James is 4

James turned 4 years old on Tuesday.  Sweet Baby James, please oh please be a happier boy now, mmkay?

Notice in the picture above, it says happy birthday on his shirt, and he is rubbing his outie belly button. His favorite thing to do.

On his birthday, JB took him to get donuts. 

We had a donut cake that night, and opened presents. He got a Batmobile car, and some inter-locking blocks. 

Then tonight after a quiet Sunday dinner with just us and Uncle Bart at Nona and Papa's house we had his cake. He requested Batman. I think the buttercream frosting freezer transfer method turned out great! (My first attempt with the technique was for Ben's 7th birthday, and I also did James's Daniel Tiger cake the same way.)  He ate a lot of the cake. 

 He got some birthday cash from his grandparents that made his older brothers turn quite jealous. I said that daddy would take only him to the store to pick something out, so he wouldn't get hustled by Max and Ben.

I was a little worried that he would be sad/mad he didn't have a party like 6 year old Andrew did in January, or a pinata that his cousin Phineas had last week with every single Richards cousin there. But he went to bed happy as a clam an hour ago, with his normal books and cuddles and songs and prayers.

James has been a loveable stinker his whole life. From colicky screaming until he was 11-12 weeks old, to scratching his brothers' faces just this week, he wants to be respected and wants things JUST SO and RIGHT NOW, etc etc.

He loves dinosaurs and can name plenty of them in his books -- long names. Favorite books include Little Critter, Arthur, anything by Eric Carle (he "reads" to me the Hungry Caterpillar), Mo Willems, and at the library he goes straight to the superhero section, though I checked out some Llama Llama books and talked about emotions with him this week, haha.

He loves superheros still, and they can be pretty violent. So we talk more and more about using our bodies to help others and be nice. Please.

He goes to primary now very well, but won't do anything into the microphone. It was his turn for the closing prayer and he refused to go up there today. But at home he screeches if it is someone else's turn and insists it's his turn to pray, any time we are doing it.

He is a good eater, if it's something he loves. He and Andrew get so snacky. They do have better times playing together lately. I consoled myself that depressing January-June of 2013 that he was supposed to come to be Andrew's friend, because Max and Ben had each other. But I know he is supposed to be here on earth for more than just that, and it's our job to help him reach his potential.

Just for kicks, here is his birth story (big stuck baby), his first birthday (a basketball smash cake because that was one of his first words), his second birthday (such curls!), and his third birthday (which I swear was just the other day).