To Gideon,

You turned 4 on December 29th. I can’t believe how fast time has gone. You are still such a happy kid and you’re SO creative. You are constantly dreaming up adventures and playing games with your sister. I hope you can keep that wild imagination forever. You love stories (especially the ones your Daddy makes up for you at bed time) and books and coloring in your coloring books. Lately, you’re very meticulous about staying in the lines. You make up silly songs and build amazing forts and castles out of Legos to play with your dinosaurs, army men, dragons and Vikings.  You truly entertain yourself and I love to watch you play… You also have a recent OBSESSION with any of the Lego games for the PS3. Star Wars, Batman, or Harry Potter, you want to play all. the. time. It’s a bit extreme, bud.

We thought maybe your little brother would come before your birthday, so we put off planning a party for you until the very last minute. Still, I think this was probably one of your favorite birthdays! We had everyone get together and went to Chuck E. Cheeses for cake and lots of games! Everyone had so much fun! Daddy and Uncle Josh worked REALLY hard to earn you lots and lots of tickets so that you could pick out whatever prize you wanted.

What did you choose? The Chuck E. Cheese Pez dispenser. You could not be swayed even for the Toy Story toys. That might be the most expensive Pez dispenser in history. :) But, whose to argue with the birthday boy?

I was so emotionally overwhelmed that I didn’t take nearly enough pictures. All I could think about was that not only was this your FOURTH birthday, but the next day you would have a brother. And suddenly, you wouldn’t be my only boy. I was so worried that I was taking something away from you. But now, you have a tiny little buddy who will look up to you and follow you and your sister on your adventures. You are such a great brother and you make me smile every single day. I love you, my boy! Thank you for being ours.

Love,

Momma