Caleb's 5th Birthday

Well, the long-awaited day finally arrived for Caleb.  He's never cared much about his birthdays in the past, but boy was he excited about this one!  He's been counting down the days until his fifth birthday for more than two months.  It wasn't the birthday party or the presents or even the cake that he was most looking forward to; it was being 5-years-old.  For the past two days, he has initiated every conversation with a stranger like this: "Hi, I'm five."  There is no person too insignificant to be blessed with this news, either...the clerk at the grocery store, the mother strolling her baby by us at the park, the hand-stamping guy at Chuck E. Cheese.  Need I go on?  Apparently, being five has actually usurped his identity, because he no longer introduces himself with his name, just his age :)

Anyway, his birthday was yesterday, and we did a few things to make the day special (since he does have to share his birthday party with his brother every year).  Caleb woke up at 6:15, and instead of sending him back to bed until his permitted wake-up time of 6:30, we all got up and went to Krispy Kreme for a birthday breakfast.  We took his presents with us and he opened them after our donuts and chocolate milk.  He got two new Creator Lego sets from Nanna & Papa, an electronic learning map from Mimi, a Disney movie from cousins Bennett & Jasper and another Disney movie from Mommy & Daddy.  He was excited about all five gifts, and asked to watch one of the movies (Beauty & the Beast) as soon as we got home.

We were home before 8:00 am, Daddy went on to work and I put the movie in for the boys.  Ethan was complaining that his ear hurt, so I made a quick appt with the pediatrician for him.  When the movie was done, I had everything ready to go for our morning at Chuck E. Cheese (Caleb's destination of choice :)  We had to delay things a bit to take Ethan to the doctor & then pick up his antibiotics, but we made it to the kid-casino (our fond name for Chuck E. Cheese) by 11:00 am.  The boys had an exceptionally good time together during the two hours we were there.  Their favorite ride/game is the roller coaster arcade thing, which they rode over and over and over again together.  They also really enjoyed playing a car racing video game (I had to hold the gas pedal down for Ethan because he couldn't reach it) together.  There was nobody but us and one other little boy in there, so it was very easy to keep up with Caleb and Ethan.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we went home for Ethan's nap.  He wasn't feeling well, so I let him sleep a little longer than the hour I usually allow him. Caleb and I started one of his new Lego sets while Ethan was asleep.  Caleb was pretty tired himself, but he almost never naps and I decided not to suggest it since it was his birthday.  When Ethan woke up, the two of them played together for a while and the three of us ate an early dinner. Then we went to pick up Daddy at work on our way to the next birthday outing: The Treetop Family Adventure.  Most of the activities at this place are geared toward children a little older than our boys, but they still enjoyed a spirited game of (adapted) miniature golf with Daddy, and then spent a long time enjoying the two indoor playground areas.  By 7:00 pm, both boys were pretty worn out and ready to head home.

Caleb was still very happy about his birthday and about being five when he fell asleep last night, and I was very happy that he enjoyed his birthday so much :)  And I think we might have to make the birthday-breakfast-before-Daddy-goes-to-work a tradition.