Happy Birthday, John!

 April 11th has been circled in one little boys heart for several weeks now....and today is the day!  Happy Birthday, John!  Covid19 can't stop us from celebrating with you in style. You clearly have too much of it:

 Along with a fantastic sense of style, you are pretty smart, too.  About a year ago, you started picking out words while I was reading aloud...and that grew to you being full on literate over the summer.  It made kindergarten way easier.  Well, the part where you had to learn how to read anyway.   The part where you actually sit and do work is not that easy...but who cares? You can read!  Take the next couple of years off!  (Just kidding...mostly)

 You love participating in games.  And you HATE losing!  Absolutely hate it.  It is like a switch goes off and alter-dimension John shows up.  (And he is scary...like...run for your life scary, or at least save the game board scary) But, we are working on it.  Everybody goes through being a poor loser...some of us are still stuck there. 

 Last summer, you took a trip to Germany with the family.  And tried beer foam.  You didn't like it. 

 You walked a lot and spent a lot of time on trains...and had a really great attitude for all of it .  Which is pretty typical (except for the whole losing thing...it just is such a shock to all of us).

 And while beer foam wasn't a favorite, Eis certainly was.  If you don't know what Eis is, ask John, it is one of his limited German vocabulary he will break out from time to time even now.  That and 'Donkey'...not a German word, but close enough to humor us.

 John is definitely the baby of the family and is everyone's favorite snuggler.  He is perpetually sleep deprived as he attempts to keep up with everyone, so I do believe in the last week he has fallen asleep on just about everyone.  Granted, this has a lot to do with the fact he likes to drift off to sleep during the Family Rosary.  I used a similar tactic during Easter Vigil Mass several decades ago.  Time goes faster when you sleep.  It's a fact. 

 John joined the Zelda fan club in the last year.  And practically lived in his Halloween Costume for the month of October.  He will randomly start telling me about various Zelda scenarios and I have never felt more like Nemo's Father when the sea turtles are explaining how to get out of the rip current..."You're really cute, but I don't understand what you're saying..."  Though, I am the outlier in this family and generally someone is available to discuss various ideas with him.  Actually, we took a long walk in a wooded area recently and Eric kept John very entertained by having him look for bokgoblins...or something like that.  You Zelda afficionados probably know what I'm talking about.

 The Link costume got much more use than the Vuvuzela that found its way to our home from the shores of Senegal...and then found its way to the highest shelf in the closet...and, honestly, I don't know where it is now.  I think it might have been broken...which is absolutely fine by me.  No one has a big enough house for that thing.  Well, perhaps someone who didn't have a 5 year old might. 

Contemplating his next adventure

 Last Summer and Fall, John and Molly helped assist me coaching soccer.  And that entailed finding their own forms of entertainment for several hours a week at various soccer fields in our area.  One time, that was rolling down a dirt hill many, many, many times.  (Queue "Look out for me Muddy Waters" from "Big River"...cause that was what their bath theme song would have been)

 John has followed in his brothers' interests with geography.  He regularly works on various geopuzzles during his many hours a day of keeping himself entertained. Granted, I frequently discover more pupils in his independent study at this point as they all want to 'help' John do the puzzles...nerds.

But everyone is more than happy to postpone their own lessons to help him learn something they have mastered.  This particular day was lines of latitude and longitude.  Though, Kindergarten, in general, has been a fun experience for the family as everyone takes part in various science experiments or picture book reading.  The teacher to student ratio is pretty high around here for the younger grades.

 See earlier note about sense of style.

John was super pumped to celebrate Super Mario Day (Mar10), and Pi Day was also a big hit with the little guy.  He fits in so well with our family!

 Now that he can write, I enjoy finding little notes around the house.  And he wrote his own wish list for Christmas and his birthday.  He wanted a shirt with Santa's face on it.  Which has been proudly worn for going on 4 months now.  Because, why not?  Don't we need a little Christmas?

 Molly and Will can take or leave sports (Molly more so than Will), but I think John may be on the same path as Dom.  He was the self-proclaimed BIGGEST CHIEFS FAN EVER!!! On February 2, 2020 when they won the Super Bowl.

 The shelter-in-place order has not effected John's quality of life negatively.  One could argue it may be a more positive change.  He got to wear his Kylo Ren mask to pick up a new glasses prescription.  He has siblings around always (generally looking for excuses to leave their studies to assist him in his...it helps a main subject for the Kindergartener is: Play! Play! Play!)

 He has two parents to interact with when he needs something (though Mom is still the go-to even if he has to pass Dad to get to Mom).  And there are regular happy hours for him to crash for snacks. He is always hungry, so it is probably particularly nice to have regular snack times.

 And he has enjoyed the shortened versions of Stations and Mass in our home.  Which he gets to take a more active role in.  So, I'm optimistic he will be more attentive during Mass when we all get to return after the danger has passed.  Maybe stupidly optimistic...but, it is good to have dreams.

  But, one thing I do know, he has a loving heart.  He may balk at doing chores and losing, but he gives the best hugs, the best random gifts during the day, and he is an incredibly patient child.  No one can stay angry at John for any amount of time.  Will is afraid we are spoiling him, but I think he will turn out just fine. He frequently shows signs already that he can put his wants second to others needs.Unless it is his wanting to win over someone elses need to dominate...all bets are off at that point. 

Happy Birthday, John Eugene Anthony!  You are always a favorite to have around! You have a ready smile, a great laugh, and are always up for a joke or a story.  You take an interest in whatever is going on at the time as you listen to history lectures, watch complicated games (biding your time), or sit through a long chapter in a book I'm reading to the older kids.  Just the other day, Molly was trying to trick me by giving me a long list of numbers to add, multiplying it by 0 and then adding 1.  Naturally, I didn't fall for it, and proceeded to explain how it wasn't actually correct if she didn't place the original summation in parentheses before multiplying by 0...because there are learning moments always #PEMDAS.  But, my favorite part was that John was listening and proceeded to change all of the numbers in the parentheses for a while and giggled to himself the whole time as the equation's answer didn't change due to the fact it was all multiplied by 0 before adding the final 1.  Yup, life is pretty crazy around here.

We are all super excited to celebrate your birthday and open presents and watch you ride your bike (He just started riding on Thursday!!).  You are a great kid to have around and we wouldn't change anything about you (except the losing thing...really...it's bad).

We love you so very much and Thank God that you are a part of our family.  Now, let's go make that cake with the chocolate chips and whip up some whipped cream to put on top...because: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!! (and maybe you can play a video game, too)

Love,
Mom

PS Happy Birthday to Grandpa and Happy Half-Birthday to Dom.  Love you, too!

PPS I will try to post a few more posts between now and July 17th.  We have a list of topics...I just need to do it.