Who was that caped super hero?

Faster than a crawling baby!
More powerful than a climbing toddler!
Able to leap from tall jungle gyms!

He’s not 2! He’s not 3! He’s a super 4-year-old!

My SuperBoy celebrated his big birthday, and now that the weekend is over, I have a spare moment to tell you about it.

We hosted a splashy shindig at the local water park. I wouldn’t recommend the pizza party that came with the birthday price (service was lousy), but the kids had a great time at the park. I never realized that my son could gain more and even more energy as the day wore on, but somehow he worked himself up to an absolute frenzy, ricocheting from wave pool to jungle gym to octopus slide to the river, everywhere he could be, as fast as he could.

What’s even more surprising is that he fought bedtime (though he took a quick car nap close to dinner time).

But he loved the park, so much so that he broke into a tantrum when we had to leave.

The birthday pro that he already is, my SuperBoy came to expect the presents and the cake (plural actually, since we had a separate celebration with his grandparents). We tried to tone down the impatience, but it’s hard when you know you’ve got cool toys and chocolate dessert coming your way.

Fun presents they were, though. My parents came through with their usual loud toy – a talking Lightning McQueen. Why don’t these things ever come with a volume control?

He got a very cool PlayDoh set, complete with a set of tools, causing My Darling Redhead to exclaim, “Wow, you have more hammers than me now.” That is an amazing thing.

He also got some great books, a nice Lego set and a cool butterfly kit (with fresh caterpillars arriving by mail, ready to cocoon themselves).

But Superman ruled the day. My boy had already ran several laps around the house, his favorite blankey wrapped around his neck. But now he’s got a nifty cape for that flying.