, did he ever. I handled it quite well, hollering from the other side of the room "Dude, Ethan, would you let him open them himself?"
To which Adam responded by pulling Ethan aside and apologizing for the mental state of his frazzled mother:
6. No matter how few people are there...no matter how small the celebration...a four-year-old is happy surrounded by his family and a pile of presents.
7. Suddenly, as you're tucking your four-year-old baby into bed, it will hit you that he's really, really grown up.
...and you fight back the desire to get all weepy over it. The fact that you don't really have a baby anymore. You have a little kid. A little kid who is rapidly becoming a big kid. And while he's been your hardest child so far, he's secured a special place in your heart.
And that's kind of awesome. Just like him.
Happy Birthday, Samster.
