coming soon: tennyson's fourth birthday

I'm thinking that calories from baked goods don't count when the baked goods aren't yet cooked, right? Thought so. My cupcakes are baking. I let Steven lick a beater, only to have him say that cake batter isn't as good as cookie batter. I disagree. I told him that I could take a spoon and eat a bowl of the stuff. He gave me one of his looks. Who's he to look at me like that? Cake batter is so yummy.

It's Tennyson's 4th birthday tomorrow, I mean, it's his 7th birthday on Thursday, and his name is actually Enrico Poopantsius. I know, you're not supposed to give birthdays on the internet, but seriously, his birthday is tomorrow.

He's very excited. He's been counting sleeps for a couple of weeks now, and today he counted the hours until bedtime, beginning before breakfast. He's nuts. He was beside himself all day because we weren't baking cupcakes yet. Finally (after vacuuming, cleaning three bathrooms, and doing umpteen loads of laundry) I told him we'd bake a cake. He happily dumped all the ingredients into the bowl, and was allowed to cut the top off the baggie of cake mix - at least until I got annoyed at how long it was taking and took the bag and the scissors away from him. I know, I know, childhood memories, baking, yadda yadda. Who has patience for that?

And no, I did not let him crack the eggs, much to his chagrin. I did crack them into a cup and let him dump those in too, so he was happy enough with that.

Yesterday I bought his birthday presents. I bought him a nerf foam dart gun, a spiderman lunchbox and spiderman running shoes.

His birthday wish list (as far as I can remember) is this:
  1. a dart gun. He has gone on and on about this for weeks now. It's all he wants. He promises not to shoot anybody's eye out. He also thinks it would be a great toy to play with in the van when we're driving places. We may have to talk about that.
  2. spiderman's web powers installed in him. Literally. He keeps reminding me that he wants to be able to shoot webs from his wrists and stick people to the wall. As if he doesn't already find other numerous ways to annoy his siblings.
  3. new pants. He's turning four, he should abhor getting clothes as gifts. Funny thing, is that of all the kids he's the one that's most excited to get new clothes as gifts. He received a few outfits at Christmas time and he's very careful to make sure that he pairs the pants and the shirts together when he wears them. I don't even store them together. Pants go in one drawer and shirts in another. He finds the matching sets. Then there are other "outfits" that he invents as he goes. I'm embarrassed to take him out some days, but it's seriously not worth the fight. So what if it looks like he won the clothes in a duel with a street person.

That's his list. I keep asking him what he wants, hoping that he'll say something other than "a dart gun", and he keeps saying "Mommy. A dart gun, like I telled you." There is no changing his mind. I'm sure he won't use it to shoot Mitchie. I'm sure. I bet he wants to be a more effective spider killer. I'm actually thinking of hanging little colored paper plates on the wall in the basement and having him shoot at those, you know, instead of Jordan.

The other day I went shopping while he was in nursery school. I bought the dart gun. When he was getting out of the van, he happened to peek in one of the bags. There were 20 different bags in the van, and the one he looks in is of course the one with the gun in it. He hollered out "Hey! I found my dart gun!" Not "Hey, I'm getting a dart gun!" Oh no, I think he's half convinced that when he tells me what he wants for his birthday it's not so much a wish but more like putting in an order. He's not mean about it. He just thinks that he's letting me know what he wants and I'm going to go get it. He wasn't even surprised to find it sitting there. I think he was a little annoyed that I wouldn't just let him have it. Stinker.

Oh yeah, I was going to decorate tonight. I'll get to that. Maybe. How cool would it be to get up in the morning on your birthday to find balloons and streamers hung? Pretty cool.

Tennyson is having two birthday parties tomorrow: a kid party in the morning and a family party in the afternoon. He'll have had cake, ice cream and birthday snacks twice before supper. Lucky kid.

Did I mention that birthdays around here are like currency? Since the birthdays ended last summer the kids have been holding their birthdays over each other. I can't count the number of times I've heard "You're not invited to my birthday!" Or "You're not getting a cupcake at my birthday." And they believe each other. I heard Jordan ask Tennyson the other day if she couldn't please have a cupcake. He was happy with her that day, so he told her she could have five cupcakes, and five pieces of actual cake. She was very excited.

Once this winter one of the kids told me that I wasn't invited to the upcoming birthday. I'm not sure how that works. Don't they know that Mommy makes the birthday? I reminded them of this and was quickly reinvited, but only after I pointed out that there would be nobody to make the cupcakes if I wasn't invited.

I kind of can't believe he's going to be four! Maybe it's because they're so little. A few short years ago he was cruising around furniture. He didn't really start talking until he was about 16 months old. I was so excited for him to start talking. Boy was I nuts. He never stops now. He's cute though, and he always has something goofy to say. He loves to tease. He swoops from happy to grumpy to angry moods at the drop of a hat. I think he's starting to level out now. It's amazing how kids move in and out of ages and stages.

It's also amazing how fast that drooling little toothless baby turns into a young boy. *Sniff*


Tennyson is five months here. Jordan would be about 2 years and 4 months.
Seems like ages ago.




This song always makes me tear up when I hear it on the radio. The part where the mom is frazzled and the kids are going nuts and the guy tells her to enjoy it, because his babies are grown and she's going to miss this.

My babies are speeding out of their baby years already, and I still have a baby. Scratch that, I had a baby ten months ago. I remember how nuts I was going waiting for Ellie to come, and now she's here and her first birthday is only two months from now. Crazy.

Happy Birthday to you Tennyson. Love you one hundred and sixty eight, plus infinity. xox

Comments

This comment has been removed by the author.
Natalie said…
I also tear up when I hear that song!

Hope the birthday parties are crazy kid fun!
Ange said…
Happy Birthday Tennyson! They really do grow up way too fast.
Lora said…
Happy day to both of you!

And I have to check out this Nerf dart gun. My kid is obsessed with it!
Tiffany said…
The dart gun actually has some real kick to it! I've got the kids convinced that it's not nice to shoot people with it. For now.

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