Avi turned 5! And . . .

 We came to his school on the day of his birth, February 8, for Shabbat circle.  Avi was pleased.

 And serious.  Except when they broke tradition to sing Happy Birthday in English and then Hebrew. This is his basic uniform: Batman hoodie, hood up.  Sometimes his Chairman hat Auntie Maital brought back from China.

 Avi is so much fun to celebrate.  And even though it's taken me a shamefully long time to get this birthday post up, the decorations remain around the house.  Because we love birthdays.

 He is proud to be 5.  And we are so proud of him.

 There was a proper posse assembled for the birthday weekend.  Grandparents, cousins, and Auntie Maital even flew in from St. Louis!  Lilit remains confused about Auntie Maital's whereabouts.  She believes Maital lives with Saba and Savta, and every time we see the latter, Lilit asks, "but where is Auntie Maital?"

 Avi more than met his usual quota of sweets, though it's interesting to me that in these situations of potential "over-doing," he usually doesn't even finish his treat.  There are plenty of others to help.  Between little sister and mama, we made sure that milkshake didn't go to waste.

 Sweet little sister who will, if all goes well, become our middle child.  The day before Avi's birthday, we found out we are expecting baby Neta 3!! A beautiful surprise.  We feel excited and terrified. The kids love my "squishy tummy" (Lilit) and Avi says he will hold the baby a lot, "because everyone else will be busy doing other things.  Or we can just call Ilse."

 With so much change in the hazy distance, it was especially sweet to shower our firstborn with birthday love and reminisce about his entrance into the world.

 Avi relishes his role as eldest cousin and made a "baby station" for Kai.  And generously offered Isaac his big fire truck before he realized he might actually like to keep it.

 Isaac was pretty flexible.  And Lilit just wants to hang with the boys.

 Auntie Jen was quick behind the camera while I lounged and enjoyed the show.

 After so much celebrating, everyone was exhausted and required a movie break, which Avi was all too thrilled to spearhead.

 Lilit wants to do whatever her brother is doing.  Like watch The Incredibles.

 Then it was the day of the official birthday party, which mean about 35 guests, parents and kids, crowded into our little house to celebrate our big boy.

 Avi has different friends from different parts of his life, school, nanny share days, children of our friends.  They are not all used to sharing him at the same time and there were several moments when a child approached me and wondered about Avi not being available in quite the same way.  Avi was unfazed, just as a birthday boy should be.

 He donned his pirate gear and went for it!

 And especially enjoyed his cake, which he requested we obtain from the bakery in our old SF hood.

 While Leeor snarked a little about driving into the city to pick up his cake, he was of course happy to make Avi happy.  Because these are the moments we live for as parents, putting these smiles and memories of good birthdays into the hearts and minds of our children.

 Avi's teachers have remarked that he has been especially sweet and kind since his birthday.  Besides, he had a Purim carnival to look forward to.

And now it's time to get ready for Pesah.  Avi commented that we didn't have any books about Passover at home so yesterday we made a trip to Afikomen to remedy things.  And scored a Purim book because, as Avi explained, "Well, it's not really Pesah yet, so it's okay that we keep reading books about Purim."  We will likely read any books to him he desires.  He is our wonderful son and an amazing big brother.  And he will always be our first baby.