Happy Birthday Connor!

Obviously this post wasn't written in March, but it took me that long to add text to my photos, and I haven't yet found a way to edit posting dates on Blogger. Evan has grown! He's even bigger now than in these pictures, but, of course, it'll be a month before I get current ones up.

We celebrated Connor's 5th birthday last month! He specifically requested no cake, just "ten scoops of ice cream". And he didn't want any yucky toppings, either, just his favorite plain vanilla. So, although they were very small scoops, I obliged him with his ten scoop treat, and he loved it - (no, he couldn't finish it all.)
We also had Connor's first "real" birthday party. It's a little known fact that hosting parties is my least favorite activity. Parties tend to expose the three things I'm most ashamed of: my housekeeping skills, my cooking skills, and my large-group social skills. This was actually pretty fun, though. We bought bagels and party decorations, I made cupcakes, and we all headed to the park with Connor's Joy School friends and their moms. Ryan even took a long lunch so he could come help out.



Connor's big present was a balance bike - exchangable for a "big kid bike" when he's ready for it. I'm a total convert to these balance bikes, by the way. They're like a regular two-wheeler except they're a little closer to the ground and they have no pedals, and no training wheels. This means that the rider has to propel himself with his outstretched feet, which quickly teaches him to coast with his feet up. Connor used his bike about three times before he was cruising around, almost perfectly balanced. So, someday soon we're taking him down to the bike shop to get that kid some pedals (I'll try to remember to take pictures!)

Elise is absolutely obsessed with Evan. She hovers while I'm nursing, kissing his head and falling all over both of us, and every time I change his diaper at the changing table, she pushes a stool or kitchen chair down the hallway to climb up and see what I'm doing. I figure smothering him is slightly better than jealousy, so I try not to discourage her affection unless it literally involves smothering.