Steve told me recently that every time I mention Ezra in writing, and on the blog in particular, I refer to him as 'my sweet Ezra'. It's true. He is ridiculously sweet. He is now, and always has been a snuggle-bug, and very observant, and tender and thoughtful - an old soul, I do believe. But of course, he's more than that, too. And whenever I start to worry about the whole middle child thing, he astounds me with the other parts of his personality - namely his strong sense of individuality, and especially, with his sense of humor. I don't mention it much here, because in writing and out of context, it's hard to convey. But when I'm telling stories in person of my little ones? It most often involves a way in which Ezra has made us smile. Or laugh - more often than not, doubled over, and filling us up with happiness. And it's always laughing with Ezra, because there's no one who he amuses more than himself.
So my funny guy had his mustard party, mustard being his favorite food of all. At the same time, he also proved his entrance into the age of "fickle four," by firmly stating the day before the party, that no, in fact he did NOT like mustard anymore at all and was NOT going to have any mustard at his party. Followed the next day with a declaration of, 'where's my mustard?', as if the previous crisis had never happened at all. Same thing for the cake versus cupcake choice - except that changed hourly. Being the second child and all, this didn't ruffle our feathers, as I think we're starting to get the hang of some of this developmental stuff. By Adelaide, we'll totally have it down (you know I'm kidding, right?).
With six different mustards, and all the dippables (thank you for all of your fabulous ideas - we put many of them to use!!), we needed some uber sweetness for balance. Ezra came through with his final request for "chocolate pupcakes with buberry frosting". This recipe, with a traditional cream cheese frosting, with a bit of blueberry juice added in. Um, yum. And thankfully, my poor math skills worked in my favor when I tripled instead of doubled the batch. Yeah, oops. That's going to be a real tough problem to take care of today, now isn't it?
Happy Birthday, my sweet Ezra. Four is going to be so much fun with you.
