Catch-Up Post: Fearless Turns 4!

Some of you may remember this post, and that it stopped me from writing the birthday post for Fearless.  Since his birthday was almost two months ago and now even T-Man's birthday has come and gone, I really should post about Fearless turning 4.  Especially since this blog is our family scrapbook of sorts...I would hate for Fearless to read it one day and wonder what happened to his fourth birthday.  (Please ignore the fact that the pictures quality isn't as great--I was using our point-and-shoot that day, and the pictures just aren't as good.  Sorry, little man.)

Dear Fearless,

You are my wildcard.  Everytime I think I have you figured out, you change the game.  You are always coming up with something new!  Your imagination has no bounds--you can dream up a completely new idea in a matter of seconds...then tweak that idea a little bit...and then you are off again, dreaming up something completely different.

You love to create.  Your love of painting, drawing, coloring, and building is admirable.  All I have to do is give you some paper and paint and suddenly, you are engrossed in your work--creating, thinking, getting the colors to do what you want them to.  It is a pure pleasure to watch your creative spark glow.

You approach life with passionate intensity.  Whatever it is that you are facing...you either love it and embrace it with all you have...or you dig in and resist with all your might.  There is no middle ground in your mind! 

You are all boy.  You love anything that crashes, makes loud noise, or shoots bad guys.  When you grow up, you want to be SuperMan, or "a Police" or fly airplanes, or travel to Africa on safari with T-Man and Miss B.  And maybe you will do them all.  With your creative genius and the way you throw yourself whole-heartedly into anything you decide you want to do...I think you could do it all.  If you can dream it (and you can dream a lot) you can do it.  You always figure out a way to get what you want done.

One of my favorite things to do with you is to cook. You are my kitchen helper. You like to look through cookbooks with me and decide which new recipes to try. You put on your apron and get to work. You like to help me make cookies (of course) but you love to cook all of the other things too. You like to help with dinner--especially things like spaghetti and homemade pizza. You like to taste the foods at all the stages of the process just to see if it's right. Then you have me turn on the oven light so you can sit and watch the food change as it bakes. I can't wait to teach you how to make pies and breads...and to share with you all of the wonderful foods there are to discover. Now getting you to actually EAT the foods we cook is a whole different story...but I think it will come. Someday, it will come.

While you are all boy, you are also my cuddly-son.  You like to curl up in my lap and have me stroke your hair and just hold you.  You are very concerned about how others are feeling and want to cheer everyone up.  You love to tell jokes and make people smile and laugh.  I love the way you watch out for you sister and take care of her and warn people not to touch her until they've washed their hands.  And how when she cries, you bring her toys and try to make her laugh.  I love the way you admire your brother and how you want to be big like him.  I love the way you two are best friends.  Even when you stay up late at night jumping from bed to bed--I come in and scold, but really, I don't mind so much.  Because your relationship with your siblings is more important to me than getting to bed on time.  I love that you think those relationships are important too.

You are a joy to have in our family.  Our lives are more colorful because we have you.  Thank you for keeping me on my toes and reminding me that there is always more to learn, more to wonder about, more to create.  I love you!

love,
Mommy

Here are some other pictures from the party: