Three Years With Kai

Three years ago this moose baby made a delayed debut into our life.

After three days of induction, Hezekiah James finally decided to grace us with his presence.  He was calm and content in every way, easygoing and completely chill.  When he refused to sit up until about a year old, then refused to walk until 17 months old, we mistakingly assumed that he would continue exhibiting a cool and calm approach to life.  In many ways he has: Kai is content and easygoing still (minus the toddler tantrums that go hand in hand with every toddler).  He is flexible and patient and knows how to cope with pain.  He is not, however, calm and quiet.  This little boy, who is 3 years old today, is extremely active and adventurous.  He's daring and fearless and careless.  He's not afraid to wander or jump or run or climb.  He gets significantly more bumps and bruises than his older brother, but recovers extremely fast from them all.  He keeps us on our toes at the same time that he impresses us with his ability to try new things and dive in head first.  He's changed our lives forever for the good and we thank God for him every day!

We celebrated Kai's birthday yesterday while Eli was home.  (Eli's been gone a lot this month, traveling for research-related events for the Family Med residents.)  We invited some good friends over for lunch and ate grilled cheese sandwiches.  Kai had previously helped me make dirt cake for dessert.  He loves helping me in the kitchen and routinely announced, "I'm gonna have a taste - just for fun!"  Who can blame him when Oreo cookies are involved?

It was a fun and simple celebration for our dirt-loving boy.  Madison, his friend/babysitter, is one of his favorite people at Tenwek, so it was a treat to have her and her parents here for the afternoon.  We sang Happy Birthday and ate dirt cake and watched Kai open presents.  He was a happy boy!

It's such a joy to celebrate this boy!  He makes us laugh when he "dances" by spinning in a circle until he falls on the floor, over and over again.  He makes us smile when he blasts the bad guys with his repulsor beams like Ironman.  He impresses us with his ability to focus on a difficult puzzle and patiently figure it out all by himself.  He astonishes us with his intellect and ability to keep up with Caleb in our preschool lessons.  He's a kid who would eat nothing but meat if we let him, who plays in the bath tub long after the water's turned cold, and who folds his hands when we pray before a meal and then happily exclaims, "I prayed with you!"  Kai loves to play in the dirt more than anything else in the world and is all boy!  He loves to imitate his big brother's antics but also loves to be chased by his little brother.  He loves to read and wrestle and run.  Kai loves to jump into his dad's arms whenever he comes home, and loves to snuggle with his mom at the end of every day.  He's a joy and a delight and a lot of work and an essential part of our lives!  Our continual prayer is that Kai will live up to his name and live in the strength of the Lord.  We are beyond grateful for these past three years with our moose baby because we know we don't deserve him.

Happy Birthday Kai!