Jacob Gary turns 4

Today my firstborn turned 4. Not only do I feel old, I also feel...exhausted. Not purely because of the lack of sleep I've had the past 4 years, but also because of the party we threw today. A Hot Wheels inspired bash for the ages. I even crafted. Yes, me, the ultimate creative dud. I'll admit I stole the idea of a website, I don't recall the exact name (something like "bestcraftymomsinthehistoryoftheuniverse.com") but I glue-gunned my little heart out for the sake of my child. And my budget. Do you realize how much money you can spend on a child's birthday party? Ridiculous. So ridiculous in fact, that I made my own car decorations that doubled as party favors.
I'm not quite to the point where I'm ready to make my entire family's underwear from materials grown in my backyard, but I'm feeling pretty capable of stealing a basic creative idea and producing a decent product.

But let's get back to the reason for the blog. Jacob Gary. He has been asking us every morning for the last few weeks if that day was his birthday. This morning when he woke me up, I said, "Happy birthday, Juje" (please to to my nicknames post if you need the story behind "Juje") He said, "Today's not my birthday," quite adamantly. "Yes it is, today is August 3rd." He went walking down the hall slowly, and I heard him say quietly to himself, "Oh, today IS my birthday. I'm four now."

Anyone who knows Jake knows that cars are his reason for living, so the Hot Wheels party theme was quite appropriate. A few days ago, my mother in law told me someone asked Jake if he was going to have a pirate birthday. "No," he said, "I'm a Hot Wheels man." Indeed. I take out this cheap plastic tablecloth and he's almost wetting his pants in excitement "WHOA, mama what is THAT???" A cheap plastic tablecloth. "WHOA, so awesome!"

Weeks ago when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his party, he literally put his pointer finger on his mouth and, looking quite pensive, stated firmly, "Lemon Chocolate Strawberry Pie-Cake." Hmm, I don't even think bestcraftymomsinthehistoryoftheuniverse.com has a recipe for that. He repeated the request continually and so I decided to get creative (here I go again, you're thinking?) Well, I didn't exactly produce a lemon chocolate strawberry pie-cake, but all the parts were there. Except for the pie. I made lemon cupcakes and Fred Meyer made chocolate cake with strawberry filling. He was pleased.

And I'm pleased with the precious gift of Jake. He's definitely not perfect (if you know a 4 year old who is...please don't tell me) but he certainly is a good boy. How do I love he? Let me count the ways:

• He's passionately in love with his brother, and would fight to the death on a playground if someone tried to hurt Ty, even though 2 seconds before he may have been slugging Ty himself.
• He's instant friends with everyone he meets, including joggers that pass by and smile at him.
• He CRACKS me up. The other day dog-lover-Dan asked him "What do you think about giving Felix away?" Jake quickly responded, "Dad, if you give Fewee away, then we'll give YOU away." Amen, brother Jake.
• He's quirky. He despises the sound of a toilet flushing, so if we're in public he makes me flush it after he's left the stall, and at home he flushes with his hand over his right ear, and the other ear mashed against his left shoulder as that hand pushes the handle.
• He still sits on my lap and laughs at my jokes and hugs and kisses me without being embarrassed.

Happy birthday, Juje. Juja Maguja. Rad. Rad McFad. Faddeous. You're one of a kind, and I couldn't love you more.