You guys. I'm not sure how this happened but all of a sudden the little guy is ONE:
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| Who, Me? I was just born like yesterday |
His first birthday was spent like much of the rest of his life... being dragged around after his siblings:
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| You would think I would have a problem with this. You would be wrong. |
But between the ballet camp performance (
you tube video here) and picking the dude up from grandma's house we made plenty of time to celebrate:
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| Balloons!!!! BEST DAY EVER! |
We just had a small family get together. Like we do for first birthday's. Just some grilling out with the grandparents. And to be honest his gifts from us were new to him hand-me downs from his siblings (sorry, kid. I love you but we have enough plastic in our house):
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| I don't know the difference. |
But we made sure to include his favorites. We had cheesy mashed potatoes as the side - his favorite food EVER.
For dessert we skipped the cake. I know there's the whole cake smash tradition thing for first birthdays... but he's no stranger to the cake game. One of the many benefits to being #3 - you get cake way before you probably should. And it's just not his favorite. He likes it but not nearly as much as he likes bananas. Or ice cream. So we skipped the cake and did banana splits.
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| GIVE ME THE ICE CREAM! |
It was a celebration all around. We made it! We handled the Year of Three Kids 4 and Under! We got through the newborn/toddler/preschooler insanity!
And it is so, so worth it. I am so glad this little one came into our lives:
He is a very serious guy. You have to earn your smiles with him. He doesn't give them away easily:
But that doesn't mean he's unhappy. Just thoughtful.
He doesn't talk much - even now that he has a few words he's content to point at what he wants instead of vocalize. Part of it is his serious nature - he's never going to be a person who fills the air with words - part of it is having an older brother who never lets anyone get a word in edgewise:
He's happy to go along with whatever his siblings want. I've joked that he's the chihuahua who thinks he's a mastiff because he's a baby who thinks he's a big kid. He wants to be in the fray no matter what adventure we are dragging him on or what his crazy siblings are doing:
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| His siblings dressed him up like a pirate and put him to work in the ship's kitchen. Seriously. |
His likes and dislikes are becoming more and more clear every day. Likes: Sand, wheels, army crawling, mashed potatoes, ice cream, stuffed animals, his hedgehog, pointing, and chasing his siblings.
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| Wait for me!!!! |
Dislikes: Snakes (seriously the kid is terrified of them), being treated like a baby, crackers that don't have peanut butter on them, and his car seat.
It has been so fun watching him learn and grow and his little personality develop. I can't wait for all that comes next!
Happy Birthday, Little Guy!
