Happy Birthday to Tyler!

Wow! My little boy is 5 years old today! Ron and I were reminiscing last night about when he was born. I went into labor on Thursday evening, while we were watching President Bush's speech regarding the 9/11 terror attacks. We waited through most of the night and headed to the hospital early Friday morning. On the way there, we had to pull off the freeway so I could throw up. I remember being nervous and excited, all at the same time. (I was so much more calm for Danielle's birth!) My poor mom, who had been at the hospital with us almost all day, went home to feed the dogs for us. While she was gone, Tyler finally decided he was ready to make his entrance. He arrived around 5pm on Friday - the smallest yet biggest miracle I'd ever seen (until his little sister was born). I remember being overwhelmed by how strong my feelings of love were for him. And over the past five years they've only grown stronger. To put it in Tyler's language, I love him way past 21. My little boy is not so little any more.

Tyler spent the day with Grandma & Grandpa R at the science museum. He had a great time. He spent the most time telling me about the explosion show. Apparently they attended a show where a guy exploded a variety of items: a balloon w/a sparkler, a bottle w/some corks in it, etc. As he was telling me about the different explosions, he stressed how loud they were & that everyone had to cover their ears. He told me all about this while I was putting him to bed. After talking about the explosions, he got quite for a little while. Then he said, "When we were at the explosion show and something exploded, I peed my pants. For real." I initially thought he was joking because that's something his father would have said. Fortunately I didn't laugh. He wasn't joking. I said, "Did you tell Grandma & Grandpa." "No." "Did it go down your leg?" "No." "It didn't go down your leg. It was just a little bit then?" "No. It stayed in my underwear." "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell Grandma & Grandpa?" "Because it was embarrassing." I felt bad for him and again very aware of just how big he's getting. He continued, "I didn't have any other clothes to wear. You didn't send any more. You should have sent extra clothes for me." "You're right. I should have. Next time I will. I'm sorry you had an accident." We were quiet again for a couple minutes. Finally he broke the silence by asking, "What is a fart?" (He really meant why do we fart?) and "Why does it make noise? Sometimes my farts make noise and sometimes they don't. Why is that?" Guess he wasn't too traumatized by the peeing incident.

Tyler asked to go to Hoggy's for his birthday dinner. He said he really liked their macaroni & cheese and wanted to go there so he could have some. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Aya, & Kotomi all joined us. We had a very nice dinner, despite the fact that Tyler did not like his macaroni & cheese this time. Danielle and Kotomi were so funny together. They picked at each other, told knock knock jokes, and giggled together. At the end of our meal the waitresses brought Tyler a piece of cake and sang to him. He hung his head and looked a little embarrassed. Later I asked him if he was embarrassed when they sang to him. He said, "No. I was just really glad it was my birthday."

After we got home tonight, he opened all his birthday cards. ("Look, Mom! I'm Bob the Builder!") He opened each card and had me read it to him, including the name of the person who sent it to him. After I read the last card, he sadly said, "Oh. So there weren't any from M** then?" That was the pretty little girl from yesterday. Already she's breaking his heart. He recovered quickly and enjoyed playing with his new toys, especially his camera. These are some pictures he took tonight. The picture quality is very poor, but he did a pretty good job.

While Tyler was at the museum w/Grandma & Grandpa, Danielle and I baked cupcakes for Tyler's class. We made frog cupcakes. We had a good afternoon together & Danielle enjoyed being an only child for awhile. Tomorrow Tyler gets to have a little party at snack time. Maybe M** will wish Tyler a happy birthday then.