Charlie's 4th Birthday

Charlie turned 4 on May 3 and we celebrated his birthday a few days later with just our little family. This picture pretty much sums up how Charlie felt about the entire birthday party experience. Celebrations of this type are not usually Charlie's favorite thing anyway, but we got started late (which is why all my kids are in their jammies) so it was worse than usual.

Charlie has never seemed to me to be very interested in cake. Sure, he likes to play with the frosting, but he doesn't seem to like to actually eat it. But he loves, loves, loves M&Ms. They're pretty much his favorite food. So I thought I would make him a giant M&M cookie instead of a cake. Seems smart, right?

I realize Charlie wasn't turning 2, but this was the only candle we had in the house. Prepared I was not. 

Charlie didn't think a cookie was so smart. He wanted to eat the M&Ms and was super frustrated they were encased in a huge cookie. He was not pleased. He didn't eat one single bite. The other kids enjoyed it, though.

Charlie also wasn't very happy about opening presents. He doesn't really get the whole opening presents thing anyway, but he was super crabby by this point.

He did enjoy his presents however. We got him a hoppity ball and shaving cream. Yep, shaving cream. We put it on the shower doors and walls so he can play with it while bathing. He loves it. He loves the hoppity ball too, but he figured out how to take the plug out and deflate it, so it's in our room waiting to be pumped up again.

So Charlie's party was not a smashing success, but that's okay. Honestly, I doubt Charlie's ever going to love having a party thrown in his honor. If we gave him what he really wanted, we'd let him run around outside naked or sit on the bed in his room with the door shut while he chews on his alligator toy. That'd be Charlie's ideal birthday.

But despite the non-festiveness of our festivities, I was happy to celebrate Charlie being on the earth for four years. He's a delightful, frustrating child. He has taught me so much and continues to teach me every day. He is mostly happy and fun and loving, but when he's not it sure makes life interesting. Charlie took a moment on his birthday to climb up into my lap and lay his head against my chest, just like I held him that night he was born. I love being able to go back to that time and place in my mind and remember how connected I felt to this little boy, how overwhelmed I was with emotion and with feeling with 100% certainty that he was mine and meant to be mine. And I still feel that way often, when his face lights up and he babbles with delight when I come home from work or when he lets me just hold him and scratch his back. I'm privileged to be his mom.

Charlie on his actual birthday