Seven Already!

Josiah had a celebratory week this week.  Monday morning, he was all ready to open his gifts.  He opened up his bow tie first and he got quite excited to see it.  "A bow tie!  A bow tie!"  He's our little GQ man.  He also got a Nerf Chewbacca crossbow gun.  When put on correctly, the mask will make Chewbacca noises when you move your chin.  The boys have had trouble getting it to fit properly and when it is on correctly, it is bulky, so it doesn't get worn a lot.  It does get dropped on the ground a lot by a precious little girl.  Quite loud, and heavy enough to probably put dents in our hardwood floors.

We also got him a marble run.  I have fond memories of playing with my brother's marble run growing up, so it was only a matter of time before we got one for our kids.  They like it, but it has been a bit frustrating trying to get them to understand how to build it so it works correctly, not too top-heavy and so it is balanced (equal distribution of weight both top and bottom and side to side).  It's going to take some time.  I convinced them to let me build a model one just so they can understand the concept.  :)

Josiah kept talking about what he could bring his classmates at CC.  He had quite the generous goody bags in mind - Lego kits for everyone!  We went a slightly cheaper route, and brought Dunkin Donut Munchkins for the whole group. Little bites of sweet goodness.

Josiah was expecting that we get him seven balloons since we always get birthday balloons.  He brought five of them up to his room.  Then he performed a science experiment to see what would happen if he turned his ceiling fan on.  The results were clear.  I think he was really looking to get his room cleaned, because while I climbed up on a ladder to untangle all five strings, I noticed the dusty ceiling fan.  So, after the balloons were freed, I dusted the whole fan.  That led to lots of dust falling on his bed.  So, I washed and changed his sheets and vacuumed his floor.  He got a very clean room out of it.  

I had my own failed science experiment.  For school we are studying about Ancient America and we had a recipe for pan-fried bread.  Thinking I could let Caroline join in the eating with us, I used coconut flour.  It called for a whopping four cups of flour, so that is what I used, but when I added the water to the flour, it seemed to grow.  Unfortunately, the flour "dough" just fell apart.  I tried to use eggs to bind it together, but nothing worked.  So, we just made it using the normal wheat flour and they turned out pretty well.  Henry was a big fan.  Josiah ate most of his and then said he didn't like it too much.  How can you not like pan-fried bread?

Josiah wanted an all-processed-food birthday, which worked out just fine for me because I didn't have to cook a thing.  Froot Loops for breakfast, Lunchables for lunch, Papa John's pizza for dinner, and a Sam's Club cake for dessert.  We forgot to tell Caroline the rules of birthday candle blowing when it was cake time.  We brought out the cake to Josiah and as we neared the end of our singing, Caroline blew out 6 of the candles.  So, we did a re-do.  Josiah showed his seven-year-old maturity by not freaking out.

We have had some delay in our mail delivery with regards to packages.  That lead to Josiah getting packages throughout the week causing him to enjoy a four-day birthday.  He was quite happy to spread the joy out.  The grandparents all came through with Lego kits, too.  You can always count on the grandparents to get the most favorite things.  Henry had a tough time with Josiah getting all of the gifts.  He was upset he didn't get a Lego kit, too.

Of course, three years ago, the tables were turned and Henry's birthday looked like this:

I like to ask Josiah his "favorite things" each birthday just to see how they change over the years.  This year's career choice was a bit different from the past.  He wants to run a grocery store.  Then later in the week Henry and I were reading a book that had a page with "career people" on it.  Henry was concerned because they didn't have a person who ran a grocery store in the book and that was what Josiah's future held.  Henry's career path wasn't represented either - he wants to be President of the United States and give everyone a Lego kit.  Clearly he's buying his electorate.

Now that Josiah is a mature seven-year old, we made the decision to take away his doggie.  He has a tendency to rely on it a little too much and he could use a little maturing.  So, I told him I would put the dog in his top dresser drawer (that he cannot reach), so he'd still be in his room, just not in his bed.  He cried it out and then handed it over.  The first night went well and he fell asleep with no problem.  Then the second day he called me upstairs and he had opened his top drawer (with a step stool from the bathroom) and he had put a flameless candle in the drawer.  A little shrine to a beloved dog.  That night did not go as well.  He said he was going to sleep with it when he has his own family.  I told him it would be funny if Daddy slept with a stuffed animal and I think he saw the absurdity of that.  I also told him that I would never get rid of it, as I have my own well-loved Cabbage Patch kid in a box in my closet.

This was supposed to be his last photo of him and his dog...

**Update on the doggie.  Josiah ran a fever today and asked for his dog.  How could I deny him that?  So, we're back to square one after his sickness leaves him.

We had Go Western night at Awana this week.  The boys were very happy to dress up as cowboys.  They like to think of themselves as the Cockrell Agents, so they posed as such.  They're a cross between cowboys and spies.

This week Grandma and Grandpa are in town so it'll be a fun week!