My little turkey is 4
My babe is 4.
If you’ve heard any sort of repeated phrase from parents, it might be “it goes by so fast” and that one really hits home today. Four years old! How did we get here. And while it feels like a lifetime ago I first laid eyes on my babe, it also feels like just yesterday. It’s a wild thing watching your little one grow up…. the days are long but the years are so short.
I am a huge fan of birthdays, which I know not a lot of people are, but I find them very special and bring forth so many sweet extra moments to one singular day.
I’m realizing as a mom, they are also wild because they are also a huge wave of stimulation and if you have a sensitive little turkey like mine, with big feelings and someone who is very much affected by the change (like that of a huge party after basically being around tops 10 people for the past two years (hiya pandemic world)) then it can be a big big shift in their world.
We had a party for Oscar on Father’s day which was also Olly’s first birthday. It was a jammed pack day and we were totally honoured at how many yes’s we got when sending out invites to what we thought would be a wee little backyard party.
The day was a huge hit. It was beautiful and wonderful in every way. And, it took us all the whole next day to recover. Who knew a 4-year-olds birthday party would leave you that exhausted?!
I had some fav moments that I could never have guessed. There were these little moments that will live in my heart forever. These are a few of them…
The first was about 15 mins into people arriving when the first kids arrived. Zoe, Aaron, Esme & Margot walked into the yard and Oscar’s eyes lit up. He was so excited about kids being there, about little humans his age joining on the fun. He was all about Margot, too, inviting her to draw and telling her about all the kid’s things we had out ready for them to play with. He was such a cute little host and it melted my heart.
His preschool teacher often tells me how sweet he is with his friends but I dont get to see it first hand, so this was such a treat to see him totally as himself and interacting with other kids his age.
The second was watching Oscar as he watched the magic show, Ben-tastic.
As a side - I can’t say enough about Ben-tastic! OH EM GEE… this guy is good. If you are looking for some entertainment for your kid’s party, message him NOW! He had everyone entranced for the full 45 mins. Oscar loves magic which comes from our family’s love for it. My dad was a magician as a teen and into his 20’s. He now sends videos of him doing magic tricks for Oscar and each and everyone (except the one where he showed how he could chop some carrots but not chop my mom’s arm off- Oscar asked to never watch that one again… but thankfully he shared his feelings and Pop Pops only sends fun ones with no one being sawed in half).
Back to that thing that had me swooning; Oscar was so full of expression, so curious and so happy giggling the whole time during the show. I don’t often get to see him in scenarios like this or with him being a pre-school during a pandemic, we don’t get to see what he’s like in group settings. It’s such a beautiful thing to see this little human of your being this independent little person so full of personality.
So while turning four was big for Oscar, as his mom, it was also pretty big for me because in a way it gave me more moments to stop and be totally present to this little milestone in our lives. That’s the thing I try to remind myself regularly; stop and take it in. Because like I mentioned already; it goes by so fast!
Another thing that came out of this birthday was now that Oscar is at an age where he understands more, I shared with him a special video that I’ve never shared publically until now. If you know me personally, you know my husband is a musician and you know that Oscar was born the day before the biggest show of my husband’s career.
The whole event of that alone is a whole other story in itself. And while we all had different experiences, Anthony, the band, and the 25,000 other people attending this show shared a beautiful moment that was captured in a special video welcoming Oscar to the world.
It was quite a way to be introduced to the world, too. You can see all the heart and love in it, which also very much melts the heart but I’m a sucker for humans showing emotion, especially when they are those that dont often share those big feelings.
And since this show, I’ve had people share with me that they were there, and maybe before ever knowing me, they shared in that experience and it’s a pretty interesting little thing to have happened.
I’m just glad that Oscar came when he did because any later and that very long labour might have been without Anthony as the show was an important one and there was no one for this show in particular to fill his spot. But this isn’t a unique situation and in a way, I’ve found my own community of women who’s husbands have jobs that left their presence at their kid’s birth up in the air. Doctors, actors, etc… It’s a bonding experience for us mamas, that’s for sure.
I haven’t shared this video before, but it really is a pretty special one and sharing it with Oscar the morning of his birthday was a sweet little moment too, as his eyes lit up hearing the crowd say his name. Cool thing for a little human to see and hear.
And well, that is it for this little post honoring my favourite little human for his fourth birthday.
As always, to anyone reading this, thanks for being here.
xo