three plus one

(this was intended to be posted on 3.31 but i got to writing it so late and it has taken almost an entire year to upload these two short videos.) 

today we officially have a four year old in this house.  well, if you insist on official, we won't have a four year old in this house until 12:57 a.m. GMT +2, april 1.  but march 31st is his birthday and a sugar and sprinkle laden day it was.  

of course, he is still unwilling to acknowledge his newly acquired numerical title... 

which is not to say he didn't enjoy himself and allow for a little indulgence.  as promised, bacon (and eggs, and toast, and oranges) for breakfast.  but mostly bacon.  i think william had 8 pieces-- two for each year of his life. but to be fair, some were little pieces and the bacon was sliced very thin.  still... you raise a child as a vegetarian for the first two years of his life and apparently, you make up for it later.  

makin' bacon

greg and henry went on the weekly saturday run.  william did not want to go because he thought he would be too cold.  it was snowing.  oh, sigh.  the weather here is never happy with its current state for very long.  better not dwell on it.  just dress appropriately and carry on as usual.  

henry in william's rain pants, getting ready for the burley run.

after-- we cleaned the house.  put the leafs in the table.  brought out the extra chairs.  made the coffee.  iced the cake.  i made a nice big block letter 'W' on the cake with four different colors of sprinkles... and almost had time to stand back and admire it before it was william's turn to decorate the cake and that's when i had to let go of my idea of the nice big block letter 'W' for it successfully assimilated with the many hundreds of other sprinkles he poured on.  i am sorry i did not get a picture of it.  soon after, neighbors came over.  coffee and tea, bread and cheese, cake and ice cream consumed.  conversation was had.  presents were opened.  birthday songs sung in danish and english.... 

and birthday wishes with family over skype.

at bedtime, we began robinson crusoe (an adapted version), which william is already loving.  before beginning the story i read him the back of the book.  he asked me what cannibal meant and just as i was explaining that, "well... i wasn't sure they were "real" but they are people who eat..." greg, the intelligent parent, came in and said, "i think that word is pronounced "pirate."  i think she meant to say pirate." 


no. he's four now.  you can't fool him that easily.  "eat what mama?"

sigh.  "people."


at least i've already ruined my chances of making zero mistakes in this next year of his life.  the pressure is off.  but he will surely continue to amaze us as he always has.