All of a sudden last night, as Declan was sitting on my lap while he wiped off all of my kisses, it hit me... I can't believe that he is already 5. I mean, seriously... Where has this time gone? It's like I remember being pregnant with him and then I remember today when he turned 5 - everything in between is a bit of a blur...
Declan is an amazing little boy... And I say that in complete honestly. Sure, he's stubborn, challenging, mouthy and a little bit crazy. But he's also really special. Special in that he's smart, extremely creative, clever, kind, full of love and passion and possesses more energy than the entire Green Bay Packers. I have a constant tinge of guilt regarding Declan because he's always going to be known as the brother to triplets or the triplets brother. It's a constant struggle to make sure he feels like an individual who is important versus making him overly spoiled because he has to deal with having 3 little sisters that look alike. I only hope that he will grow up to be a respectful young man, which I'm sure he will given he has 4 strong females in his life that will make sure he does.
Here are a few of my favorite things that Declan has done recently (given my limited memory, these were in the last few months). Just a few more reasons to love him :)
- A few months ago, Emily and Jeff took Declan for the day/night. They were in downtown New Brunswick walking around and they walked by a store that some refer to as a "hippie store." In the window were a bunch of bongs. You know, the ones people smoke marijuana out of... He said "look at all those trophies!" and was super excited. Hilarious.
- One day on the way home from school, he was mouthing off. So I told him that when we got home that I was going to have to wash his mouth out with soap (one of the many times I discovered that I actually was a real mom). About 5 minutes later he says, "mom, after you wash my mouth, can I play with my Lego's?" He took me literally like I was going to clean his mouth because it was dirty.
- The other night while Andy was at the gym, out of the blue, Declan picked up the phone and said "HELLO? hello - daddy, are you alright over there?" And says to me that he was "just checking on Daddy because he was worried about him."
Here are a few pictures from the day today. Declan's birthday party with his friends is on Saturday, but today we had a little family celebration and went to a parade and 4th event in our borough. It was very hot, but fun!
Birthday boy (with donut frosting all over his face) :-)
The parade! There wasn't actually a parade per se - we were the parade! It was fun, they shut down a few blocks and you just walked with kids on bikes, wagons, etc...
Aunt Em and D-man...
Aven...
Bria...
Stevie...
Declan and the cake that we made - yes, we made a flag cake that was soooooo good!
Girls eating snacks while Declan eyes up his cake...
Still can't believe he is 5!
