Happy Birthday to My Backseat Driver

I have no idea how, but this adorable guy is five year old already! Where has the time gone!?!

He was beyond excited to get a new, bigger bike for his birthday! It was only a matter of minutes before he was used to the bigger sized bike and zooming around the block. There's still no slowing this kid down. 

He wanted a motorcycle cake so I did my best to make a motocross track. Luckily he thought it was perfect. The best thing we did was put trick candles on the cake! It took him a solid 3-4 minutes to get them all blown out and we almost died laughing. 

Another fun birthday gift was a practice drum pad from Aunt Jamie. You quickly found a way to expand your drum set. 

Overall, I think it was a great birthday! 

Conrad, you're such a joy in our family! You're silly, curious, funny, and full of energy and light. You've also become increasingly observant, and I'm often surprised by the deep questions you ask me. 

You're especially observant when it comes to driving. You must carefully study the rules of the road and directions as I drive, because you have a surprisingly vast knowledge of it all. You've become quite the backseat driver! As we're driving, it's very common to hear phrases like: 

"Mom, are your lights on?" 

"How much gas do we have?" 

"How fast are you going?" 

"Do the back wiper"

"You need to get over to the far lane." 

"Why are we going a different way?"

and my personal favorite "The speed limit is a 7 and a 0." 

The impressive thing is, you've learned your way to many of the places we drive frequently. When we tested you, you could tell us exactly which exit to take, where to turn, etc for several different destinations. You definitely won't be one of those youth who have to learn how to get places when they start driving that's for sure. 

Another adorable story... one day you randomly asked me, "Mom, how old will I be when I'm older and deaf?" Confused, I asked you why you thought you would be deaf when you were older. Your logical reply was, "Well, daddy got deaf when he was older." Very true kid! 

It's been so exciting to watch you become excited about learning this year! You love doing school with us. You are thrilled that you can now count to 49 and know some basic addition problems. You are so patient with handwriting and write impressively well for your age. The other morning Hazel reported that someone had written "cat" and "hat" in the steam on the bathroom mirror. I immediately knew it was you because those are the two words besides your name that you know how to spell. 

We sure love you Conrad! Thanks for keeping us steadily supplied with funny quotes, your endless smiles, and of course good driving advice.