Atticus Turns 5

Atticus's fifth birthday last Thursday may not have been exciting, but it was memorable. He was pretty bummed that his family party was postponed, and equally sad that his friend party wasn't even scheduled. (This was the first year he was getting a friend party, poor boy.)

I still made a special layered chocolate cake in honor of the occasion, and he blew out candles. In an effort to make the day a little better, I texted my neighbors the day before to ask if their kids could chalk a birthday message or picture on their driveways. Unfortunately, a surprise pop-up shower that night washed them away! A few kids made new messages the next day, and I went out and redid my own drawings in the dark while Paul held a flashlight. But many of the neighbors went above and beyond, serenading him with "happy birthday" as he rode his scooter down the street.

Here's the annual list of what Atticus likes best nowadays Can it be any surprise that he received mostly Star Wars and Wall-E gifts?

5-year old Atticus's favorite ...
In his own words / [what I guessed]

• Food: Sweets / [pepperoni pizza and macaroni and cheese]

• Toy: Legos / [Legos]

• Book: Star Wars / [anything Star Wars]

• TV Show: "Star Wars TV show" / [Clifford]

• Movie: Star Wars and Wall-E / [Wall-E and Star Wars]

• Playground activity: Slide and swing / [sandbox]

• Color: "Blue and green and black and brown" / [Blue and green and black and brown]

• Animal: Monkey / [Brown Bear (his stuffed animal)]

• Song: Star Wars and Wall-E / ["Put on Your Sunday Clothes," from Wall-E via Hello, Dolly!]

• Game: Headache / [Chutes and Ladders]<-- almost="" and="" but="" chutes="" guessed="" i="" ladders="" li="" this="" went="" with="">

• Fruit: Pear / [grapes]

• Vegetable: Corn, cold. / [Cold corn and peas. He likes them frozen!]

• Breakfast: Froot Loops with milk in it. / [Froot Loops. To be fair (to me), this is a special treat!]