The Transformation

It all happened so fast...

My moppy-headed little boy is officially a changed little dude. I spied this cute little barber shop in downtown Wake Forest. First thought..."Oh, how cute...the barber swirl outside, the old school chairs, the 6cent Cokes in glass bottles, the wood panelling with the dead animals on the walls...this will be a great spot for Graden's 1st official haircut outside of Nana's beauty salon, where he has gone since the inception of life."

Little did I know, the barber was born in 1918...yep, 91 years old. Can a 91 year old really keep his hands that still? When he gave Graden 2 choices, a beauty shop little girl haircut or a big boy haircut, Adam knew we were in trouble. I kept asking Adam why he didn't think he could stop the old guy from cutting, he just replied, "It all happened so fast...I told him what we wanted!" I knew it was a conspiracy.

We have laughed and laughed about this story...Adam actually had my friend, Kelli drive Graden down our cul de sac because he was so afraid of my reaction. I laughed and I cried...

Graden is 4....Two months later!

So it's pretty ridiculous that I am 2 months behind on my life...I decided to create this blog since I am so incredibly useless when it comes to baby books. I thought for sure I could set aside some time every couple of weeks to record some thoughts about daily life around here...why does it go by so fast?

Since this is my meager attempt to have some sort of journal of the most poignant and important times in our children's lives, I'll just travel back a couple of months here...

Graden turned 4 years old on September 15. Since the kid has had 3 very big birthday parties in his first years of life, we kept it a bit more low-key this year. It was a wonderful birthday nonetheless. Graden had a blast and that is all that matters. Highlights of his fun birthday week were....

• Granny and Papa coming to stay twice in his birthday week! Such a treat!
• Birthday pancakes with Ava, Laila, Matt and Kelli...a Birely tradition introduced to us complete with sprinkles, strawberries, whipped cream, and a candle!
• Party hats that lasted all week.
• Nana driving in especially for G's birthday dinner.
• Light-up shoes courtesy of his good buddy, Foster...LOVES them still.
• Having his cousins in town for his birthday for the very first time...we couldn't be more psyched about that.
• Transformers birthday cake.
• Aunt Jane and Uncle Marce being with us all the way from Texas!
• Transforming into Bumblebee for the occasion...a big hit thanks to Granny and Papa.

We went to the doctor and found out that he is the average size of a 5 year old, so he is still continuing down the same path from whence he started. He's 41 lbs. and 42 inches tall. I got a kick out of watching him talk to the doctor like such a little man. He was very displeased when the doc gave him the bad news that he was going to get not one measly spray up the nose for his flu shot, but 4 real shots...he was ticked. But he lives to tell about it, so all is good.

He continually talks about his age now. I guess 4 is way cooler than 3 because he is fixated on making sure he lets his friends know if he is older than they are...even if it is only by a few months. Graden finally got a haircut from someone other than his Nana to commemorate the big birthday. More of that to come...