Happy (belated) 6th Birthday Dashiell!

My little guy turned 6 in April!!  What the what?!?  I know I say this every year (for both kids) but it's just so hard to believe he's that old already!  SIX!!  And so far, let me tell ya, six is pretty fun!  Yes he's obviously still a little kid but he's also a little person, with increased abilities and comprehensions and means of reasoning - it's amazing!  I mean, yesterday he helped me paint our back entryway, and he did a great job!  He paid attention to the instructions I gave him (this is HUGE, by the way - he's always been fine at paying attention to the instructions other people give him, but when mom tries to show him how to do something it's usually met with resistance!), and when I corrected something he was doing he was OKAY WITH IT.  No tears, no yelling "but you didn't tell me to do it that way!", just an "okay", followed by continued painting.  And the best part?  He had fun doing it and wants to do more!  Score!

What else is going on with our six-year-old?  He's getting accolades at school for his reading ability and comprehension, he's writing poetry, he loves math and is quizzing me on multiplication problems already, he loves drawing, and his printing skills have gotten so much better in the course of the school year.  I'm so proud of the student (and person!) he has become!

And he's tall!  He broke the 4 foot mark this year!  4'-1/2"!!  All that mac 'n cheese is really working for him! :)

So how did we celebrate my big guy's big day?  Well, here was the proposed schedule for Dashiell's Birthday Weekend:  Saturday - present opening in the morning, basketball, then big trip to the New England Aquarium, followed by dinner in Boston; Sunday - "friends" party at Jump on In, followed by "family" party at the house.  However, mommy got the flu that weekend!  NOOOO!!  So plans were amended.

First, we did have the present opening in the morning.  Dashiell was none too happy that he had to WAIT until Rick got home from work before opening his gifts, but I'm happy to report that he survived, and was very happy with his gifts!

(not pictured is the awesome telescope his Minnesota aunts sent him!  It's sooo cool!!)


Aurelia, however, was none too happy that Dashiell was opening gifts and SHE WASN'T.

Am I a bad mom that I not only didn't anticipate this and get her a small gift to open, but then I took a picture of her melt down?   Maybe, but I can live with it.

After gift-opening, we made it to basketball, which was his last practice of that session.  His little trophy was like a bonus gift that day!

Later that day, Rick did take the kids to the Aquarium, sans me.  Grandpa had to take my place!  And they had a great time checking out all the cool fish and fish habitats.  Then they got stuck in Boston for longer than expected due to an incident on the tracks (we never figured out what it was, but Rick suspected that a person ended up on the tracks somehow - yikes!).  Once they were rescued by Nana, they had pizza at the grandparents' house and headed home.

The next day, we still had Dashiell's "friends" party at Jump on In, which is a big indoor bounce house gym.  It's a well-loved destination!  And lots of his friends were able to come to the party - he had so much fun! (I, however, still felt awful but drugged myself up enough to head to the party anyway!)

After Jump on In, we headed home and did NOT have family over.  I needed to get well, and I needed to disinfect the house before letting any outsiders into our home!  So it was postponed until the following Saturday. 

That morning D had another friend's birthday party to go to at another fun indoor play space, then we rushed home and prepared for the family!  I decided to attempt to make a Lego cake!  It turned out okay - not perfect, not Pinterest-worthy, but pretty good nonetheless!  And Dashiell love it!

We were happy to have a lovely day that Saturday, so part of his party was held outside.  The kids went crazy playing, the adults enjoyed the fresh air!

We kept it simple with pizza and salad for the menu, and of course enjoyed the Lego cake afterwards!

There was some silliness involved, natch.

All in all, I think Dashiell enjoyed his extended birthday! 


Happy birthday to my firstborn!  Love you more than you'll ever know, Mr. D!