Not your ordinary mushy 'happy birthday, kid!' post

Today, Nick is officially four years old.

Two days old - Nov '04

I went into labor with him the day before Thanksgiving in 2004 and the little bastard love was finally born two days later by C-section. 7 lbs, 8 ozs. He had tons of dark black hair.

Six months old - May '05

He was smart as a whip from the get-go (do I sound like my Grandmother yet? I want to eventually BE her), smiling and posing for photos and repeating anything we told him to say.

First birthday - Nov '05

Not having another kid at the time with whom to compare him, we thought he was just a pretty average kid. Little did we know how smart and polite and, uh, unspazz-stic he was! We could actually take him out to dinner or to a party without fear of him throwing himself on the ground in a tantrum.

18 months - May '06

He potty trained easily, and still catches on to just about any game in no time. The things that kid remembers? Would FREAK YOU OUT.

They freak me out. When buying the bunk beds last weekend, we turned onto Layton Ave. and he piped up from the back seat, "Mom! This was where we had a parade. Remember that?" He was right...the Fourth of July parade we went to five months ago was on that street. (I then told him he was a freak of nature and he quickly replied with, "No I'm not. I'm terrific.") And heading to the National Night Out event in our hometown this past summer, he looked up at me and told me, "Mom - I'm not going to be afraid of the train this time." WOW. He was 2 1/2 at the previous year's National Night Out. And he remembers the train? And being afraid of it? Yowzas. Needless to say you can't pull any fast ones on this kid!

2 yrs old - Nov '06

There were no "terrible twos" or "terrible threes" with Nick. (Don't hate me - this isn't a mushy "letter to my child" for a reason. He seems to have hit the, oh, how did Burgh Baby put it? "whiny b*tchy ball of suck" fours. And I started typing this about 30 minutes after he finally fell asleep and the wounds were still fresh. Just didn't have it in me to write all mushy. If you're ever reading this, hon, I still love ya. Just stop trying to kill Mommy with an aneurism, please.)

3 yrs - Nov '07

There are problems with dinner and bed time. Because the darn kid won't stop sounding out words and counting. He can count to 100 if you just remind him what order some of the "tens" go in (that 40 comes after 30, etc.) and does so just about every time we're in the car. He also reads just about every letter off of every sign we pass. The kid'll be reading in no time.

4 yrs - Nov '08

He recently has had a hundred questions about getting married. I know its because Uncle Jeff is getting married, but its no less cute. He first wanted to marry the dog, then two of our friends' girls. When he found out you could only marry a person, and only one person he dumped all three of them and decided on another little girl in his preschool class.

Regardless as to how much he might frustrate me now with his incessant questions, his inability to shut.up. at times and his constant need to question e v e r y t h i n g I say, I know he's a smart kid. A treasure. An adorable (and photogenic) cherub that will no doubt grow up to make me proud.

I'm just happy to be blessed enough to get to go along for the ride.