An Entire Hand!

Our first born is now an entire hand old! I can't believe it's been 5 years. I guess that's something you say every birthday, with every child. It's a good thing we stop to celebrate birthdays because it gives us a second to reflect and realize that time is passing and we'd better be alert and present, because it's going WAY faster than we want it to.

Miles woke up to balloons and a present. It took some convincing for him to actually open it because we weren't having his party that day. He got candles in his french toast and happy birthday serenades from us and Grandma and Grandpa Crosby. I'd say it was off to a good start.


We had pre-school that day, so he took treats to his class and got to wear a crown all day. Pretty big deal. That night, he requested "hamburgers" and apples and cheese. After dinner we went to Arctic Circle to get us some 30 cent cones and wear the kids out on the play place. ALWAYS a hit.


We decided to have a friend party this year. His first. Our first. We've had versions of friend parties in the past, but parents always came and it was more of a social event for us! This time we did the whole traditional, drop your kid off, they bring a present thing. Miles has been praying for his Spiderman Birthday for almost a year now, so we were crossing our fingers that it met his expectations. Who knows where this obsession with Spiderman came from. We never introduced him to it, but all of a sudden, it was the coolest. About a month before his birthday we decided to officially introduce him to this hero and let him watch a Spiderman cartoon on Netflix. Man, those "newer" versions are kind of...scandalous! We were happy to find "Spiderman and his Amazing Friends" from 1981. They are awfully awesome. Now both Miles and Gwen are obsessed with the cartoon and pretend to be the characters all the time. They have our family's Halloween costumes for this upcoming year already picked out now.

So when the kids arrived, I had coloring pages set up to work on while everyone trickled in. When am I going to learn that a bunch of balloons on the floor is way more entertaining! Miles was the only one who was interested in coloring. He's turning into quite the artist.


Then we had a relay race game. First you had to crawl through Spiderman's webs and back. Then you had to use some webbing (silly string) to trap a bad guy. Lastly you had to rebuild the city that the bad guys destroyed (stack a bunch of boxes). It was a big hit, but I had planned for it to take about 20 minutes, and it probably lasted about...7.


It didn't matter too much, there were presents to open! I was blown away. First by the fact that all of the kids were so excited to watch Miles open presents. They just shoved all the presents at him, begging him to open theirs next. It was cute, and utterly chaotic. Secondly, I was blown away that we have such generous friends. As I kept seeing what his friends got him, I silently moved what we got him out of the room to save it for another day. We shouldn't have gotten him anything! The kids played with his new toys for a bit, and then the moment they've all been waiting for...


Cake and ice cream! Every kid decided they needed a candle to blow out too. Makes total sense. :) As they finished, we turned on an episode of the aforementioned "Spiderman and his Amazing Friends" and had them all entranced.


The crazy thing is that the festivities weren't even over, after all of that! On Sunday, we celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa Garners house with Jeffery, who share the same birthday. I didn't bring my camera, but Miles was really excited about the rest of the presents. He requested a piggy bank. Check. He also got a scooter (left over from Christmas :) and probably the oddest gift a 5 year old boy could get; a yoga mat and yoga DVD. They do a kids yoga routine at pre-school and he LOVES it. I thought he would get a kick out of having his own mat and DVD, and I was right! He loves it and wants to do his exercises almost every day, "to make him healthy and strong."


Whew! I'm tired. I even kept it simple, at least in my mind. No pinterest worthy party here, but I'd say he felt special and loved. Mission accomplished! Miles is growing into such a remarkable person. His latest loves are "doing art" and Spiderman. Obviously, he's 5 and has some traits that need maturing, but I'm consistently blown away by his empathy for others, among other things. He's ready at the drop of a hat to help me with almost any chore and is a fantastic big brother. What cracks me up lately is his methods of persuasion with Gwen. If he wants to watch a certain movie, but Gwen doesn't, he'll say something like "But Gwen, this one has a girl in it!" or, "Gwen, look, there's pink on the cover, do you like pink?" :) He'll be a great big brother again. He can't wait for baby June to come out so he can "tickle her" and "feed her". In the morning when he comes in to snuggle with me, he puts his hand on my belly and waits until she kicks him. Tender moments I hope I don't forget. Oh we love our Miles boy.