Four! (don't duck)

We celebrated a very special birthday in our house this week!  Gavin turned four years old on Monday, with a fun family and friends Lego party celebration on Sunday.  Our little guy seems to have made the transition from toddler to "kid" with what feels like a milestone birthday.

The Lego theme was fun and something that Gavin chose.  Here he is post balloon store with a Lego fire truck (huge) balloon.

I spent hours (again) making the cake (well cakes) this year.  Last year, I opted for store bought and it just wasn't quite the same.  There's something to be said about spending the equivalent of nearly a day's work creating a master piece homemade cake.  Not quite as nice as the professionals could have made it with fancy fondant Lego bricks and such, but overall I was satisfied with the result. I particularly like the Lego candy men - supper easy thanks to a candy mold and quick melt candies that were pre-colored!

Gavin helping me make the cakes (I let him decorate his own, he did a pretty good job!).

More photos of the decor...

Gifts, oh so many gifts. Very generous attendees as usual!

BaPa modeling Gavin's jammies made by MaeMe.  Mickey Mouse this year!

So very happy about his cakes, the birthday song, and making a wish (with eyes closed) and blowing out the candle.

As a friend of mine calls it (I'm stealing your term EB), here's Gavin on his "actual, factual" birthday on Monday evening.  We let him decide where he wanted to go for a special dinner with mom and dad.  He chose the local no frills pizza joint - nice and casual for scarfing down some good pizza!  Then Brad and I gave him our gifts - I scored a great deal on a Lego table and toy organizer that are just so cute for his play room!  And we had to do round two of cake - a cup cake this time.  I love this "cheeks inflated" shot I managed to get.  We lit the candles and sang happy birthday four times before finally eating the cupcake (right before bed on a preschool night, not the smartest idea...oh well!)

So, Gavin at four years old: very talkative, creative with his story telling and using his imagination.  He comes up with some of the funniest stories and combination of characters, all on the fly without much stopping to think of what's next.  He just chats, and chats and chats.  He is a very kind, trusting little guy who isn't shy about approaching strangers in the grocery store, restaurant, at church and striking up a conversation.  We're working with him on that balance of strangers - being kind, but also not to trusting of people we don't know.

Gavin is very into coloring projects.  He loves to doodle, color in coloring books and in a white note pad, write letters, play with stickers, cut things (he can now use the scissors correctly, a nice lefty pair I bought him).  He is getting better at staying in the lines when he colors and applying the appropriate color for various objects without being prompted.  His favorite thing to draw are robots.  There is, in general, an affinity for robots as of late.

At school, he is learning tons.  He comes home each preschool day with a run down of the day's events.  And even when he is naughty and gets a time out, he basically confesses to us that he did something wrong.  We are working with him on his ability to express excitement in a calm, non-physical way.  He has had a couple of altercations at school where he gets overly excited about something and ends up getting a little too aggressive with the other kids.  So, we're doing less daddy-son horsing around at home, talking about personal space, and just general better ways to express our emotions.  His teacher says this behavior is very preschool typical and appropriate, but we still want to work on it.

A recent cute story: couple of weeks ago at preschool, there was a school assembly in the gym about fire safety.  A local fireman attended and led the group discussion.  Gavin came home saying: "Smoke detectors can smell smoke.  If they smell smoke, then they go 'beep, beep, beep'.  And what should we do next?  (answering his own question) Get out of the house!  And should we grab our favorite toy before getting out of the house? (again answering his own question) NO!  We should just get out."  Exactly right!

This is just one recent example.  I need to do a better job of documenting these narratives and post some more on the blog to give you a sense for his communication ability at this age.  And for me to look back on and chuckle!

Funny, fashion at four is becoming a big deal.  I thought this only occurred with girls, but Gavin has an obsession with a recently purchased "Hero's" (as he calls it) shirt.  It is an Avengers shirt that I picked up on clearance at Target for $2.49; it has Hulk, Captain America, Thor and one other dude I can't recall at the moment (you comic book junkies will know who is missing).  So, he has to wear this shirt every day practically.  I think he's worn it to preschool just about every day since getting it.  Not wearing it creates pandemonium in our household in the morning.  There are days that the shirt has been washed and re-applied three times in one day.  Even when he had the stomach flu (and had gotten sick on the shirt), he mustered up the energy to demand the "Hero's" shirt.  Poor thing is faded after just about a month of owning it.  I totally should have bought three of those darn shirts!

Alright, that's probably enough for tonight.  Sorry I'm a few days late with the birthday post.  I'm fighting a cold this week and it's gotten the better of me in the evenings lately - in bed by 8:30, just after putting Gavin to bed.  Look at me tonight - a night owl up at 9:30pm still!  I must be on the mend!  Crazy how I go all winter being healthy when surrounded by a kiddo with continuous colds and two bouts of stomach flu.  Then he is finally healthy for a couple of weeks and I get sick!  Hope you all are enjoying winter.  We are for the most part - I need to blog some winter photos.  But we're beginning to get the spring itch.  And I'm looking forward to the better morning and evening commute.  Just think, day light savings ends in just a couple of weeks - I love those longer days and sunny evenings!