Happy Birthday, Theo!

 I feel so appreciative to have Theo in my life, even more than other birthdays. I guess because of the staying at home and the stress of the year, I'm extra aware of how lucky I am to have a Theo Jack.

Theo told me for his birthday dinner he wanted pepperoni pizza. I asked if he wanted one that we buy or homemade. He said one I make myself.

I turned to Jay and said, "Wow, he really loves me -- or my pizza."

Theo said, "Mommy I do really love you, AND I love your pizza!"

Theo asked for a box of cereal at bedtime. I told him that he couldn't have cereal after his teeth were brushed. He said he just wanted the box to read -- he'd leave the bag with cereal in the kitchen.

He cut out a recipe for a peanut butter Chex mix thing and has requested that for his birthday too.

He also rediscovered a Mary Englebright's Mother Goose book. We used to read it when he was 1-2 a lot but we haven't read it in a long time. He loves it again and reads it to himself at bedtime.

Somewhere in the last year he stopped wanting to be carried by me, but he still sits in my lap and gives goodnight hugs and kisses. He often calls us "Mom and Dad" instead of "Mommy and Daddy," like he did a year ago.

He uses big words and thinks about them. He told me the other day that the only word ever with 2 "z"s in a row is "pizza." I wordlessly pulled out a bag of cheese from the fridge and he pointed at it and said, "Oh, 'mozzarella' has it too!"

I wasn't aware he could read the word, "mozzarella."  

Jay made the BEST Bowser Jr. Cake for Theo. There are more details on the photo with a cross section below somewhere.

You can see that the bottom is Rice Krispe treat (so that it can slope in. Cake couldn't support that). Then there is cake in the middle. Then on top is a Bowser Jr. sculpted free hand from white chocolate and the dark brown is dark chocolate. 

The mini cupcakes around it were fireballs -- completely Theo's idea. Also note the peanut butter Chex mix that Theo helped make