Alex is 4!

My little guy is 4 years old. It seems hard to believe. After my baking efforts last night, I wrapped presents and set his birthday table. What you can't see in the pictures are the yellow batman streamers that look a little like crime scene tape Alex got from his teacher Rachel before we left. I had sort of hidden them away and thought today would be a great day to bring them out. Here's how everything looked before I went to bed. Note the ruin of a cake in front.

Alex, who is usually a great sleeper woke up just after 4 am and snuggled in bed with me for a while. I'm usually bummed when he wakes up, but I was a little wistful this morning and was perfectly happy to feel his soft little body curl up next to mine in bed for a while. When we couldn't stand it any longer, we got up and Alex tore into his presents.

We managed to get the chocolate cake and the cookies to school for his celebration there. They were waiting for him with the specially decorated birthday chair, 4 real candles and even a little gift. The other kids all knew it was his special day and greeted him as we walked in. To make matters even better, today's lunch was spaghetti with meat sauce, or as he calls it: scapetti. Either way, they're one of his favorite things to eat. He was still in a thoroughly happy mood when I came to get him 5 hours later and showed me the home-made kaleidoscope and card he had received from his class. He's already eager to go back tomorrow.

We went home and played with his various new toys: a playmat with streets on it for cars (or whatever), a playmobil race car from my brother and his family, a new coloring book and some cool crayons, a puzzle, and a whole bunch of Überraschungseier (Kinder surprise eggs). It was really fun. Then we got ready for party # 2 with our friends, baked yet another cake, and cleaned up the apartment a bit. Sherry and Annika arrived first in the mid-afternoon and Alex completely took Annika under his wings, showing her all his new stuff, getting her to draw some batman pictures for her, the usual stuff, which gave Sherry and me some time to drink tea, eat cookies, and have adult conversation. In the early evening, Christian and Nanina joined us and we had dinner together.

Alex was more than a little hopped up on cake, candy, and excitement and started goofing around and taking silly pictures. Here is just one example.

All throughout the day, we got calls, email messages, electronic cards etc. (including a really funny talking pink pig from Clara) from friends and family back home - a really nice reminder of the rich lives we've left behind. We miss you, dear friends.