Tyler is FOUR!

"Thank you, Jesus, for my birthday.

Thank you that I am four.

Thank you that I will go to Monkey Business today.

Amen."

(This was the first mention of Monkey Business, and the day held no such plans.

He had only shared this dialogue with God, until this point.

Nonetheless, I believe he had a good day.)

The poor kid had to play soccer on his birthday.

But he perfected the art of running backwards and playing in the netting of the goal.

And between periods, he scored his very own goal on an empty field.

At least we know he gets the idea, even if he doesn't implement it for the sake of competition.

(I actually very much understand this way of thinking.)

His team serenaded him; his coach brought balloons.

He believed the game was entirely in his honor.

What is a birthday without Red Robin and bottomless fries, I ask you?

And of course, a DQ cake, presented fully and whole.

I didn't drop it this year.

We decided to change up the tradition a bit. :)

Tyler asked for a picture of Daddy at the table.

We chose the picture from Ty's first birthday.

Daddy loved birthdays.

We celebrated, honored, and finished the day.

And I waited until the very end to cry and long for the man I love.

He would have been enthralled with the race cars, Legos, birthday cake, and memories.

He did birthdays well.

And we made it through the first one without him.

For the record, this was my favorite gift Tyler opened.

Happy Birthday, Tyler,

my sparkling, bubbling, creative, funny, joyful,

singing, imagining, thinking, remembering,

happy-birthday-boy.

Show me what four looks like, kiddo.

It's all yours. For a whole year.