Sam the Six-Year-Old Spy!

 

This is the first year, since Sam was three, that his birthday present hasn't revolved directly around a full costume. We gave him knight costume at age three, a Captain America costume at age four, and an Optimus Prime costume at age five. A few months ago he said that he wanted a Darth Vader costume for his birthday this year, but that request fell into oblivion and hasn't been mentioned for weeks and weeks. Sam is, though, still interested in dressing up, as evidenced by all of the spy gear that he received from us and other family members. He woke up around 5:20 this morning, eager to open his presents - although I made him go back to bed until it was 6:00 am. He's especially excited about the night vision goggles, the spy watch, and the walkie-talkies. I'm excited about the "Encyclopedia Brown" book, which I think Sam and I will enjoy reading together. He already has read several Nate the Great books, and I think he's ready to be introduced to a similar series.

When Sam gets home from school today, I'm going to show him this video clip that my sisters V and L sent to Sam. Does anyone else remember this from the "Square One TV" show? I really loved this show; I distinctly remember this segment and used to sing the song, although I haven't thought about it for years. I've had the song stuck in my head all day, though, ever since I got this email with the clip from my sisters:

Last night I was a little nervous that I wasn't even going to be able to celebrate with Sam this morning. In the evening started to have strongish contractions - they weren't terribly painful, but they definitely were stronger and tighter than the Braxton Hicks contractions I've felt for several weeks. I was nervous enough that I put all of Sam's wrapped presents by the front door, along with several sticky notes about Sam's birthday requests and school schedule, in case we needed to pass those things along to my in-laws in the middle of the night. Luckily, though, the contractions slowed down after a few hours, and I haven't felt too uncomfortable today so far. Wouldn't it have been unusual if Sam and his little sibling ended up with the same birth date?

UPDATE: Here are two more pictures from Sam's birthday itself. I'm glad he had such a happy day. In the first photo, he is opening a present from my dad (which arrived in the mail while he was at school). The second is a photo from Sam's birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant, Panera. We each chose a pastry as a celebratory treat, but I ended up eating Sam's because he decided he wanted my cherry pastry more than the chocolate chip "muffie" that he chose.