his half birthday

It happened in just the last few weeks, I've added "and a 1/2" to the question 'how old is your son?'. He didn't start saying it himself, it was me, it just made sense to start saying '4 and a half'' because he really doesn't seem like just a four year old. He has earned the half, he'll be starting his 'sophomore year' of preschool (as my husband likes to call it) in September. I've casually added this just as simply as a new mother converts from her baby being xx weeks old to instead being xx months old. (I think I remember making that change with Henry about at 6 months old with Wyatt he was 'months' old from the beginning because I simply couldn't keep track of how many weeks old he was/is. I already feel sorry for our hypothetical third child as I'm afraid he will just be 'under one' from birth.) My little 4 1/2 year old, sophomore year preschooler Henry is 237 weeks old in case you are wondering.

Last year, at 3 1/2 years old, I made the mistake of telling Henry about his half birthday coming up. To a 3 year old, it doesn't matter if it's your birthday, your half birthday, or someone else's birthday, it still mean cake, presents, balloons, a party. So when I mentioned it, he expected it all; the friends and the party. As a general rule, we don't make a huge deal of birthdays in the first place, but here I was disappointing my first born child simply because he didn't understand. We softened the half birthday blow by taking him to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time (which his idea of eating out' has never been the same since).

So do not mention anything about half birthdays to your children unless you feel like heading over to McDonald's for a celebratory Happy Meal for your little ones most significant half birthday unless you are like this anti-supermom, using it as an excuse for not making dinner and a little free time for mommy while the kiddos run around in the disgusting tunnels of the play land (In fact, Wyatt's 3/8 birthday is coming up this week... and yes, I've been up in the tunnels recently with Wyatt and it's totally as bad as you imagine).

Okay, who am I kidding, I use 'Friday' as an excuse to not cook and eat lunch out with my children.

Happy 'belated' half birthday, Henry. Sorry that you have no clue.