Tank is 4

 Tank, with pudding on his face, and a Cheerio by his ear.  Cause that's what we're all about.

So, Tank had a birthday.  We celebrated by ...  Okay, we didn't really celebrate.  We sang him Happy Birthday a few times.  That's something.  Lamest mom ever right here.

But Tank's two biggest cheerleaders are in California right now.  (Yes, Rob and I are his cheerleaders, too, but we're SO not as fun.  See previous paragraph.)  And Rob is working crazy long hours.

So I made him a cake.  THE cake.  (If you've never had Chocolate Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cake, let me know.  I will make you a cake.  A full 9 x 13.  Just for you.)  And we went and ate lunch with Rob at work.  We had salad because Tank loves it (actually because we had some spinach that was going to go bad if we didn't use it), and then we shared the cake with Rob's co-workers.

Tank spent the majority of the time scowling at anyone who tried to look at him / touch him / talk to him.  For instance, this is how it went between Tank and Casper (Rob's boss's husband, who works next door (they have separate but sort of not separate lab space)):

Casper:  Hey, buddy!
Tank looks away.
Casper:  It's your birthday, huh?
Tank scowls at the wall.
Casper:  Can I have some of your birthday pie?  It looks really good.
Tank, now looking at Casper:  It's CAKE.
Casper, with humor:  Sorry.  Cake.  I'm Dutch, I don't know the difference.  It's all tasty, though.
Tank turns and looks back at the wall.
Casper:  Are you going to have a party with your friends today?
Tank doesn't respond.

Casper tried REALLY hard.  Props to the man.

The best scowling of the day was on the elevator.  It was me and Tank and 3 men who looked all to be in their 40's or 50's.  Tank turned and glanced at each of them and then scowled and looked away.  I said, "Sorry, he's not very social."  Nearest Guy to Us said, "Neither am I."  Then I said, "He likes to scowl at people."  Nearest Guy to Us said, "So do I."  Awesome.

Later that evening Tank did have some fun because I invited myself over to dinner at a friend's house.  2nd week in a row, except THIS time I brought dinner with me.  I told them it was Tank's birthday, and they made brownies for him and put 4 little candles in his piece and we all sang Happy Birthday and Tank loved it.  Then we played games and generally over-stayed our welcome, cause we had nothing to be home for anyway.  ...  Everyone needs friends like them.

I DID buy him a gift:  $2.50 worth of gummy worms.  Who's the best mom ever?!  (His real birthday gift was his bike.  We bought that months ago.)

And that was his birthday.  Tonight we're camping in our backyard, and a friend is joining us, so that'll be sort of like a party.  We're awesome like that.

Tank, watching TV.  No, these pictures were NOT taken on his birthday.  Just in case you were wondering.