Happy Birthday Abraham!

Our little Abraham was finally “allowed” to have his fourth birthday! (is it bad parenting to brainwash your child into believing that they won’t have their birthday unless they do certain things??? i.e. learn to buckle your own seatbelt, open the car door by yourself, try new foods, etc.)

Abe got a really cool pirate set by PlayMobil (I highly recommend this toy for any imaginative four-year-old). We were asked to baby-sit at a friend’s house today… even though he usually asks to go to friends’ homes at least 10 times per day, today he didn’t want to go… he would have been content to just stay at home and play with the pirates ALL DAY LONG!!!

We had a Spiderman/Easter party planned for last week, but the little guy got sick and we had to postpone. It will most likely be this coming weekend. We’ll be making Spiderman Easter eggs… one week after the fact! Oh well! I’ll try to post more pictures of the party after it happens!

A little Abraham update...

1. He's hilarious!!! He has make-believe friends (Paul from Antarctica and Kubu from Africa) that teach him everything he knows and does (and get him out of many "difficult-for-a-four-year-old" situations). For example, we'll be sitting at the table trying to convince him to eat his broccoli and he tells us that one time his friend Paul ate broccoli and he died because it choked him!

2. He's trying so hard to be a big boy! Just this past weekend, we took the kids to an indoor water park in Anchorage. Abe met the height requirement for the biggest water slide there - the MASTER BLASTER! He sat in the front and Jacob sat in the back of a double inner tube. I nervously watched from below as they took their turn. The next thing I knew, I saw my little boy flipping out of the inner tube and hitting the netting that keeps the tube enclosed (we discovered that even though he's tall enough for the ride, he's just too lightweight to stay on the tube during such steep drops). My heart stopped. I ran frantically to try to alert somebody. In the meantime, Jacob threw himself out of the tube, grabbed Abe, and managed to stop their downward descent. Apparently, when they managed to stop, Abe hopped right back on the tube and said, "Come on papi! Let's keep going!" Unfortunately, the lifeguards wouldn't allow this. Jacob had to get his battle wounds taken care of and file a report. If it were up to Abe, they would have finished the ride and then hopped in line to do it all over again! Mami didn't allow this!

3. He has a gentle heart!!! Abe is my little helper when I go grocery shopping while Ammon is at school. For good behavior in the store, he gets to buy a gum ball on the way out. He always uses his quarter to buy two small gum balls instead of one large one for himself. He puts the extra one in his pocket and when we pick Ammon up from school, he excitedly gives it to his big brother. This warms my heart every single time he does it. You see, his own gum ball is long gone by the time we go to get Ammon. Nevertheless, he has never waivered and decided to keep that second gum ball for himself. He does this in lots of other situations, too! He has declared that the birthday toys he has received so far are just as much Ammon's as they are his.

4. He loves hugs and kisses. While "others" in our family wake up and just need to be left alone while they come to, Abe wakes up and smothers Ziya with hugs and kisses and asks her how her night was. Then he likes to cuddle on the couch before starting his playing.

I could go on and on about my little Abe. What a blessing he is to our family. HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY ABRAHAM! I love you.