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Its funny how the day even began, seems that mom and dad can be more excited about their children’s birthday than the kid himself. Emily puts a lot of thought and preparation into making Micah’s birthday fun and celebratory for everyone, so the excitement kept her awake early and both of us were up and wondering where is our sleepy boy?
Then 7am sharp Micah was up and we no longer had a 3 year old living with us – he was now 4! We had a table full of gifts sent from friends and family that we’d been storing up for this day, and Micah took little time to tear into them. Much thanks to everyone who sent presents, you guys outdid yourselves!
I think that is must be age 4 when you kids start to get smarter than you, because it took no longer than the wee minutes of his birthday opening presents, as dad was trying to get one of the toys working that Micah says, “Dad that’s not how you do it, let me show you!” I handed it to him and stood back to watch… so it begins.
Micah opened his Scooby-Do card and Emily said, “You got a Scooby-Do card,” Micah said in reply, “Its a Scooby-don’t card.” Then after presents it was breakfast time and of all the possible treats Micah could ask for (Emily gave him his choice of his favorite food), he chose fruit. We took Micah into his room to see how much he’d grown in the past year (we keep track on a piece of wood, and its fun to see his height grow). Then he and Emily packed up the birthday bags and cupcakes for his school and it was off to party #2.
One of the presents we gave Micah was a decade old digital camera that we had kept in storage for a long time. I came across it a week ago and thought, “Micah would love this.” He is always pretending to take pictures and now he actually can. At preschool, everyone love the balloons and they played the egg on a spoon game and Micah took pictures of everyone!
Finally after more sugar, singing, and games it was time to come home and start setting up for party #3. Emily invited some of our closest friends over they all have little ones, who happen to be some of Micah’s closest friends. The party began at 6, but we were delighted to have our friends Brad and Alicia Fox come over early as they are here on the island from Freeport visiting for a week.
The party was great – pizza and a monkey/dog cake (you’ll have to ask Emily about this one, apparently it started out as a monkey and then turned into a dog?).
There were more presents, and you’d think that Micah would spend his time playing with them, but no. Turns out having friends over is much more fun than presents Micah and the kids spent what seemed like hours running in circles around the house, out the door and around a bucket. The premiere toy was not an electronic thingamajig or truck or book, it was an empty bucket!
It was a fun party. All the kids had a great time, and as parents it was very fun to see everyone playing and having fun. The monkey/dog cake was a big hit, as is all of Emily’s cooking, but Micah was caught after the party eating just the frosting off of all the leftover pieces… like mother like son!
The evening and entire day was a success, and then once everyone had left, we had one last present for Micah that we didn’t want to bring out while all his friends were here – a new bike. He found renewed vigor to tear into one last present at the late hour. Its the joy of a parent to watch your kid’s eyes light up as he sees his new present. The bike was a huge hit, and Micah rode it through the living room right up to exhaustion before bedtime.
We are so thankful for the Lord giving us our boy and watching him grow and come to know the Lord is a treasured joy. With every passing stage of life with him there is a bit of relief and loss, for we only enjoy him at age 4 at the expense of age 3. Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for Micah and who took the time and money to send him a present. And to all those who came to the parties, thanks for making Micah’s day a blast!