Baby Big Boy

Yep. Today is my babybigboy's birthday. Zion is 5! He's in bed now (playing) but he told us that he had "a very happy day". This morning he got a Thing action figure (that's one of the Fantastic Four for you non-comic book fans), then went to school. Robert came at snack time with banana bread that I'd baked this morning (Liel and I were supposed to go too but Liel's cold was rather nasty so we decided not to expose Zion's entire class) and stayed to play and read a story to the class at storytime.

After school Zion's friend Johnny came over and they played for nearly 3 1/2 solid hours. What's extra awesome about Zion + Johnny is that they play SO well together- no supervision or intervention needed. And they have tons of fun.

When Johnny left Zion opened the rest of gifts, all of which were hits. And then, finally, it was the moment he's been waiting for...well, for a long time. We sat down together and watched Star Wars. We told him he could watch it when he turned 5, and he's been eagerly anticipating it, especially as his birthday approached. I'm not sure how much of it he got, but it was probably a fair bit since he's a bright kid and I narrated some of the less clear parts to him. I know it's incredibly geeky, but sitting snuggled up with my kids (yes, Liel got to watch it at age 3. There are benefits to being the younger sibling sometimes, what can I say?) as they heard the Star Wars music and saw the words scrolling across the screen for the first time (I read them aloud for them)? SO AWESOME. Loved it.

We had hamburgers (Zion's choice) for dinner, which I felt was appropriate since that was the first food I ate after his birth 5 years ago. His birth feels like it has been more present in my mind this year than in others. I'm not sure why- the nice round number 5? Or maybe because he's really such a person now. A person who understands and looks forward to his birthday. A person who, when he heard Obi-Wan's disembodied voice for the first time after his run in with Darth Vader's lightsaber, said, "that's his spirit talking". A person who was willing to share some of his brand new Star Wars figures with his little sister. A person who, in short, is just really bright and sweet (mostly. but you know, we're none of us perfect...) and fun to be around. 5 years ago I was exhausted and wobbly and bleeding and amazed at the baby I had grown, and now...now he watches Star Wars and tells me his birthday cake is beautiful and complains about brushing his teeth. 5 years ago he changed my world, and now I am amazed, daily, at the boy I've grown and love.

PS- here a description of Zion by one of his friends. "Well, first of all he is 5. He likes to fight so I'll get us some swords. He likes to wrestle so we can wrestle down the hill, but you'll have to catch us at the bottom. He is fun. I'll introduce you to him."