Elijah's 4th Birthday Photos

Elijah thoroughly enjoyed his birthday - every part of it was fun for him. We talked about it the day before, and he knew all about birthdays. The night before his birthday, I let him pick out his cake and frosting, plates, napkins. He kept going over to the counter, pointing at it, and saying, "My Birthday!" Josephine & Kaylen even started getting a little mad at his rubbing it in, but too bad - it's his day and we weren't going to let their jealousy ruin his day. They get their days too.

Also the night before his birthday, we talked at supper about how tomorrow was his birthday and he was going to be 4. It took him a couple days, but now if you ask him how old he is, he no longer says, "tee", he says, "Powa" (he can't say his 'F's), without being reminded. (and Josephine promptly says, "I'm fwee!") Elijah is also getting better at holding up all four of his fingers too, instead of holding his pinky down with his thumb.

The day of the party, I took the afternoon off work to clean up the house, wrap his present, and blow up balloons. I picked up the kids from daycare, did speed-baths for Elijah & Josephine, and then they had a few minutes to play with balloons before everyone arrived. Jock picked up pizza from Casey's on his way home from work, so we all enjoyed pizza, pop, cake and ice cream, before Elijah opened his presents and we chatted and watched the kids play. And by some miracle, the kids were even in bed very close to their bedtime - which was good, because his birthday fell on a daycare/work night.

Pre-party: The balloons are always a hit! Elijah had seen this before a couple times, and knew to blow out the candles - one at a time. (My video of it is rather blurry, so you'll have to settle for the post-blown-out candles photo.) Mmmmmmmm! Let's get these presents opened! He LOVED the bike!!! And the other presents... The girls were a little jealous of him getting all the presents and the attention. And him not wanting them to touch his presents - he kept saying, "My ___!" All the gear is on, and he's ready to go!No more riding big sister's old princess bike!

Oh yeah - pedaling is easier with shoes...It took him a bit to get the hang of the pedaling, because he's used to tricycles at daycare, where you can pedal backwards to make the trike go backwards. He's figuring out how brakes work - always so curious about everything!

And around... and around... and around...

The next morning, the bike was still sitting in the entry way, and he wanted to ride it again after breakfast. We didn't have time, but we took the bike outside that evening.
(So sweet that he turned his bike and crashed instead of running into his sister!)

He got another present on Sunday. I think Elijah & Daddy got equal enjoyment out of it. Yes, Duke, it is still in tact. He's even controlling it himself fairly well - although hasn't figured out the left/right knob yet.

What a fun birthday it was for Elijah. I'm blessed beyond believe that he was home so we could help him celebrate his birthday, probably for the first time ever!