To celebrate, we followed tradition and had a party with Christopher's family. And when we asked Tyler what he wanted to do, he requested an exact repeat of last year. Skating!
Well, he prefers scootering, but that's not really a word. And I really want to go back some time and try to skate with him, but when you are hosting a party isn't the best time to walk around the rink holding him up. Which is why we brought both scooters and Kaitlyn's skates. But instead, Kaitlyn never used her scooter. She had me hold her hand for a half a loop, and then spent basically the next three hours skating all by herself.
I am just amazed by what that girl does when she decides to put her mind to it. At one point she fell down, and I said "oh, are you okay?" She smiled and told me she was fine, "because I am a Fireside Girl and Fireside Girls never give up!" Life lessons from cartoons!
Kaitlyn did steal the show, though. She even tried jumping over the blue line every time she crossed it, and today while she was "practicing" on our kitchen floor she was trying to skate the splits and skate backwards. I took a video of her and posted it here.
Jasmine liked the breeze through her hair a bit too.
But she likes crawling more. I call this girl my tortoise (like the tortoise and the hare) because she never seems to move very fast, but if you underestimate her she will find mischief when you turn your back. And she already has her first word down pat: MAMA! Whenever she wants me, her cry turns to "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!" in a pitiful, tragic voice.
Anyway, back to the birthday boy!
He loves everything about this activity. And he really was so much more into a birthday than ever before. It used to be that he had no idea what was going on, and that we would have to work for months to teach him that he was now another year older. But this time, he got it right away! We told him once, and then the next time we asked him he knew that "first I am six years old, and then I will be seven years old!" And while Kaitlyn was a bit frustrated at how long it took him to open his presents, he quite enjoyed that part too. At home later, he loved his new car track Grandma got him, and he loved the blank floor puzzle that I got for him to color. Not a bad self portrait!
And speaking of little kid drawings, he came home from school with a birthday card from each of his classmates and aides today. They are so cute! Some of them are more on topic than others - one kid drew a robot shooting something, and one called him Mommy - but they are all wonderful. A mountain of sweet and innocent "I love you"s!
Tonight, for his actual birthday, we went out for pizza, because that is Tyler's all time favorite food. Of course, he fell in love with a new particular food at Christmas, so Daddy decided we should hook him up for his birthday. He was pretty excited about that one!
And Kaitlyn was pretty excited about her bread on a stick.
But my favorite part was that our server saw his hat and brought out a "7" pizza for him and a cookie and two suckers for us to take home. It was a wonderful, low-key family party!
My annual snapshot:
*Tyler continues to be an absolute sweetheart to his core. He has yet to do anything with the intention of being devious: when he does pull tricks on his sister or sneak candy when I'm not looking, he will fully admit what he did and laugh the same way Daddy laughs when he tickles Tyler or steals his pillow. It's all a fun game!
*My favorite thing about Tyler is watching him with his "Baby Miss". He ADORES Jasmine, and spends all the time he can talking to her and trying to pick her up and letting her pull on his hair. He also loves my mother-in-law's new puppy, and chases him all over whenever we see them. I think he just loves the little critters in his life, and just comes over to them with an "awww!" and a hug whenever he can.
*Tyler is FULLY potty trained! He sometimes uses too much paper, but other than that he is taking care of it all by himself now. Of course, he also knows which bathroom he should go in, and isn't too happy if I try to force him to come to the ladies' room with me.
*Tyler can write his own name very well, but isn't too good at any other reading or writing right now. He is working on adding and subtracting at school though, and I think he is making some headway there.
*Tyler makes us laugh every day. Just this Sunday, I was distracted taking care of a tired baby at a friend's house while we were waiting to eat lunch with a crowd. But Daddy points out that Tyler hadn't waited for the food - he had helped himself to a plate and a sandwich. When I rushed over there, fully embarrassed, I noticed that instead of lunch meat and cheese, that kid put a chocolate chip cookie in his sandwich!
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