Well, my little fella turned four in January! And did we ever celebrate. The festivities started off with an "Animals of the Ocean" party with our friends in the Tri-cities. The house was decorated with paper plate and crepe paper jellyfish and I hand-crafted the great-white shark cake that you see to the left. As ridiculously proud as I was of that thing, the colors were so disturbingly bright that few of the adults were brave enough
to sample any cake. Thanks to my very crafty friend Chandra, whom I consulted multiple times during the cake construction, Tyce loved his fearsome shark cake (complete with blood-red, strawberry-flavored, "meat" inside. The kids had fish sticks, in keeping with the theme, and played together all evening long. They all happily shared toys and apparently played "dolphins" at some point. Poor little Laney was still suffering from croup so didn't get to partake in the festivities as much as she normally would have, but still mustered enough energy to eat two pieces of cake and ice cream. It must have cured her because she is back to full speed now!
The celebrations continued with a family party the night of his birthday where the four of us enjoyed Tyce's requested shake-n-bake chicken, opened presents, and watched a movie. The next weekend we headed over to LaGrande where we met all the grandparents and other family members for a bowling party. Tyce and Laney bowled four games in between present
opening and cake eating. Of course, I made sure to bring the camera but forgot to put the memory card in it before leaving home. The only pictures to document the good times were taken by Tyce, with his new kid-proof camera, and all have a sort of dizzy, sugar-high, glow about them. There's an example to the right (that's the kids' new cousin, "Baby Nolin").
The following week Tyce had his annual check-up with Dr. Jones. I tried to prepare him for this, thinking that it would reflect well on me if he answered "broccoli" if asked what his favorite food is, or "I excercise outside every day" if the doctor questioned him on his favorite activities. You know, that sort of thing. Tyce saw the doctor in the hall on the way to the examination room and shouted out "I'm healthy, Dr. Jones!" as we passed by. He was weighed and measured and is a perfectly healthy 39 pounds and 41.5 inches, 75th percentile for both. The the nurse gave him a battery of tests, including drawing his family (he's never even been able to replicate a tree, much less four people), quizzing him on his colors (he was overly descriptive and incorrect, answering "dark, dark blue" when she pointed to an obviously black picture), and asking about his favorite veggie (he promptly answered "pineapple!" until she coaxed him into saying "carrots"). The doctor gave him the once-over and proclaiming that he was, as Tyce had stated earlier, one healthy kid. Then he asked Tyce what his favorite show on TV was. Here came the big test, I hadn't prepped him for that question at all and I could see Tyce riffling through all the possible choices in his head before he answered, "I only watch movies" (absolutely not true, by the way). So, Dr. Jones asked him what his favorite movie was and, I kid you not, he answered: "The Planet Earth DVD's that I got for my birthday." The one question that I don't coach him on, and he nails it! Very educational and science-y and all that. He also happily told him about all of his favorite books and answered many questions very intelligently, so I may actually be considered an adequate parent in the doctor's opinion now.
I tried to take Tyce's four-year portraits recently, but I think we have entered into the total cheese-ball era because this is the best that I've gotten so far. Very brooding.
Thank you for celebrating Tyce's special day with us and for appreciating him for the special little guy that he is. Today when he was sampling the cinnamon rolls we made together for the first time he said, "These are so good that they taste like sparkles!" Every day Tyce teaches me more about how to enjoy life and have a happy, silly outlook.
No, that is not her superhero name, this girl has been eating nonstop! The picture to the right is Laney perched in her chair at the table waiting for food, where she spends half of the day, it seems. Here's the summary from today: 
5:00 Bowl of Mac & Cheese Casserole, croutons
