Happy 5th Birthday Teddy!

Teddy turned 5 this past Friday and had a fun-filled weekend celebrating with family and friends. His cousins were in town all day Friday, so we met for an afternoon at a place with giant inflatables since it was raining. AJ and Teddy had an absolute blast playing with their cousins. They spent 3 hours straight running around, climbing inflatables and sliding down in a tangled pile of arms and legs. It was one of my absolute favorite memories of the cousins for a couple reasons.

First, everyone had fun. It was something Teddy could do alongside his cousins, even if he was a bit slower with climbing the inflatables or needed a helping hand here or there. It's rare to find a level playing field for cousins ranging from 5 to 9 with a wide range of capabilities, and this was perfect for them all to enjoy.

Second, this was the most I've seen Teddy's cousins play with him, wait for him and help him. I'm not sure if it's because they're getting a bit more mature or if it's because it was his birthday, but his two oldest cousins were constantly helping him and cheering for him. You can see in the video how they both help Teddy (who didn't always need the help they provided, but that was half the entertainment). 

Last, but not least, the amount of skills Teddy demonstrated shows how much he's grown in the past year. Progress with Teddy is slow but steady, so sometimes it's not obvious until you see him:

• Climb up bouncy, wiggly inflatables that are 20-feet high
• Focus his attention to keep climbing even when there are other children behind him
• Run around for 3 hours - the stamina and effort
• Play appropriately with peers (aside from when he was hungry and tried to eat someone else's food)

It was a perfect afternoon that left my children perfectly exhausted. We followed that up with dinner at Red Robin, where Teddy had a quivering bottom lip while they sang him Happy Birthday. But it was worth that minor trauma for the ice cream he shared with AJ. (It's so hard to gauge whether something will fascinate or terrify Teddy.)

Saturday was a mildly construction-themed birthday party filled with fun times with family and friends. Teddy loves my Grandpa's walker and hopped on immediately for a ride. Then he proceeded to make my Grandpa sit down and attempted to push him around. Teddy made himself at home in one of his best friend's laps to open his gifts and devoured his cake. A happy birthday indeed!

Here, Great Grandpa, I'll help you push this!