Loumy is FOUR!

On Thursday, Loumy completed his fourth year of life on this Earth. I missed his entrance into this world and most of his first nine months. I don't ever want to miss any more!!! Hm...that just made me think about when he serves a mission or goes to college in another town or gets married or...oh no! But I don't plan on letting him ever get as far away as when he was in an orphanage in Haiti!

Anyway, here he is:

One...

Two...

Three...

Four......very sadly I must tell you that I have been borrowing my sister's camera and when I tried to download the photos from Loumy's birthday today, I couldn't do it without some special software that I need to go get from her. Argh. But here are a couple of cute photos from the last little while that I took with my other camera. Here he is being silly, trying out Lyle Dabb's pumpkin head, and getting bounced by daddy. Too bad you can't hear the giggling from the photo. I ran out with the video camera, but it was dead, so I only got to snap a few photos.

A few things of note about Loumy:
* He is the most generous child I've ever met. Along with that, he is a peacemaker. His love and need for food has now transfered into such a kindness and understanding that food and good treats are nice things to share to make people happy. He will often give up a toy or a favorite color of an item if it will avoid contention with his sisters. He likes to make people happy and will happily share toys with other children. Nearly any time he plays at a friends' house, the parents always praise how good-natured and easy-to-get-along with he is.
* He is extremely sensitive. Emotionally that is. He can crash on his skateboard and bash his head and won't cry. But he often screams hysterically, "Deedle, quit hurting my feelings!" And will sob his little eyes out. He is worried about what others think of him. This can be good but can be bad. Today he told me (after going to WalMart to pick out a present for Deedle), "Some kids were laughing at me because I was buying a girl toy. They thought I was buying it for me, but I was buying it for my sister." I tried to talk to him about the kindness of buying the gift and for not caring what other people thought, even if he was buying a girl toy for himself, which he was not. At soccer today he also told me sadly in the car, "Peoples were laughing at me when I didn't score a goal." People often do laugh around Loumy because he is so cute. He gets lots of stares and wide grins simply because whatever he is doing or saying is very adorable. But he does NOT like to be laughed at. I want him to be sensitive to others and their reactions. I think this teaches compassion. But how do I teach him not to worry about what other people say and to let things slide off his back?
* He is sure that I am pregnant with a boy. He told me that if it is a girl he will "scream" and later, after the girls were harassing him a bit, he got a little violent with what he would do if the baby is a girl. When we were alone I talked to him about babies and how nice they are. I said, "You will still love your new baby, even if its a girl, won't you?" He paused and said, "Well...only if it's a cute one."
* He is very affectionate. He will often walk up to me and just kiss my arm or my head and will smile at me. Or he will just come up for a hug and then go back to playing. I sure love my boy! Happy fourth birthday to you, sweet son!