For my bug

I'm a bit behind this week, but yesterday was Will's birthday. My baby is 5. Since he was with his dad yesterday we celebrated his birthday over the holiday weekend. Will wanted to go to Pirate Island, so off we went. The kids had a fun time (I think papa did too once we went and played in the arcade), and that's what its about. I tried not to think about the fact that we paid $10 so they could play games to win a prize we could have gotten 10 of at the $1 store.

Then back to the house for cake and presents. Huge surprise that Will asked for a Lego cake. Although it took a LONG time to do, I was pretty happy with the results. And so was Will.

Lots of great presents and we had a very happy kid.

My baby continues to grow up whether I like it or not. We didn't have a lot of big changes this year. Lego's continue to rule his world and it is not uncommon for us to be in a store and see something and have Will say "I could build that out of Legos". The last item was a toilet plunger. So yeah. It applies to everything. If you want the shy kid to open up, just ask him about a Lego's project.

Will's second love is dogs. Well it might be the second only because we don't have any at our house. Aunt NeeNee's house is like Disneyland to an animal lover like Will. His only struggle is that he still doesn't quite understand that I can't get the dogs to come cuddle with us and stay for the whole night. Luckily Jackie is very willing to give loves and cuddles.

The other thing that hasn't changed, only grown, is Will's desire to learn about things. Like most kids it does have some limitations on subject matter, but if it has to do with science, animals, the world around him, his desire is to learn as much as possible. During the oil spill he would watch news stories with his dad, and I was very impressed on his ability to accurately tell me what was going on with the spill and the capping of the pipe and the cool underwater machines that they were using. When he asks a question about something he definitely doesn't want the "kid" answer. He wants to know as much as possible. Still to the point that his mom has to look up a lot of things that he asks.

Will is a tender soul and gets his feelings hurt easily. But that same side of him really wants to see other people happy. I've really lucked out on things like tantrums, time-outs, etc., all very limited. What we have an abundance on is hugs. Neck strangling bear hugs.

I love to continue to see Will learn and develop and grow, well not really in height. The poor kid doesn't have a chance there. But seeing his confidence expand from things like his progress this summer at the pool makes me beam as a mom.

And seeing him flip through the instruction book for a set of Legos marked 9-14 yrs old, makes me pretty proud too. And smile a bit that maybe his dream of someday working for Lego, will become a reality. Don't grow up too fast though little one. You'll always be my little mouse.

Happy Birthday bug!