Peter is 5!!

Last week Peter transformed from his former 4-year-old self to a brand new 5-year-old self! He's just as sweet and feisty as he always was but now it's takes a whole hand-full of fingers to show someone his age. This is pretty exciting.

Eliot wasn't sure what kind of cake he wanted though he knew that he wanted chocolate involved. I'd found a cake recipe on Pinterest that I was wanting to try I Peter is my banana bread junkie, so I made a Brown Butter Banana Cake with Salted Dark Chocolate Ganache. It was a hit.

Making wishes and blowing out candles is big work but Peter paused in his candle-snuffing to pose for a couple of shots.

Eliot was eager to help Peter open his presents. Peter was an excellent sport. Peter's no push-over and it's always fun to see them getting along well.

Peter was delighted with his gifts and cards. His reading skills are coming along and he was able to sound out a lot of the birthday messages.

Peter loves books. If you're going on a long drive and you need Peter to be quiet and good in the car, just hand him a copy of "Lunch Lady" or "Elephant and Piggie" or "Gollie and Bink" or any book that's new to him, and you're looking at a good 30 minutes of peace and quiet while he pours over the pages. I was home from work today and with Eliot attending his last day of school before Spring break Peter and I had the day to spend together. It was a yucky/sleety/snowy/rainy day so Peter I headed to the library. While we're their he likes to play with the Thomas train table and other toys but when we got home it was time to snuggle down with some of the books we brought home and have a good read.

Peter has also been working on expanding his List of Foods He's Willing to Eat. He's caught on to an idea that Eliot picked up from school that if he tries something 8 times he'll like it. This morning he announced that he likes everything, except casserole. Then he added that he has tasted casserole once so if he takes 7 more bites he'll like it! Did mention he also really likes numbers?

He's a sweet, fun little guy and we love him so much!

Eliot is 7!!

Eliot has been looking forward to his birthday for some time now. His birthday landed on a Saturday this year so as a treat to him we stuck around the house where he could have the day to play and imagine with Peter. He loved it.

For his birthday dinner Eliot requested tacos and a lemon meringue cake. He still loves sushi (still pronounces is "shushi") and will gobble down just about anything you put in front of him.

This was taken at a dinner out that we had when Spencer was in town at the end of February. It was an outing to celebrate what a good job Eliot and Peter had been doing with following directions and cooperating. Just before I took the picture I asked Eliot how he was doing. He gave me the thumbs up and said "good"--which accounts for the funny half-smile.

The restaurant included a small arcade where most of the games cost 25-50 cents. Each boy was given six dollars to play with. Both boys left with more rubber balls then they know what to do with. Here Eliot is trying his skills at the pinball machine. Dad was on hand to coach and his cheek is filled with a gobstopper.

While Spencer was in town he took Eliot to a Bucks game. It was Eliot's first pro basketball game and he had a great time hanging out with Dad and staying up way past his bed time. From what I understand the giant floating bucks blimp was a major highlight.

Eliot loves to be involved in any handy work around the house. Recently the toilet seat in the half-bath needed changing and Eliot got to help Grandad switch it out. Since then he has asked me several times when the seat in the full bathroom needs to be changed.

Eliot has a thriving imagination and he and Peter will lose themselves in imaginary games in which they act out stories from TV shows or books, or come up with their own. Melting ice in the Regner Park parking lot became a water slide for sticks.

This past week they had crazy hair day at school and Eliot was very pleased to be sporting his school colors on top of his head. He's a fun, thoughtful little guy and we love him so much!