Happy Birthday, Edwin!

This week Edwin turned nine.  I can hardly believe that my third child is nine.  Also, nine seems a lot younger than it used to be.  When Kathleen was nine, she was about ready to go to college, but now that Edwin is nine, he's still in third grade.  There's nothing like multiple children to give one perspective.

Edwin is a very low-key child, so it was like pulling teeth to find out his preferences. 

"What do you want for breakfast?" I asked him the night before. 

"Oh, I don't know." 

"How about the cake?"

"I'm not sure about that."

"What would you like to do for dinner?"

"Let me think about it."

"And how about after dinner?  What would you like to do?"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure."

After a few rounds of twenty questions, I managed to work out breakfast (German apple pancake), dinner (delivery from a local Uzbek restaurant), cake (apple upside down cake - pretty much breakfast again), and the after-dinner activity (assemble his birthday Legos while Brandon read a story).  I wasn't quite sure if I was doing him a favor by asking his preferences in everything.

The girls had heard about a toy store that sold knock-off Legos and were very excited to buy Edwin a set for his birthday, so we went to get it in the morning.  We had a fun time giggling over the names - 'Star Battles' (Star Wars), 'My World' (Mine Craft), 'Cities' (City), 'Bat Leader' (Batman), 'Ninja Movie' (Ninjago), and my personal favorite 'Justice Magicians' (Harry Potter).  The last one had pictures of the characters, in the typical pose, but none of them were the actual movie characters. 

We ordered the food for dinner around 3:30 and had enough time to make our annual Christmas ornament and clean it up before the food showed up around 5:15.  I suppose it's still better than making it myself. 

After dinner and cake, Edwin was eager to open his presents.  When I pulled out the camera, he hid his face, embarrassed that he was smiling for pictures.  He was very happy with his presents - a book from us, a book from his grandparents, a Lego set from his other grandparents, and an 'Ego' set from his sisters.  He was very pleased with the gifts.

We finished off the day with a story and Lego assembling party, where I got to find out again that I like putting Legos together better than Brandon does.  Edwin went to sleep that night with his assembled police truck next to him and his book open and ready to be read in the morning. 

I've enjoyed seeing Edwin grow up and become part of the big kids in the family.  He is usually fairly quiet, but is often quite funny when he makes his wry observations.  I love seeing him with his buddy, William.  He can sometimes be fairly savage with his other siblings, as children often are, but never with his little brother.  Even when William is screaming loudly because he doesn't want a bath or to go to bed, Edwin patiently carries him upstairs and takes good care of him.  We are happy to have Edwin in our family.  Happy Birthday, Edwin!