Colden: 4 Years Old

(3 days)

(1 year)

(2 years)

(3 years)

(4 years)

When he grows up, he wants to be:  An astronaut

Favorite color(s):  blue and green

Favorite food:  macaroni and cheese

Current interests:  volcanoes, Ninjago (Lego ninjas), learning about how/why everything works

What I think is cute:  He's my safety officer and backseat driver.  If I search through my purse while driving (with just my hand, mind you.  I keep my eyes on the road!  Regardless…) he will say, "mommy, you need to concentrate on the road and not do anything else while you are driving.  Do you want the car to go splat?!?"

What I don't think is cute:  He's starting to exert his independence while copping an attitude at the same time.  "No, I don't have to do that"…"you can't tell me what to do"…or just flat out "NO".

Luckily, after we get into a 'disagreement', he's good about talking it out and will often soften me up by saying, "when you're mad at me, you still love me.  Right?"  

~~~~~~~

This year, for Colden's 4th birthday, the two of us played hooky and took the train down to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.  It was his first train ride and he was in heaven!

He picked out breakfast for the ride (bagel and cream cheese and apple juice):

And then we saw the dinosaurs!

He was so excited to see the dinosaur bones (he still tells everyone about the bones), and he was so excited to wear his dinosaur shirt.  That being said, he was a little hesitant to stand in front of the dinosaur by himself (hence the fake smile) and he refused to go near the moving (animated and life-like) T-Rex.

We spent the whole day at the museum and probably about 3/4 of that time "digging for bones" (we went back 4 times throughout the day):

(he's so cute with his goggles and chisel)

Judging by the train ride home, I would say he had a pretty fun-filled and exciting day:

Colden is totally into volcanoes (that's my boy!) and requested a volcano cake for his birthday.  I took on the challenge by making a 5-layer cake, complete with dirt, grass and trees on the outside.  On the inside, I colored the cake batter red, orange and yellow so that it would look like magma when you cut into it.  I had red, orange and yellow icing oozing out of the crater (which I hollowed out and filled with yellow, orange and red M&M's for an added element of surprise).  I was mighty proud of my creation:

Colden's reaction when he saw the cake (notice his less-than-enthused face):

"Mom, the volcano isn't exploding.  I wanted the volcano to explode.  The lava isn't even moving".

I guess you can't win them all.  Next year, the cake is coming from the grocery store.  :-(

He still managed to eat every crumb (I'll take that as a slight victory)

This year we had his party at the local gymnastics place - which Colden has been to before and loves.

(trampoline before)

(trampoline during)

Notice Colden's shirt with the '4' on the back and the volcano on the front (thanks, Grandpa!)

Overall, he had a pretty awesome day surrounded by family and friends.
Keep on smiling, Little Man!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
XOXO