April 25th is a big day around these parts. Not only does it close out Birthday Season for the Kyker fam., but it closes it out with a bang. I'm not sure that I would have chosen to have birthday sharers, but now that we do and have one shared birthday under our belts (because lets face it, last years birthday and birth-day didn't really count - though we did have cake thanks to our kind friend and neighbor!) I can hardly imagine anything sweeter. Jack has asked "how much longer till me and Edi's birthday?" every day for three weeks now (since Ben's birthday) and he loves saying that Eli is his birthday buddy. He was beyond excited to plan his cake (chocolate with chocolate frosting ~ a lollipop cake ~ with a number 3 candle and three "sparkly" candles), and helped me decide that Eli would love blueberry muffins for his cake.
Jack.... Oh, Jack.... readers of this blog know all too well about the exploits of Jack. His antics keep us hopping around here, but even through all of his mischief he's such an endearing little soul. He is gentle and kind and very loving. He loves helping others and is quite capable (he can carry a gallon of milk up a flight of stairs!). He's strong and insists on doing hard things. He desperately wants to be thought of as "big", though his favorite place in the world is wedged in between Jimmy and me in our bed. His favorite book has always been
Going on a Bear Hunt, but he leaves the room as we get closer to the "It's a BEAR!" part (probably because daddy makes it a little more dramatic than he can stand!). He loves strawberries and oatmeal and prefers to eat his pancakes "big" and not cut up. He is gleefully terrified of The Tickle Monster. He knows how to "man up" on Chesty and a lot of times Chesty actually obeys him. He brings me flowers every day and as he comes in the door he always says, "Mommy.... I have a prize for you!" He has stopped saying "duggle", but I love that he still likes to do it. I'll be sad when he stops wanting to "hold you me." He insists that his name is not Jack, it's Booba. Oh, Booba..... Three is going to be an awesome year for you!
And sweet Eli... this year with Eli has been pure delight! His natural "hakuna matata" view of life, combined with my seasoned perspective of the newborn days have made for a pretty sweet first year. It's always amazing to me to look back over that first year and see all of the growth and change that takes place during that time frame, and while in many ways Eli is nothing like that tiny newborn he was a year ago, there are lots of things that are still exactly the same. Like his big, bright blue eyes. His adorable dimples. His shy friendliness. His stick-out ears. It has been so sweet to watch his relationships with all of his older siblings develop and truly precious to see him love them. I love that whenever we've left him with someone else I could be certain that he would be fine as long as he has his older siblings. And his daddy... he kind of likes the fact that Eli speed-crawls for the door every evening when he hears daddy come home. Baby Eli, we have all loved every second of your babyhood and we look forward to enjoying all of the fun that your toddler days will bring!
This morning Jack greeted Eli with a big hug and told him their day was finally here. I have visions of their old selves calling each other and celebrating their day together many years from now and I couldn't be more thankful that they have each other. Happy birthday to our sweet and wonderful Jack and Eli! You are both loved and adored by a lot of people.
