I tucked Spear into bed for the last time as a three year old the night of November 30th and the next morning he woke up FOUR!
Spear has been super, super pumped for his birthday this year. This age is just SO FUN. I have never been a “baby person.” But I LOVE the toddler-kid stage so, so much. I love his JOY and excitement about every little thing! I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever.
The kids all stayed up a little bit with me after we tucked him in the night prior putting the finishing touches on his gifts and birthday decorations.
Our family tradition is to wake up the birthday child as a family singing “Happy Birthday” to them. Spear was SO happy to see us all surrounding him – he def loves the attention 🙂
We always have donuts for breakfast on birthdays. It was weird this year being the first one that Spear didn’t have an actual birthday party but he LOVED his birthday trip and I was really glad we went that route over the birthday party route this year.
Hermey and Snowflake (our elves) surprised Spear with a little birthday gift and note too!
At school Spear got to bring in a birthday treat and he chose oatmeal cream pies – a kid after my own heart on that choice for sure!
We’ve been really working with Spear on pooping in the potty for awhile now. He needs to wear a diaper for nap time and nighttime still and I know there really isn’t much you can do to rush that process. Once he can hold it while sleeping then we can focus on getting rid of the diapers and pull-ups. But for now I don’t stress it.
However, it WAS TIME to stop pooping during sleep. He’s always been a sleep-pooper so I started really encouraging him to poop in the potty by having him sit for extended periods prior to nap time and bedtime. I also praised like crazy when he pooped in the potty and we decided to do a sticker chart for him. Every time he pooped in the potty, he got a sticker on his chart.
Once the chart was filled he’d get to get a special treat. Originally he wanted to go to Buc-ee’s but the nearest one is 2 hours away so I asked him WHY Buc-ee’s and he said for the slushee so we discussed doing a fun mall outing together instead, slushee included 🙂
He just so happened to fill his chart just a few days prior to his birthday so I thought it’d be fun to combine the two and check him out of school a little early to do a birthday/poop celebration lunch date at the mall!
We went to Petsmart as our first stop to check out all the animals and made a quick stop at the game place to pretend to play a game 😉
As an added birthday surprise Daddy AND G-Mama met us for Chick-Fil-A lunch! Spear is one special kid that’s for sure!
After we ate Spear got his slushee and got to carry it around the mall while Mrs Charlotte and I browsed a bit for gift ideas for her for Christmas and she gave him his special birthday “day” present as she likes to call it (she always makes the effort to at least stop by on each of the kids birthdays to give them a little gift!).
Tess truly, absolutely, loves Spear in this way that it’s like he IS her child. It’s not the typical sister-brother relationship. She was emotional about his birthday and will say things that a mama would say or feel about her son. I tried to really be respectful of Tess’s emotions surrounding Spear getting old and let her be as involved as she wanted to be in all the birthday festivities. And it helped ME be less emotional too!
She wrapped a lot of his gifts and really wanted to be the one to set everything up for him when it came time to open them.
I have NEVER seen Spear be SO ADORABLE as when he opened his gifts! He was so genuine in his happiness and excitement and appreciation! He listened so intently when each of his siblings read their cards to him and opened each gift with just anticipation and joy. Even simple things like books he was THRILLED about receiving. Such a sweet boy!
I love the way my babies all love each other and how much pride they take in making sure the birthday child feels loved and celebrated! Birthdays are a big deal around here – future spouses take note 😉
Spear loved all of his birthday gifts! Especially this monster truck tractor and this toy set with a dinosaur and gorilla that he calls “King Kong and Ting Tong.”
You can see all my recommendations for gifts for four year old boys and girls here!
We also had one last birthday surprise for Spear!
My older kids all received Power Wheels type big gifts around this age but honestly they all just collect more dirt and dust than they are worth because they rarely get ridden and the batteries always seem to be dead.
Spear LOVES our backyard sandbox and plays in it CONSTANTLY. He loves all things tractors and construction and excavators are his favorites. For his birthday we surprised him with a BIG sand play area under the treehouse and his OWN excavator digger! ALL the kids were super pumped about it!
If you have a tractor kid this rolling and digging excavator is a GREAT gift!
Spear said his favorite food was pizza so for dinner we went to Mellow Mushroom. I knew he’d love the vibe there and all the fun things to look at and the superheroes throughout the decor. We had TERRIBLE service but enjoyed the food and it worked out nicely to eat prior to Bible Class!
With Spear’s birthday falling on a Wednesday we attended church for Bible Class and then had a little mini-celebration with our church family after! It is such a blessing about now being part in a smaller congregation as we can do things like this! Spear LOVES our church home and I knew he’d be so tickled to get to celebrate at church on his special day!
He has a birthday twin, Payton, and so we celebrated her too!
Today my sweet cheeked, snuggle loving, non-stop smiling boy is FOUR 🎈
Your life began as an incredible journey and has only continued to be such an exciting, never boring, adventure! You keep us on our toes and only continue to have us all smitten with you ❤️
I’ve been so proud of you this year and how far you’ve come with so many big boy milestones and I know this coming year will only be filled with less baby moments and more big kid ones. I’m not quite sure my mama heart is ready but as long as there are plenty of tractors along the way I know you will be happy 🚜
I love you so much Spear! You are my gift and I’ve loved you for 1,000 years and will love you for 1,000 more my sweet boy 🥰
Happy 4th Birthday! 🎂
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