Happy Birthday, Dominic!

 Whew!  That year went by fast!  Dominic has had quite the year.  To start, we moved on his last birthday, and he didn't hold that against us at all.  His terrific attitude throughout the whole process helped to balance his mother's bad attitude.  And I am forever grateful for that.

 Dom has continued to grow into a delightful presence in our household.  He loves the water and will beg to stay in and have waves hit him over and over and over and over and over.  His enthusiasm for the ocean is only rivaled by his 2-year-old sister.

 Dom has traveled quite a bit in the last year including a trip back to Ohio to watch Eric received his doctorate. 

 He has also honed his basketball skills.  He practiced for literally hours and I am looking forward to his first season of basketball this winter.  Coach Self, watch out!

 Dominic has continued to show a love of learning.  He covered all of the presidents (though has probably forgotten several...we'll review those soon).  He is doing quite well with his reading and is starting to venture into spelling out words without the fear of spelling them wrong.  This is a big step for him.  We'll keep working on it.  And he continues to not shy away from math.  YES!!!

 As the eldest, Eric and I have begun making him more and more responsible for certain activities.  The first of which is preparing his own snack instead of making Mom stop what she is doing in order to get him something.

 Around the time that we moved, Dom went from being very shaky on his bicycle to being basically a pro.  In fact, he picked out his own pro-outfit.  I think he is pretty cool.

 Dom and Will have a solid friendship based on shared interests.  Their imagination knows no bounds and they are always making up stories and keeping each other out of my hair.  I couldn't ask for better sons.   And I'm not just saying that because it is Dom's birthday.  Or that I have lowered my expectations.

 Dom has discovered a love of games and is enjoying the ability to play them with his siblings.  They don't even have to wait on those slow parents.  And he is incredibly helpful with Molly.  I love to listen in on his conversations with her and the way she will answer back.  They have a little mutual admiration society.

 Dom continues to love geography and I really hope that translates into him being super excited about a couple of gifts.  Shaumamoi.

 Our children love chocolate milk, but it can be annoying as you are trying to get supper on to have to make it.  Thus, we have solved the problem of unhappy children by delegating the task to our eldest.  Game, Set, Match!  (Bonus, he actually puts in less chocolate than we do, so it is a little healthier, too...SHHHH!  Though, Will has noticed this and lodges many complaints with managment)

 And so we have come to a start of another year.  Such an important one at that.  The age of reason!  As we prepare to add to our family, I couldn't ask for a better helper than this little man.  I know that the addition will go smoothly having an ally among the kids who will help the others understand that I may not be able to do everything they are use to.  He's already gone through this transition twice before and handled it with grace both of those times. 

Dear Dominic, We love you so very much and could not imagine what our lives would be like without you.  Have a wonderful birthday and we look forward to everything the next year has in store for us.