Our Four-Year-Old

Our Four-Year-Old

When you live far away from family, birthdays tend to stretch out over a couple of days as the gifts, cards, and phone calls trickle in. Fruit is still his favorite food, so Cooper was pretty excited when this edible arrangement showed up from Noel’s Aunt Brenda a couple of days before his birthday.

Edible Arrangement He’s been coveting the Thomas the Train and Cars 2 rugs at Lowe’s. Every time we go there he’ll drag us to that section of the store (the kid also has a pretty good memory) where he’ll stare at the rugs longingly and throw a fit when we tell him it’s time to leave. Grandma Glenna gave us some money for a rug and we took him to make the purchase a few days before his birthday. He debated for awhile before choosing the Cars rug and grinned from ear to ear as he carried it to the checkout.

Cars RugOn his birthday he woke up to a living room with gifts and balloons. He kept saying, “It’s my birthday” over and over again as he tore open the packaging.

GiftsWe had a fun outing at the park scheduled with some of our friends. We brought some of Cooper’s favorite treats (popcorn, applesauce, and flavored milks) to share.

Park!

Unfortunately, we had to cut our playdate short to get Ellen to a doctor’s appointment. She’d woken up with a head to toe rash and we needed the doctor to confirm what I suspected was an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. (I’m allergic to it too, so I wasn’t super freaked out.) Fortunately, Cooper was really good about leaving the park when our time was up.

Spotted Baby
I kept telling everyone at the park, “Don’t worry, it’s not contagious!” The rash actually looked worse on day two, but I didn’t take any pictures.

After our trip to the doctor we picked up Noel and went out to lunch and made a quick run to Target for Benadryl. Back at home, Ellen took a nap and Cooper and I made his birthday cake. He really loves helping and I’m trying to let him even though I don’t always find him helpful.

Cake MakingWe had Noel’s cousin, Jaimie, and her husband Wolfgang who are recent Denver transplants over for dinner. They were even nice enough to bring Cooper a present. It combined two of his favorite things: Legos and Thomas the Train. We think they might be vying for the title of “The Favorites.”

Jaimie and WolfgangFinally it was time for the cake and Cooper couldn’t have been more excited.

Birthday CakeHe even blew out all the candles by himself. We made sure his slice of cake had lots of berries.

Blowing Out the CandlesCooper has really grown a lot in the last year. He’s talking more and mastering a range of skills from riding his bike to recognizing letters. He’s really good at puzzles and has been praised for his “math skills” so perhaps we have an aspiring engineer on our hands. (Apparently pattern matching is considered math at the preschool level, who knew?) I know I’m a wee bit biased, but he really is one of the sweetest kids you’ll ever meet. Happy Birthday Cooper, we love you!

3 thoughts on “Our Four-Year-Old

  1. Happy Birthday, Cooper! It looks like you had a fun day for him (sorry about Ellen’s rash and glad you figured out what caused it anyway).

  2. Cute, clever birthday boy! He and Anika could have a fruit picnic together. Someone asked what her favorite foods are and she listed about 5 fruits for her answer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *