The Sixth

Cooper turned six this month! He's our first child to have a birthday on a school day. He was so excited to take treats to school to share. And he told everyone that would listen that it was his birthday.

Birthday boy eating his birthday breakfast in his birthday chair.

We have a few birthday traditions, some intentional, some not. We always have the birthday person choose breakfast and dinner. Cooper asked for both pancakes and waffles. Since it was a school day I tried to mix up the batter the night before, but Sophie needed my attention and I ran out of time. Bryan came to the rescue and ran to the store for frozen waffles. I felt guilty that they weren't homemade, but he loved them. And it made the morning before school go smoothly.

As for dinner, Cooper wanted rice and beans. I would have happily obliged, but due to the way the afternoon went, we again ran out of time. So I convinced Cooper that pizza was a fine substitute and we had that instead.

Birthday bedroom finery

We also try to put up some kind of decorations, often streamers because that's just what we have on hand. About a week before his birthday Cooper asked for blue and green streamers. So, I guess that's now a tradition. We obliged with lots of blue and green streamers.

The day was gorgeous and warm, something that hasn't happened much here. We walked to get the boys from school and stopped at the park on our way back. We ended up staying longer than we had planned and one of Cooper's birthday treats became playing in the sunshine.

After dinner and presents that night we also played Lego Rock Band. I thought Cooper would enjoy the drums. Actually, he preferred being on vocals. Loud, loud, not-on-key vocals. At least he had fun.

Birthday blue baked goods

And chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting, that was his other request. I added half a bottle of blue food coloring to achieve this eye-popping color.

Birthday personal-sized cake

Because the cake was from scratch I had extra batter left over. I used it to make Cooper his very own little cake. He thought this was really cool. So did Phoebe. She's already requested one for her next birthday.

Birthday books

Cooper got some great gifts, including Legos and art supplies. Those are both always big hits at our house. Here he is, drawing superheroes from a how-to book from Nana Cris and Grandpa Marc.

I conducted our traditional birthday interview. Here are Cooper's favorite things as a newly minted six-year-old:

FAVORITE FOOD: strawberry pancakes

FAVORITE ANIMAL: cheetah

FAVORITE BOOK: Curious George's Halloween

FAVORITE COLOR: blue

FAVORITE SHOW: Phineas and Ferb

FAVORITE MOVIE: Escape from Planet Earth
FAVORITE SONG: Everything Is Awesome
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Monopoly
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Lego Batman
FAVORITE THING TO DO: Watch movies, Family Home Evening
FAVORITE MEMORY FROM BEING 5: Going to school
FAVORITE PLACE: Disneyland
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Art

FRIENDS: Everyone I know, friends at school

Happy birthday Cooper!