Our sweet little August is now four years old! He is such a wonderful kid to be around and we loved getting to celebrate his special day yesterday. Birthdays on the weekend are so nice... wake up, open presents, eat a cupcake for breakfast, and stay in jammies for a while :) Here a some pictures of our birthday boy.
When Gus woke up at the crack of dawn, I heard him go out to the dining room and say "Oooh," at the three presents and cupcakes waiting for him. I came out thinking the presents would be torn open already, but he was just standing there waiting and looked at me and said, "Thank you, mommy," and gave me a big hug. Um..... that was the sweetest little thank you ever.
Gus' main request for a birthday present this year was a bow and arrow. Thank you, Nerf, for making this version that even a newly 4 year old can operate.
He and I saw this inflatable remote control R2-D2 at Target after Christmas in the clearance section and it's been waiting patiently for the big day to officially be opened. I'll admit... it's a pretty cool toy.
Over Christmas break, we went to Park Meadows Mall one day and the boys noticed the Build-a-Bear and wanted to make one. We couldn't that day, but I noticed their little ad for birthday parties and Gus said that's what he'd like to do for his party. It was so much fun! We invited 5 friends from Gus' preschool and George was a good sport to hang out with preschoolers for an hour. Each kid had a budget of $20 to make a bear and get an accessory. Once the bears were picked out, each kid got a little red heart that they made a wish on for Gus' birthday and put them all inside a bigger heart that went inside Gus' bear. Then they got a little heart of their own to give their own bear. It was pretty cute.

The kids were loving it. Most had never been to Build-a-Bear before and were so happy!
Filling up the bears with fluff :)
Giving their new bears a bath and a brush...
Gussy and his friend, Leona. He has such sweet friends at school!!
After Build-a-Bear and a swimming party for Isabelle, we had dinner last night with my parents and the Crists. We went to the restaurant inside Bass Pro Shops and after dinner the kids ran around, checked out the giant fish tanks, played on the shooting range, and rode the elevator a couple times. It was the perfect ending to a great birthday!
Here are a bunch of tidbits about our birthday boy that I want to remember forever:
- He loves school and has lots of friends. He especially loves the girls in his class. When I pick him up at the end of the day, I usually have to wait for him to yell, "Goodbye Leona! Goodbye Viv! Goodbye Sadie!"
- He does not like it when I call him August. He'll very sternly say, "My name is not August, it's Gus." But whenever he introduces himself to people (at the park, at a restaurant), he always tells them his name is August.
- His is really good at puzzles and has such patience when working on them.
- His speech is still coming along, with several sounds that are not there yet. He cannot say the SP, SM, SCH sounds at all, so we hear things like, "I need a foon (spoon)," "Let's watch Furfs (Smurfs)!" and "I did it at sool (school)." The L sound at the beginning of a word is pronounced as a Y, the TH sound in the middle of a word is usually pronounced as an F, and the word 'yellow' is just a hot mess: "Yook for somefing that is wedow."
- He loves everything Star Wars, but is generally up for any kind of game or activity. He's never been as obsessed with one "thing" like George was so he's pretty easy to please most of the time. He is not into sports like George is, but will still try to play catch if that means being included by his big brother.
Gus, we are so very proud of the big boy you are becoming and love you more than you'll ever know. Thank you for being you and for being ours!
xoxoxox