Four!

My sweet baby Luke turns 4 today. Four!

I'm reeling!

What a joyful ride it has been! What a joyful child!

I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed that delicious, happy, cuddly baby, and find him just as delicious, happy, and cuddly as a big boy!

But 4? Really?

I'm SO glad my youngest was/is a cuddler. It makes it all a bit more bearable. He still cuddles extensively, only now his long arms and legs seem to be everywhere as he wraps them around me. But I'll take it!

I so love that baby... um... I mean... kid. (This will take some getting used to.)

I love that when his sippy cup is leaking he tells me it's "melting."

I love that he makes his own honey and jam sandwiches - no peanut butter. And for his birthday he has requested meatball pizza.

I love that he has replaced his potty mouth words like "stupid" and "butthead" with the words "Fluffy" and "rubber ducky" all on his own. "...because those are nice words. People like those words." So if he calls you a fluffyhead you better watch out.

I love that he wants to spend forever playing his favorite made up game, "pickle" where he holds two fingers together tip to tip, and I have to "cut" his pickle with my hand karate chop style. He laughs and carries on like it is the funniest thing in the world, though he doesn't appreciate my version of the game "pickle tickle."

I love that he plays hide and seek by telling me just where to hide, and then insists that he only has to count to "one."

I love how he counts in random order.

I love that his favorite color is "wello."

I love how he thinks he is Superman and will wear his cape day in and day out. How when I ask one of his brothers to to something, he'll declare "I'll do it!" then pull his elbows back like he is getting ready to take off , just like they do in the cartoons, declaring "Super Luke to the rescue!" then runs off to accomplish his superhero task (like fetching more toilet paper for his damsel in distress.)

I love how sometimes he insists we call him "Dr. Luke."

I love how that poor hipless child is so used to his pants falling down that now he automatically holds them up all the time without thinking - always walking around with one hand on his hip.

I love how he knows everything, can expound on anything, and his favorite line is "I told you!"

I love how he is always singing at the top of his lungs. For the longest time his favorite song was "A bee sis bah, a bee sis bah, make a little, make a little, bee sis bah." I had NO IDEA what it meant until I finally figured out it was a song he learned in preschool: "a 'B' says 'bah' - Make a letter..." Duh mom. "I told you!"

I love how his love of playing on my iPhone has made him a gifted pickpocket and can literally lift it out of my back pocket without me noticing a thing!

I love how he can play the Moron Test on my iPhone better than anybody in the family, even tough he can't even read. He memorizes all the answers! He tells me "you push this button, you LOSE!" He never pushes that button.

I love how he somehow knows how to get into the settings of my phone and whenever I retrieve my phone from the little pickpocket he has changed the background picture to a picture of himself. Every time!

I love how he is such a chatterbox! He talks more that any of my other boys ever did (even Derek!) When I'm driving, I just love to listen to what wealth of information is pouring from the kid in the car seat.

I love that he says stuff like "All the girls think I am awesome!" - I know I do.

And I love that every time he colors he is not done until every tiny bit of paper is throughly colored. (He does the same thing with my life - fills every bit with color.)

I love that he is MINE, and that he will always be my baby...

...even if he is four!

Happy Birthday, my Luca! I love you forever! I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be!