Daniel is 5!

This week Daniel turned 5. My little boy is growing up!

We celebrated his birthday throughout the week. The weekend before we gave him his main present, a trailer bike. He's getting pretty fast on his balance bike (last year's birthday present) but can't go far on it so I thought he might enjoy being able to join me on rides. We snagged one in barely-used condition on Craigslist and took it out for a spin. It took a little adjustment for both of us and felt quite wobbly to me at first (don't see myself wearing clip-in shoes with this any time soon) but we got the hang of it and had fun. Looking forward to more biking adventures together.

The night before his birthday we had dinner at Fuzzy's Tacos at his request. But he mentioned that they didn't have balloons so I stopped by Kroger to get some balloons-Lightning McQueen for him, Minnie and Mickey Mouse for Rebecca. Aside from a brief moment of high drama when he accidentally let go and it floated up to the ceiling (before being retrieved by a helpful employee), dinner went well.

On the morning of his actual birthday we had his celebration of life at school. The tray in the middle of the room has 5 candles, one for each year, and the papers around the edge are the 12 months of the year. He carries the earth once around for each year of life and his teacher would talk about what he was doing at that age and pass around pictures we brought in.

That evening we switched from celebrating with young folks to a decidedly older crowd as we helped call a bingo game at an assisted living center for a senior community visit through the Dallas Area Young Lawyers Elder Law Committee. I'd taken Daniel with me before and he had enjoyed it so when I offered the change to go again he was enthusiastic. I baked strawberry cupcakes for the residents and they sang happy birthday to him and many gave birthday hugs. They enjoyed him and Rebecca and the kids enjoyed the attention. Afterward, the family headed out for burgers and milkshakes.

As befits his generous nature, he passed out cupcakes to all the residents in the room before taking one for himself.

Afterward we watched the slideshow our birth photographer had put together for us. He and Rebecca loved seeing how small they both used to be (we watched hers too) and Daniel liked sitting in my lap in the recliner in his room hearing the story of how after we brought him home, I took him in my arms and carried him up to his room and sat in that same recliner holding him. Of course, I told him, he was a lot smaller then and easier to carry! 

This weekend we did Daniel's big birthday party. As we've done every year so far we had his party at a local pool with party tent areas and a fun kid-friendly pool area. We enjoyed celebrating with so many friends and he and Rebecca had a great time. It's great that with them being at the same school they have the same friends and I love seeing that the older kids make her feel included.

Daniel made an interesting request for his birthday cake. He wanted a cake like Prince Wednesday's on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. This was 1) oddly specific, 2) involving a minor plot point 3) and a minor character 4) on an episode we hadn't seen in months. I had to pull that episode up again to make sure we knew what we were talking about and he confirmed that's what he wanted-yellow cake, layered, with strawberries. I'm a good cook but never been much of a baker but I got some boxed cake mix, icing, and strawberries and hoped for the best. I looked at a screenshot of the Prince Wednesday cake as I prepped mine to make sure I was doing it right. My layers weren't as tall as the show's but otherwise I thought it was pretty close. Daniel was concerned it wasn't big enough but then decided it would do and ended up eating 2 slices at the party, so I guess it worked out!

As much as people talk about how great the youngest years are, as Daniel gets older I'm really enjoying how much more we can do together, how much more we can talk about, and seeing his personality shine through more as he grows into the person he's meant to be. He's a sweet, brave, thoughtful boy with a big heart and an inquisitive mind. He's a great helper and the best big brother Rebecca could ask for. We love our birthday boy and I'm excited about the adventures the next year holds for him.