A look back on 2013...and 365 Quiet Nights, or close to 365, I took some nights off during the year.

Dec. 31st
Happy New Year's Eve!
Day 365

Happy New Year's Eve! This blog was born as an idea last year (2012) about this time. I spent the entire year, with very few exceptions, writing about Nixon's days and adding pictures. It started with pictures of him sleeping, but when he got sick he started sleeping a little lighter and the flash affected his sleep making it harder to take those nightly pictures. I didn't give up though, I added photos from the day instead, when I could.

Tonight, I'll do a post looking back on the top posts of this year.

#10 Jan. 3rd (day 3)

#9 Dec. 1st (day 335)

#8 Aug. 1st (day 215)

#7 Aug. 4th (day 218)

#6 Aug. 18th (day 232)

#5 Feb. 12th (day 43)

#4 July 30th (day 213)

#3 March 21st (day 82)

#2 Aug. 27th (day 241)

#1 Aug. 3rd (day 217)

To everyone who has read this blog during the year: Thank you!

Nixon's getting his party hat ready for tonight!
Happy 2014 everyone!!

"...please let me like you, please"

December 30th, 2013
BeBe is back where he belongs!
Day 364

* Nixon woke up this morning and woke Mac and I up, because he "needs to go downstairs to brush my teeth, so they don't fall out and then I have to eat baby food. I don't want to eat baby food!" We woke up and brought Nixon downstairs, waiting for him to spot BeBe in the tree.
   He did and it was like he was afraid to believe he was really there. Then, of all the things Nixon could say, he says "BeBe must have decided to leave his hat house and come home. I've missed him!". Mac found Be, under a hat on Nixon's table that I know I looked under! How Nixon knew that's where Be was, is a mystery to me, but Be is back and Nixon is super excited. I don't think he was more than a foot away from him at any point of the day, today. 

* Nixon: *to Mac* Mommy likes me.
Mac: I don't know, buddy. I think you should ask her.
Nixon: * to me* Mommy, can you please let me like you please?

me: *laughing* Of course (and I gave him hugs and kisses)
Mac: That wasn't what I meant, but it works too! *also laughing*

He's tattling on me again!!

Dec. 27th, 2013
"Mom, where's your phone? I'm telling Daddy on you!"
Day 361

* Nixon spent most of the day asking to play his video game. When he wasn't doing that, he was telling me how much he loved me and how I was his favorite mommy ever!

* Apparently, before Mac left for work, he had told Nixon that, if he was good, I would possibly let him play his game before he went to bed. Nixon told me "Dad said to tell you I'm allowed to play my game now", after he ate dinner. I told him I'd think about it and he says to me, "That's it, Mom! Call Dad right now! I'm telling on you!".
   So I had him give me the phone and called Mac. After we played phone tag because I never remember to charge our house phones and my cellphone loses signal in the house randomly, I explained why I called and let him talk to Nixon. I then talked to him again and ended up letting Nixon play the game for a bit before bed.
   Surprisingly enough, Nixon decided when he was ready for bed even before I said anything to him. He turned the game off himself, brushed his teeth and went to upstairs to wait for me so we could feed Scootaloo before he went to bed for the night.

A little late but.....Christmas finally arrived!!!

   I was so exhausted yesterday I fell asleep around 9pm! It was glorious! Nixon and I got comfy in my bed and settled in to watch Chipwrecked together, when it was over we both fell asleep.

  And now, some pictures from our Christmas morning! Mac came home and woke us up around 630am, because he would be going to sleep as soon as we were done with all the gifts.

Santa was here! 

opening his gift from Santa!

His big gift from Mac and I....I think he likes it, eh?

gifts from the grandparents and his great-grandparents

Mac, fading fast

Clothes from nana!

The carnage!

My first macaroni art gift! 

My surprise gift from Mac...Catwoman figurine!

   Nixon came up to me later in the day, upset because Arwen's stocking was empty. He said "Santa forgot her!"
    I said "Maybe Santa didn't forget her. Maybe it's empty because she's on the naughty list for being mean and chasing Amber all year long. Do you think that's possible?"
   He looks at me, shocked and says "That's real?!"

It's finally Christmas Eve!

Dec. 24th
Christmas Eve!
Day 359

* Today is Christmas Eve. Nixon and I were in full Santa-prep force! We cleaned the kitchen together, so we could make the cookies for him. We made peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top and cake pops. The cake pops ended up looking more like elf vomit on a stick....not pretty! But at least they're tasty!

* After dinner, Nixon got into his jammies and he got into his skunk costume from Halloween. Why? Because it's warm and we were going for car ride to look at christmas lights on houses! I made hot chocolate in travel mugs and we got into the car. We drove around for about an hour and it was beautiful! Almost no one else was on the roads, so we could drive slower and not annoy any other drivers.

* Then we came home, made Santa his coffee and plate of goodies and left it under the small tree. We also got C3PO and R2D2 and put them with the coffee and cookies too, because Santa's bringing them back to the North Pole with him tonight.
   We'll see them again next year!

It's sad my kid has better manners than most of the general public during the holidays

* Nixon and I had to go to the post office today (I know, I know!) to send off a couple orders I'd gotten in my etsy shop. We went to the smaller one, closest to the house because I foolishly thought it'd have a shorter line.
   It did not.
   We waited for almost half an hour, but Nixon was really good. He played with the display toys they've got out (the post office is inside a local gift shoppe) and stayed close enough that I could see him and he could hear me. He was really good, a little resistance before we left but nothing horrible. Especially considering he's not a big fan of lines of people.

* And speaking of lines of people....I took Nixon this evening to go shopping for Mac's Christmas gifts. Nixon decided he wanted to go to Target and look for Mac's gifts.
   It took us nearly 20 minutes to find a parking spot.
   The store was stupid crowded, people were incredibly rude, and Nixon? Nixon was his happy "excuse me" self as we passed by someone. He even pointed out a shattered glass ornament to me, and in turn I flagged down an employee so it could be cleaned up before someone cut themselves on it.
   At the checkout, Nixon helped the lady in line behind us. One of her smaller items almost fell off the belt, Nixon noticed it, caught it and put it back safely. She thanked him and Nixon said "It's what's right, right mommy?" Then he goes on to talk to her about the crayon maker she had in her cart! "You can make crayon cars with that!", he told her very excitedly! She was so sweet and nice to him.
    As we were walking out, another woman bumped into Nixon and Nixon said "Oh I'm sorry, I bumped you", even though she bumped him. She rolled her eyes at him! Nixon said, as we kept walking, "She should have said something to me, right mommy?". I explained that there are a lot of people in the store and some people don't realize they bumped someone or don't remember to use their manners.
    None-the-less I did nothing but thank him for using his manners as well as he did and I encouraged him to keep using them!

* Highlight of my day? I taught Nixon the words to the Jingle Bells, the Batman version! He loved it!!

* Nixon got to pick a game, as a reward of sorts for his good behavior at school this week. He chose a new Lego'esque version of Battleship.
   We played it tonight, Nixon was on my side and Mac was on his own side. Once Nixon got the hang of it (and he stopped trying to give away the coordinates of our ships) he had fun!

Family game night
Dec 14th
day 348

"It's snow! It's raining snow from the sky!"- a winter weather gem from Nixon today.

Dec 8th: Nixon and his first ever snowman
Day 342

* Our county had a winter storm advisory in effect from this morning until 10am Monday morning. Having grown-up outside of Buffalo, NY myself, the conditions that were being predicted were laughable (1-3" of snow!! some icy rain) but as this is only the second winter Nixon has been in a place where snow happens, I got a little bit of that old familiar joy when I saw big, fluffy flakes coming down from the sky around 11am.

* Nixon stood by the back door and just watched the fluffy flakes fall. Just awed as they started sticking to the garbage can and the table we have outside. He looked at me and said "Mommy, look! It's snow! It's raining snow from the sky! It's a lot of snow!" He was so happy!

* I got Nixon bundled up: thermal shirt, tee shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, beanie, gloves, pj bottoms (because he doesn't have long johns) and jeans plus boots. Then I got myself all winter ready and we headed outside! My baby boy was so excited! We tossed snow at each other, took a short walk to the backyard and played back there, made a mini-snowman (Nixon's first snowman of any kind!).
   After we came inside, I made us hot chocolate with marshmallows, because any other kind is a waste!

watching the snow fall...just awed by it.

Nixon threw a snowball at me! He was so happy to be playing in the snow.

The night he went to bed without dinner....by choice...because he said my soup smells "gross"

December 7th
Day 341

* Nixon woke up today and kept coming over to my side of the bed saying "Pssst, Mommy, it's me Nixon." I'm not sure why, but he feels the need to introduce or announce himself every morning.

* I made soup today. It was a yummy potato and ham soup. I asked Nixon if he'd try a bite when it was ready. He had said yes....until the time came to try it. He refused, fought, cried and ultimately asked to go to bed instead of having to eat a BITE of my soup.

* Nixon did not go right to sleep. He was in his room, but not yet sleeping. Mac and I were watching Will & Grace and Mac got a little loud with his laughs. Nixon comes down the stairs and says "Daddy, can you please be more quiet? You're laughing so loud I can't sleep." He also asked if Mac would help him open the fold-out chair in his bedroom for him. Mac apologized for being loud, but said no on the pull-out chair. He told Nixon to go to sleep in his bed.
   When we went to check on him Mac mentioned the pull-out chair thing. I grabbed the camera, because if I know one thing about Nixon, it's that he tends to be adorable when he wants something and has to do it himself.

This is what we found when we checked on Nixon....adorable!

Gems from today....

* Today started with this:
Nixon: Mommy, it's dark outside, I have to go back to sleep so the sun will come out and it will be a sunny day.
me: Sorry baby boy, but it's time to wake up.
Nixon: No Mom, that's wrong. It's time for sleep...see, the sun is still sleeping.
And with that he got back under his blankets.

* When I picked him up at school. the little girl who adores Nixon greeted me with "Nixon had a bad day today. He made a lot of bad choices.". *sigh* I was totally prepared for a meltdown when I found him. It wasn't bad. He was in the play kitchen area, with one of his teachers, putting away the plates/bowls they had played with.
His teacher told me "He had a good day. He came over and asked if he could cook me dinner. He set the table, made me food and then told me he had to clear the table and wash the dishes. He was very polite about it all.", with a big smile on her face!

As we made our way to the door, his teacher stopped and asked if I knew about the "painting situation". Oh boy, here it comes, I thought when I heard her say that to the other teacher. It wasn't that bad. The class was doing a painting project, but Nixon was insistent that he couldn't do it "because my hands will get yucky with all that messy paint". His teacher came up with a very good solution: she gave him a pair of gloves to wear. He put them on and had no problem with the paint.
So my kid likes to be clean and not make a mess? Most moms would kill for a kid like that, right? It's less the mess and more he doesn't like the feel of paint on his hands. Either way, he had a great week at school and I couldn't be happier!

* Driving in the car today, Nixon suddenly says "Mommy, someone is talking to you. It's a little boy named Nixon!" I had to laugh, because he was the only other person in the car with me, but because it was raining and kind of crappy out, I was so focused on driving I wasn't exactly listening to him.

Missing Bear!! We have a Missing Bear!! ....and it hasn't yet become the end of a certain little boy's world.

* Nixon went to bed last night without BeBe...well, big BeBe that is. He slept with Blue BeBe. Somehow this bear has gone missing. He's in the house, but damned if we know where.
   Tonight at bedtime Nixon started asking for big BeBe again. I honestly don't know where this bear is, but he's really not taking losing him as hard as I'd expect him too.

* Nixon has been playing with a balloon since Friday when Mac gave it to him and he figured out how to inflate it on his own. He'll inflate it part way and then let the air out. He's done it some much that...the inevitable happened and his balloon popped on him tonight. He was fine about it, until he realized the balloon was ruined and he would never be able to play with it again.
   Then he cried over it like it was his very best friend whom he had just murdered. Big sloppy tears with a snotty nose and huge, gulping cries over a balloon.

* Every night I read Nixon his bedtime story, I read it to him in his bed with him. I snuggle under the blankets with him and read the story to him while he lies right next to me. Tonight, when I was all done with his story, I sang a silly song about his stinky toes until he asked me to stop. Then I tickled him until he decided we had to hide, under the blankets, from Mac who was coming up to say his own good night to Nixon.
   We hid from Mac, giggling while waiting for him.
  Moments like these are some of the best I have.

"R2 has to come down from there....it's not safe, Mom!"

* Nixon woke up this morning and was ready to find R2D2. He finally found him...."sliding" down the wall in the living room. Nixon was so upset! He told me "Mommy, he has to come down! It's not safe up there!", then to looks right at R2 and says "R2 come down here!". He even got annoyed that R2 wasn't listening to him.

* When I picked Nixon up from school, he came running over and said "Mommy, I made some bad choices, but a lot of good choices too!" His teacher came over and said "He made all good choices today. He had a good day today."
   His face lit up when I told him we were on our way to go pick up the tress and other decorations! He was so excited he said "Hey everybody! I'm going to go get my tree so I can decorate it for Santa now!" as he was leaving his classroom.
(By the way, I think it's adorable that the kids in Nixon's class will talk to me about random things and I'm always "Hey, Nixon's mom" before they start talking to me. Today the little girl who likes Nixon told me about the big green tree she has at her house: "Hey,um...Nixon's mom, I have a big green one at my house!" When I asked her if she had a big green tree, she said "Yeah! It's a big one too!" Kids are kind of awesome!)

* And decorate the trees we did! We also decorated the windows with some fake snowflakes and Nixon decorated some small wooden ornaments. Nixon told me, while I was setting up our tree, "Wow, Mommy, you're doing a great job! That looks amazing!", and there wasn't an ounce of sarcasm in his voice when he said it!
  He's excited and ready for Santa to come. We've got a few more days, but Nixon's feeling the holiday joy a little more.
 ....even if he did ignore me when I tried teaching to him about Pagans and the truth of christmas trees. I also explained why we won't have a real tree corpse in our house, ever.

He did clean his room....it just took most of the day to do it.

* Nixon was true to his word last night: he didn't wake me up until he cleaned his room. Unfortunately, he and I have differing definitions of "clean" when it comes to his room. He thought separating his toys into piles on his floor was clean, while I told him all his toys needed to be put back into his buckets and be up off the floor.
  He went back to clean his room, well pick up his toys as it were, and he came back to me and said "Mommy, it's too big a job for one person.", which was his way of asking me for help. I gave him all day to clean the room without pressure. I had no plans for the day, other than going to the storage unit and getting the holiday stuff. He eventually asked to take a nap and finished when he woke up.

*  I spent the evening making room for our tree in the living room, by rearranging the furniture (again!) and vacuuming. Nixon helped by picking up laundry and throwing out trash whenever I asked him too. It was late, close to his bedtime, by the time I was done with that, so tomorrow while he's in school or after I pick him up I'll go to the storage unit and we'll get to putting the trees up and everything like that.

* Nixon woke me up super excited because he found R2D2...in his room! He said "Mom! Guess what?! R2 is in my window! How did he get there?" The joy and happiness in his voice when he finds R2 every day is just amazing and priceless.

"I'll tell him it's okay, Momma"

* Nixon woke up this morning and was overjoyed when he saw R2D2 waiting for him! He was a little more excited when he saw C3PO in the window. He tried telling me that C3PO needed to be with R2, but I assured him 3PO was fine where he was. "He's in the window to let Santa know there's a good little boy in the house. If he's gone he's probably talking to Santa, you don't want that."

* Santa was the theme of the day. Nixon and I went out together to grab dinner. On the drive there Nixon and I start talking about Santa and what he (Nixon) is going to ask for.
Nixon: Oh, I want a race track, for my cars. And new cars, for the race track so they are fast cars. And Fluttershy.
me: Sweetie, we've talked about this, Santa only brings one gift, remember?
Nixon: Well, I'll ask for one for me but I think I want Santa to bring you a gift too. You're a good mommy and you deserve it.
me: Thanks baby, but Santa can only bring gifts to boys and girls who are good. Not mommies and daddies.
Nixon: It's okay, I'll tell Santa it's okay, Momma. He'll bring you a gift.
me: That's sweet honey, but that would mean Santa has an extra gift that might mean less room for another child's toy. Is that nice?
Nixon: Oh no! See, mommy, it's like this: The elves make the toys with magic. They take something blank and *whoosh* magic makes it a toy. Santa brings the elves with him, so they make the *whoosh* at each house. See? Enough room!

I wanted so bad to argue with him about that, but man, that is some well thought out logic for a 5-year old!
Ultimately, Nixon settled on Fluttershy because he knows that Santa has elves who run a Build-A-Bear workshop at the North Pole, it's how he got his Iron Cub last Christmas from Santa *wink, wink*

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Nixon and I spent the day in our jammies and never left the house. We watched the Macy's parade in the morning together and then had to turn off the cable because it was acting all wonky.
Since we had Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday we didn't do much today but veg out, nap and watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials!

Nixon's still sick and is starting to complain that he can't hear out of his ears. Yep....it might be doctor time, for real.

I'm going out tomorrow night with a few people Mac works with, who I met Tuesday. I haven't gone out with anyone in well over 6 months. As Nixon was getting ready to go to bed, I told that tomorrow night he and Daddy would be doing his bedtime because I was going out with some friends. He freaked out and started crying! He was convinced he was never going to see me again, and I was leaving him forever! I mean, this was a for real freak out! I've never seen him do this before! It took me over 45 minutes to get him to finally stop crying and calm down so I could read him a bedtime story!
Talk about some serious Mommy guilt!
He finally laid on my chest and listened to my heartbeat. I asked him what it was saying and he said "I love you, Nixon".

Oh the conversations I have with Nixon!

* I was lucky enough to be given the morning to sleep in. And sleep in I did. I didn't get out of bed until almost 11:15am. When Nixon saw me he said "Mommy, your hair is a mess!", child's honesty knows no bounds.

* I took Nixon to Third Eye Comics today, to catch up on my comic books, and Nixon was a gem. As I was cashing out he was playing with these fingertip tentacles. He likes to make an entire hand of them. I was done and ready to leave, Nixon was staying put continuing to add more tentacles to his hand. I said "Nixon, you need to come here now or I'm leaving without you". He suddenly runs up after me and says "MOM! You can't leave without me. I'm a little boy and you have to take me with you.", I tell him "But you're cute, I'm sure someone else would take you home and keep you safe, especially since you never want to listen to me.", his reply was simply awesome "But no one else is my mommy like you are. You have to take me home because I belong with you!"
   Yes, yes you do, my love.

* This final conversation was a doozy:
Nixon: Do you have a baby in your belly?
me: No! I'll never have another baby in my belly again. You were the baby I'll ever have in my belly.
Nixon: I was little when I was in your belly.
me: Thank gods yes you were.
Nixon: I was in your belly and I was little, then you pushed out of your belly.
me: Yep, you were ready to come out and I pushed you out of my vagina. And you've been in my arms ever since.
Nixon: Awww
me: Nixon, do you think I need a baby in my belly?
Nixon: No, lots of people have babies in the bellies. You don't need one.
me: Really? So you're okay with us having a small family and never having a baby in the house?
Nixon: Yes. Because babies are noisy and hurt my ears. And...they poop in their diapers. That's gross!
me: Oh, kiddo, I love you so much right now!
Nixon: I love you too, Mommy!

excuse the runny nose....snot faucet remember?!?

* Nixon got his library card today! He was so proud, so happy and so excited! He picked out 3 books and a dvd to check out. He even chose a book for me! He was wonderful and loves the library.

He gets a crazy cowlick every night as his hair gets longer. 

Today we welcomed Scootaloo into the family!

Meet Scootaloo

* Nixon woke up this morning very excited for school! He was excited to give his teacher the card he made for her. We took him to school and he went right over to her, handed her the card and said "I'm sorry I pulled my pants down.", gave her a hug and was off to the playground with the rest of his class. 

  We never mentioned the fish, I wanted him to be good in class because he knew he should be not because he wanted his fish. There was some serious anxiety in my chest as we headed into his classroom.

   It was all for naught! Nixon had a wonderful day! When I heard that and we got him out to the car, I told him we were going to get him his fish today! Holy cow was he excited!! 

* At bedtime, Nixon came down stairs to tell me "Mommy, Scootaloo isn't going to sleep! He's still playing, even though I told him he needs to go to sleep now!". I mean, for real, how cute is that?!?!
   I took him back to bed and explained that Scootaloo isn't like us or the cats, meaning he won't lie down to sleep Instead he'll drift peacefully in one spot or hide in the plant in his bowl, but he needs to move a little to breathe. Nixon said "Oh, well that's okay, but I need my sleep!" as if Scootaloo was being noisy in his tank and keeping Nixon awake. 

* Watching Bubble Guppies tonight, Nixon saw an episode about the library. He asked me if he can go get a book about baby kitties. I told him we'll go next week (because of the Thanksgiving holiday, Nixon has the week off from school) and we'll get books. He was really into it, telling me what books I should get and Daddy should get. 

   Why hadn't I thought of this before?!?!?

Day 2 as a 5-year-old verdict: Not a total loss.

From the get-go today had a vibe about it. Not a bad one, but a change. Nixon woke up and was kind of awesome, maybe in part to the blanket fort I set up for him last night before I went to bed.

When it was time for breakfast, he started pouting/talking back and refused to go to his room when I told him too. The end result? No TV before nap time. We did play games, action figures and made his teacher a card for tomorrow.
   Nixon did help me make scrambled eggs this morning. He helped me crack all the eggs and even broke 2 of his own (1 totally on his own!!) with very few pieces of shell falling into the bowl. They were large enough that I could pick them out before mixing the eggs.

After our nap, yes I took a nap as well...we're all fighting a cold. Nixon asked for a snack and to watch TV. I waited until he asked the correct way AND apologized for this morning. It went like this "Mommy, please can I apologize for not listening and for pouting this morning? AndnowcanIwatchTVplease?!?" He got one hour of shows, then Mac got to choose what we watched, then dinner time and after dinner came bath time to bedtime.

Overall, today was NOT a horrific day. We did spend a little more time talking about good behavior at school, respecting his teachers and also how to be a gracious winner. He is an overly celebratory winner which I'm going to help work on with him.

Nixon and his Ace McCloud from Centurions, taking a break from our good vs evil "battles"

He's 5!!! Happy 5th birthday, Nixon!

I wish I could say today was wonderful from the start. That butterflies came out just to celebrate the day my son entered the world and that at the exact moment of his birth a lark landed on our windowsill and serenaded him.
Unfortunately, none of that happened. Here's what actually did happen:

He woke up and was kind of awesome. He was excited to get ready for school and share his birthday cupcakes. We got to school and he wanted to play with the toys but the class was going outside....I left, letting the teachers do what they do. I made purple cupcakes at home for him, totally ready to celebrate Nixon's birthday.

Instead, I was greeted by a crying child who told me "Mommy, you're heart's going to be sad. I had a bad day at school." when I entered his classroom. And oh boy, he was not lying! My newly 5-year old son was defiant, crass, disrespectful and last but by no means least, exposed himself. All to a teacher. He entered the teacher's office area, was asked to come out, refused, asked to come out again, yelled and refused again, when the teacher went in to the office to bring him out Nixon pulled his pants and undies down...this happened 3 times before they got him to keep his undies on and his pants only dropped to his knees. (This was told to me as if I should be comforted by this "progress").

Nixon and I talked about this in the car. We talked about it when we got home. I finally came up with a punishment by the time Mac woke up and the 3 of us talked about it. Nixon is not phased by spankings, or taking things away, or spending time in his room without toys, but he has been looking forward to getting a pet fish for weeks now. We had planned on doing it for his birthday, taking him to pick out his own fish.  I decided to put that on pause and told him we're going to wait to see how he behaves on Friday in school. The tank is set up, in his room, it's just waiting for a fish. But it's not happening right now.
Just talking to him about what happened he was dismissive, rude (looking away, trying to get away from me while I'm talking to him) and....I just don't know what was going on in his head.

By bedtime he was better. He snuggled with me for a bit, after he managed to fall off the love seat in the living room, and had a blanket bunker he was hiding under watching his psp before Mac left for work. We even went out to get our traditional Taco Bell dinner we've done every year since Nixon's birth.
As I was putting him to bed, I was talking to him telling him how much I loved him and he starts moving his hand mimicking me as I was talking. I stopped talking and just looked at him. He kept doing it, I still said nothing, just looked at him waiting for him to stop. He didn't so I left his room and didn't say goodnight.
I cried silently once earlier today, I'm not going to do it again tonight.....

'Tis was the night before my baby turned 5 and being the only one awake in the house, my eyes were totally dry and yes, I am also surprised!

* Today was rough, but not because of anything Nixon did. I had my first real, painful migraine in a few years. I woke up with it and it got progressively worse as the day went on. Mac let me nap before he napped today. Nixon was pretty quiet, thankfully.
   When it was time for me to get up, Nixon came up and asked me if my head was feeling better. It wasn't, and I couldn't even lie to him. He gave my head a kiss.

* Nixon asked me what my head felt like. I was flinching when he made noise and he noticed it.
 I explained it as best I could: It feels like I had a troll in my head, with a shovel and he was digging deep in my brain and scooping out parts of my brain every time I heard a loud noise. Nixon looked at me, eyes wide, and says "Ouch!", then walks up to my head, kissed it and said (very softly) into my ear "Now you leave mommy's head you mean troll!"

* Tonight, Nixon headed up to bed at 745pm. After he brushed his teeth, and put Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to bed in his bed since they "wanted to sleep without me" according to Nixon, I tucked him into my bed for the night.
 




  I was lying there, telling him how much I loved him...grateful I was he was mine, how happy he made me, all the mushy things I had swirling in my head right before he turns 5. He was listening, until he rolled away from me and said "Shh, I'm sleepy. I have a big day tomorrow. I'm going to be 5!", as if I didn't already know!

"Best birthday party EVER!!" -Nixon

* Today we had Nixon's birthday party. It was a super small event, only us and 2 friends. I decorated while Nixon napped and when he woke up he said "Wow! These are the best decorations ever! This is my best party ever!"
   He did get his My Little Pony theme. He loved it!

* He got a Rainbow Dash pony for his birthday. We took him to Build-A-Bear and did the whole thing together with our friends who bought it for him as his gift. He loved it all!

* He had his pink cake with pink frosting:

* He also got his fish tank ready for his fish. We'll get his fish either tomorrow or Wednesday...we'll see how our days go.
   Mac bought him Centurion figures with accessories, a couple MASK vehicles and an entire lot of new Star Wars figures! Nixon was over-the-moon excited about it!

The best part was hearing him say, repeatedly, that today was a great day and this was his best party ever! There was really nothing special about the party, other than he was totally surrounded by people who love him.

After taking this picture Nixon said, in his sleep, "Please leave my room."