Darin's Double Digits Day!

Darin hit the big 1-0 a little over a week ago. He was super happy all day long. Just take a look at the pictures...

Darin chose eggs, rice, and bacon for his birthday breakfast.

Opening his Beloved Present.

Oh, but wait it's not there. Darin has known since August (when Nathan recieved a DS for his birthday) that if he asked us for one for Christmas or his Birthday he would pretty much get it. Then at Christmas time he actually wanted to be surprised and asked us to get him a DS for his birthday.

If you can't read it the note says: "Ha, Ha! Did you think we would let you have your beloved present without teasing and tricking you a bit." And then it sends him off on a trip down his parents favorite memories and scavenger hunt around the house.

First up, that would be on top of the fridge which is exactly where I found him one day when he was 17 months old. I was hugely pregnant with Nathan and we had just moved into a little house in Utah. Darin had pushed a chair across the kitchen, climbed onto the washer, then a box on the washer, and then onto the fridge! Obviously my kitchen has gotten bigger and so has the fridge. I'm glad he no longer does that!

2nd- When Ken was going to school full-time and working full-time and subsiding on 4 hours of sleep a night. Darin really missed him, he was about 4 at the time. And every morning like clockwork when Ken woke-up at 5 am and was in the shower. Sneaky, quiet Darin would come into our bathroom and lay down on the bath rug outside the shower. Then as Ken would towel himself off and step out of the tub, Darin would pop up his little head, smile and say "Hi Dad!" Ken would freak out, get scared, and fall back into the shower. This happened countless times. Over and over again, I would hear Ken shriek from the bathroom. Finally after 30 or so many bruises from hitting his elbow or shin on the tub walls Ken mandated that Darin was no longer allowed to wait in the bathroom and would have to wait in bed with me.

3rd- Darin loves to ride his bike! He was riding without training wheels before he was 3. The weekend Ken set-aside to finally teach Darin how to ride without the training wheels was supposed to be momentous for both of them. Except, it wasn't, at least not for Ken, because as soon as Ken took off the training wheels Darin took off down the street and never looked back! For payback we sent him out to his bike in the garage in the cold rain and stayed inside warm.

4th- Darin went through a phase when he was 2-3 where he would take all of the teeny, tiny rubber wheels off of his matchbox cars. Then he would line them all up in a row. There would be hundreds just lined up perfectly straight and he would get so upset if one was out of place. Nathan was 9 month- to 18 months during that time, so you can guess how well that went.

5th- We call him the early bird in our family. He has this internal clock that makes him wake-up before everyone else in the house. As his mom, I think it is because he likes the stillness, solitude, and quiet in the morning. But he will just wake-up at whatever time he needs to without an alarm clock. And then when he actually sets the alarm clock he sets it for 4am or some outrageous hour because that would actually be waking up early for him since 5:30 am is his norm.

6th- Darin is our Mr. Fix-It. We are realizing that everyone in the family calls upon him to replace batteries in toys, remotes, cameras, whatever. We are now thinking this might be a hinderance to Nathan who when he is 18 and in college, we don't want him to have to call on his brother to change out the remote batteries. Darin does actually fix things like toasters. But then he also sets them on fire too (and that one he didn't fix:-)

7th- Last year Darin went through a camo phase. He loved camo so much that he wore it from head to toe. Underwear, Tshirt, shorts, shoes, and jacket/coat, hat & gloves, and his backpack too. I have convinced him that one to two pieces of camo clothing is enough at one time. He found this one in his coat.

8th- Finally Success! One of my favorite times is cuddling him in bed early in the morning. That is-when he lets me do it. And it's not because he is such a big boy now. He has always pushed away from my cuddles, even when he was little.

This is one Happy Birthday Boy off to school.

He was so happy it was raining so he could play an extra 15 minutes while Ken waited in traffic to drop the boys off.

Me, Ken, Rose, and Ginger went to the school and had lunch with him. He wanted McDonald's of course. That is kind of a challenge since their lunch time is so early (10:48 am) and McD's doesn't start serving lunch until 10:30 a.m. and it is 4 miles away.

Then we came back 30 minutes later and brought ice cream sandwhiches to his class. The kids in his classes are always surprised on Darin's birthday. Because he doesn't like frosting we never bring in the usual cupcakes. Usually it is brownies but this year he asked us to do ice cream sandwhiches.

Darin with his buddies.

After school Ken took off the rest of the day. There wasn't much of a point since all Darin wanted to do was play his new DS. But it was nice having Ken around to do all the prep for dinner.

Lola arriving for his family birthday party. Do you think he loves her??? That is one happy boy.

For his special dinner he requested Steak and Rice (he loves rice), and Sparkling Grape Juice. Of course I served him exactly what he wanted. Darin's siblings were pretty happy to be celebrating his birthday too.

Opening Lola and Papa's Presents.

Pokemon! Just what he wanted. And apparantly Rose too. She kept asking him if she could have some cards. He was quite the nice big brother and gave her a bunch of his older cards.

His usual Brownies! At Darin's 1st birthday he stuck one finger into his cake, shook the frosting off, and cried. He pretty much hasn't touched it since then.

Happy Birthday Darin! I can't believe our first baby turned 10. He has been a wonderful 1st kid though, and has been amazingly gentle on breaking us into being parents. I consider myself really lucky that my only complaint is that I wish he would let me cuddle him more.