John Paul, Age 4

I can't believe I'm the parent of a 4-year-old...  John Paul is certainly a unique kid - right now his favorite things are his calculator, his toy clock, and the swing set.  He is constantly checking the time and asking what will happen at whatever hour is coming up next.  At his birthday party on Sunday I told him we would bring out the cake at 5 o'clock.  He was outside for most of the party and came dashing in at 5:02 to tell me, "It's time for my cake!!!"

For the first time ever, we had a "big" birthday party - people other than immediately family were invited!  But I'm not the most creative person, so I mostly focused my energy on the food...  He was totally into the decorations, as low-key as they were:

Balloons hanging from the ceiling - I'm so fancy!

Tissue paper poofs that were going to hang from the ceiling but became a centerpiece when I got lazy...

Does the combination make sense?  No.  But food on a stick is fun and it's what we had!

These were delicious - caprese salad on a stick with basil from our garden!

The babies enjoyed all the attention!

And the ever-elusive balloons were great for exercise!

Please bring fake mustaches to a birthday party - it was hilarious!

I love how every child in the picture is trying to blow out the candles, and John Paul is trying to keep his mustache on!

 And because Pinterest is a wealth of information, I remembered I pinned some survey questions for birthdays a while ago...  Responses are verbatim:

1. What is your favorite color?  Um...  My favorite color is orange!
2. What is your favorite toy?  The toy when I was a baby.
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Mm...  6 fruits.  (Which fruits?) Pear...  Apple...  Peach!  4, 5, 6?
4. What is your favorite television show?  The Magic School Bus!
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
6. What is your favorite outfit?  ... (What's your favorite thing to wear?) Umm...  Put a sticker on your shirt!
7. What is your favorite game?  Um, tic tac toe!
8. What is your favorite snack?  Um, raisins and craisins with ONE m!  (Because he wanted me to spell "Um" with one m...)
9. What is your favorite animal?  Um, a tiger!  (At this point I realized he was just thinking of the first thing that came to mind...  I don't think many of these things are his favorite, they were just the first thing he could think of!)
10. What is your favorite song?  Um, with one m, Holy God We Praise Thy Name!
11. What is your favorite book?  What is your favorite BUG?  Um, ladybug!  (Now what's your favorite book?)  An ABC book!
12. Who is your best friend?  Um, Grandpa!
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Umm, Mini Wheats!
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play in the back yard and splash in the pool!
15. What is your favorite drink?  Ummm, water.
16. What is your favorite holiday?  Halloween!!!
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Ummmm (with FOUR m's!), a stuffed bear (lie.  He takes a book to bed with him).
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  The one that I ate!  (And what food is that?)  The one that I just ate!  (peaches and pears)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Um, hot dogs!  No, Five Guys!
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A daddy!

We went to Five Guys for dinner and all he wanted to do was eat peanuts.  So next year I'm just buying him a bag of peanuts with the shells on and calling it a day.

And just for fun, Cecilia's answers to the same questions - she's almost 2.5 and was clearly trying to be funny...:

1. What is your favorite color?  Um...  Pink and purple and orange and yewwow!
2. What is your favorite toy?  Poop!  John Paul's my toy!  (Cecilia, what's your favorite toy?)  She turns around and picks up the first thing she finds, a baby book...  Wike DIS book!
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Pee!  (She and John Paul are laughing hysterically...) (Tried again 3 hours later)  Gwapes!
4. What is your favorite television show? Angewina!
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Um...  Bun!  And hot dog.

See that pink plate?  It's the hot dog bun she requested for lunch.  She ate the hot dog and left the bun, as usual.  Little liar.

6. What is your favorite outfit?  Swimsuit!  (Well, she does wear it pretty much every day...)
7. What is your favorite game?  Tootie!  How do you play tootie?  (She does a spastic sort of kick-dance)  Dis!  It's wike bawwet!
8. What is your favorite snack? Apwicot!
9. What is your favorite animal?  Ducks!
10. What is your favorite song? Go Baby Go!
11. What is your favorite book? My BEST new book!  Curious George!
12. Who is your best friend? Pooty!  Pwaid!  (It has to be a person...)  Minnie Mouse!
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Mini Wheats!
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Nuffin.  Fall down da swide and tumble!
15. What is your favorite drink?  Cold water.
16. What is your favorite holiday?  Ewizabif!  (Christmas or Easter or Halloween or the 4th of July...)  Ooh Hawoween!  I wuv Hawoween!
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My bear!  Not my house!
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? (giggling)  Banans!
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Wemonade.  And I will dwink it.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A gwown up!  (You could be a mommy, or a nun, or a teacher, or an astronaut, or a doctor, or a nurse, or a cook...)  A chef.  A GIRL chef!  And I cook in my own kitchen!

Happy Birthday, John Paul!