We celebrated Jack's 4th birthday with a pirate cruise in Annapolis. I highly recommend it for any young pirates out there (http://www.chesapeakepirates.com/). Since it was his birthday, he got to be "Captain Jack" and was even able to steer the boat for a bit. We had done the same cruise earlier in the summer and Jack had been begging to do it again. He was much more into it this time, participating more in the activities and not being dependent on Amelia. Amelia, on the other hand, seemed to be a little lost without Jack by her side and didn't really participate much.
Jack's actual birthday was celebrated at Jerry and Pete's -- Jack and Pop share the same birthday, so it was a doubly special time. Jerry got a SpongeBob pinata for the kids to enjoy -- luckily, you didn't need to beat it with a stick -- you just had to pull strings to open the trap door (which, strangely, was SpongeBob's bottom -- which made the candy a little less appetizing to me).
Jack also picked, at my urging, a very cool animatronic dino cake. It was the hit of the party, for sure.
Amelia has a very loose tooth and is excited about the prospect of losing it, as long as no blood is involved. I made the mistake once of telling her it was bleeding a little (to say that it was getting looser) and she went nuts. Not a good move on my part. I suspect it will take a few more weeks to fall out. I'm in no rush -- it's just another sign of her growing up, and she has a teeny-tiny mouth that I don't think is ready for grown-up teeth.
Amelia starts school in just over a week; Jack, the week after. Both are a mixture of excited and scared. Me, too!
Jack has a new passion -- fishing. We've gone through 3 rods so far (one broke, one got dropped in the lake) and a bunch of fake bait. He got lots of tackle and gear for his birthday, and every night, he asks TJ if they can go fishing (there is a small pond in our neighborhood where fish are plentiful and easy to catch). I made the mistake of going the other night and caught a turtle. TJ was not happy with me.
It also looks like Jack will have surgery soon to release his tongue-tie. Luckily, it's an outpatient surgery -- a far cry from when I had it done in the hospital with a several-day stay. I'm not fond of him having to go under to have the procedure done, but I'm also hoping it will help his speech.
Have a great weekend, all!
