Playing Catch-Up: Topher's Birthdays

Topher recently turned four! When I sat down to write about his birthday, I discovered the only birthday of his that I've written about so far was the one when he joined us from heaven. Time for a massive birthday recap!

Three years ago, Topher turned one! He wore a cute birthday onesie that was just a little too big and loved his birthday muffin! I taught Sophie's co-op preschool class at our house that day, so we counted having all the kids over as part of Topher's birthday fun. The big kids tried to conduct a birthday interview with him, but the only thing we learned is that he loves watermelon and dancing. 

A year later, Topher turned two! He wore the same onesie he had the year before, but this time it fit much better. He was very into watching the Cars movies and their related shorts, so he asked for a Lightning McQueen cake. He understood the basics of opening gifts and wanted to stop after each one to play with his new toys and read his new books. He was also very into building train tracks, so it was a good thing that car and train presents won the day.

When it was time for his third birthday, he loved all things Mickey Mouse. Phoebe made this cute Mickey decoration to hang up for his celebration. He requested Pop Tarts for his birthday breakfast and looked dapper all day long. He definitely understood opening gifts by this time. He jumped into enjoying his gifts right away. He requested macaroni and cheese for dinner. We supplemented the meal with watermelon and fried chicken sandwiches. He ended the night by enjoying his Toodles cake.

 

And now he is four! He had breakfast rice and chocolate milk for breakfast. Then we went walking with a friend from church who lives in our neighborhood.

She kindly let us play in her backyard afterward, Topher loved her tree swing.

She surprised him later in the day by dropping off some awesome birthday balloons. He also got a treat drop-off and driveway visit with his Primary teacher. They send each other Marco Polos on Sundays to talk about the lesson for the day, so he knew her even though it's been more than two years since we went to church in person.

Then came the gifts. He loved all of them, especially a Leap Frog counting phone from Sophie and an amazing scooter (and accompanying gear) that Bryan got.

Paw Patrol is his favorite thing right now, so the cake (and several of the presents) followed that theme.

He loved his dinner of macaroni and cheese, watermelon, and hot dogs. After writing this post I realized that he always has watermelon as part of his birthday dinner. A boy after my own heart!

During our morning walk we saw several people out working in their yards or walking their dogs. Topher is naturally very friendly and always says hello as we see people, but on this day he added an extra message: "Good morning! Today is my birthday! I'm three-four."