four!

My first baby turned four years old last week!

Four is big. Much celebrating was in order, of course.

We had a little party for him, with some dear friends and a few members of our family. There was some playtime, chatting, eating, and birthday party-style merrymaking… and then we gathered together for a special birthday circle.

We sang our Hello Everybody song to start our circle, and I told Isaiah’s Birthday Story.

“Once upon a time, about four years and nine months ago, there was a beautiful little star in the sky…and this little star decided he would like to be born on Earth…”

This story tells briefly and simply of Isaiah’s journey into his body, his birth into our family, and then highlights some of the milestones of each of the years he’s been here on Earth with us. This year I mentioned things like… when Isaiah was a baby, we used baby sign language to communicate with him, and he knew more than thirty signs! He was always very curious and inquisitive, and after he turned one and started to speak with words, he was often pointing at things and saying, “that!?!” to ask what things were called. When Isaiah was about 18 months old, he used to strum his ukelele and sing, from beginning to end, his favorite songs, which were “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” When he was two, Isaiah discovered that he loved playing dress-up… and when he turned three, he had just become a Big Brother! His little brother Quinn is very lucky, because Isaiah is very kind, gentle, and patient with him, even when Quinn does things that are frustrating!

We’ve told some version of this story on each of his birthdays, and it feels like a lovely way to mark the importance of our sweet, sensitive, intelligent little boy’s life, and his specialness, his uniqueness, as Isaiah Joseph DelaTerre.

After the story, we invited Isaiah to walk around “the sun” in the middle of the circle, four times, because he has been on the earth, rotating around the sun, for four years now!

Four times around the sun...

Isaiah went around the sun on his Papa’s shoulders, as he felt shy about walking by himself. I had planned to make a larger wool “Earth” ball for Isaiah to hold, but since that project didn’t happen, he held a little chocolate Earth ball instead, borrowed from the party favors. (He asked if he could eat it first.)

Our sweet friend Mayla, holding the candle representing the sun.

Then, it was time to share the birthday cupcakes! Earlier, Isaiah helped me make them: “strawberry, because I love strawberries!”

Isaiah fell asleep that night (way past his bedtime!) reminiscing about his fun party, and marveling that he would wake up in the morning (his actual birthday) and be a whole year older than he was that night… The next morning, Isaiah woke to discover a few presents waiting for him…

Our dear friend Rachel made the beautiful gnome for Isaiah. I made his new crown with wool felt, edged with ribbon.

After some playtime with his new toys, we all had another strawberry cupcake, of course, for breakfast. (Well, first breakfast, that is. Second breakfast had a bit more protein.) Then we visited Isaiah’s grandmother, “Babi,” and headed into Denver to visit the aquarium. We had a fun afternoon checking out all of the interesting sea creatures, and also watching the  tigers eat their lunch! (Yes, they have tigers at the Denver Aquarium!)

After his birthday celebrations were over, Isaiah said, “my birthday was great!”

And it really was.

His Papa and I have both noticed something else that is great too — in this first week of Isaiah’s four-year-old-ness, we’ve been delighted and amazed to observe that Isaiah has completely stepped up, into his new Big Boy status, quite naturally and proudly, pretty immediately upon turning four! He is noticeably braver, and quite a bit more sure of himself, more secure in his being. This last year has been challenging for Isaiah, in many ways and for various reasons, and it seems that, in leaving behind “being three,” he has been able to let go of some heavier energy that hasn’t been serving him. He’s much lighter in his mood, yet also more grounded; more mature, yet also more carefree; and so very proud of being four years old! His Papa and I are so happy for him, for his ever-deepening sense of self, and for his continually inspiring, fresh approach to the adventure of each new day. We’re so very grateful that this beautiful little shining star decided to come into our family, and we’re looking forward to all of the new adventures that will surely come with “being four!”