The Big Day!

So, yesterday was Carter's big day!  I suppose it didn't feel so big when he had to go to daycare and we had to work, but I think we made the best of it.  Heck, when I was a kid I was a little jealous of friends whose birthdays fell on school days (mine was always the week before school started) because they got to see their friends and pass out treats.  I think I got to do it once school started, but it never felt the same.  So as much as all of us would probably prefer a special day together, he probably had just as much fun bringing a snack (donuts) to his friends and generally getting showered with "Happy Birthday!" all day.

Anyway, let's rewind to Wednesday night.  Craig was in Canada, I'd given the boys some candy for their Valentine's Day present, and we were settling in to play before bedtime when Carter asked me to play with him.  We played cars and Carter was being so good that I decided I needed to take a picture of him on his last night as a four-year-old.  I'm not gonna lie--five is a tough one for me.  That is officially big boy territory, and not even a little bit baby era anymore.  I can pretend for a little while since he's still in preschool, but man...five sounds so big!

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE this picture.

I love this kid so much.  After that he wanted to put on his badge and have me take a picture of him...so I did.

I have been nervous the past few days about Carter getting sick, because a couple kids in his class have had stomach bugs this week.  Then when he woke up on his birthday complaining about his stomach "muscles" being sore from playing with Jacob the day before, I got nervous.  Who knows what he can figure out about his body at this point?  By some miracle he hasn't had a stomach bug in a couple years, so I don't think he remembers much.  As a result of my nervousness, I made sure to take our annual picture in the morning, just in case, because I knew the result would be significantly worse if he came home sick.  I took two shots and in both he looks giant and grown up, doesn't he?

Luckily, he got through the day just fine, so we were able to have the fun evening we had planned.  First up was presents!

He got two Hot Wheels cars, a cool Scooby-Doo t-shirt...

...three books, including a Lego Ninjago reader, a Lego word book that will be great when he does start reading, and one called "The Scrambled States of America" that anthropomorphizes the states.  I got it through the Kohl's Cares rack a while back and it looks cute.  I figure it'll be a good way to start him recognizing state shapes now!

He also got an Imaginext Yeti Catapult he'd had his eye on, and hearing him triumphantly say "Catapult!" when he saw it was pretty cute!  His big gift was one that I was very excited about.  Part of me was terrified he'd hate it, but it's probably one of the only kid gifts ever that I wanted to get out and play with before his birthday ever arrived!  I knew it was something he loves to play with at daycare, but maybe he wouldn't be as interested at home? 

But he liked it!  It remains to be seen how often he'll want to play with them, but so far he's excited about his new magnetic tiles...and good thing because--shhhhh--Grandma got a different set for him, too! 

I swear he posed like that by himself!

Once the gifts were done, we headed out to Chuck E. Cheese!  

We ate pizza, played a bunch of games, and ultimately only got five long Tootsie Rolls with some bonus tickets we won off our cups.  The boys opted to save the big batches of tickets.  We have them going back a few years now, so hopefully one of these years there will be something they really want...and can agree on!  A big bunch of last night's tickets came from Jacob's big win on this captain's wheel game--he got the jackpot, 100 tickets!

My only regret is that the photo machine was out of paper, because we have three pictures on our fridge from this time of year going back to when Carter was just a baby!  As a whole the boys got along well and Jacob even tried to help Carter with a few games.  We had a little time for Carter to play with his toys when we got home, and then it was time for bed!  It didn't feel like enough celebrating to do him justice, but I know he had a good day and we're all looking forward to his party next weekend!

It blows my mind to think my baby is so big, since this seemed impossibly far away five years ago.  And suddenly, we're here!  We started his new year with his well visit this morning, and we found out he grew three inches this year!  Of course, I don't think he gained much weight because his BMI is down to the 5th percentile now, but his doctor doesn't seem too concerned.  We'll keep an eye on a couple things for now, but since he seems perfectly fine, so far so good.  He does now have a major fear of needles (as confirmed by his last blood work and today's four shots--poor kid), so God forbid he needs surgery because the IV will pretty much make him lose his mind.  But I can't complain...he's still the sweetest, most charming little boy I could have asked for, and as I told him, as long as he keeps giving me hugs and kisses, he's allowed to keep growing up!  Happy 5th Birthday Carter!