Matthew is Five Years Old

This post is a couple days late, but I wanted to have pictures from Matt's Birthday party.
Last Thursday, November 12th, my son Matthew turned 5. He had a baseball-themed party with his grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle, and some friends. You can see him in this picture, eating a baseball-decorated cupcake. You can also see that he himself is baseball-themed. He is wearing a Padres shirt (the one I wore in little league when I was 10) and a Dodgers hat. Don't worry, though, because his loyalties are not truly divided. He is a Dodger fan all the way.
Matt is already a pretty big baseball fan. He loves to play and to watch. But funny thing: Due to old video games and old videos, he is much more conversant in baseball from 10-20 years ago. He consistently watches the Dodgers' 1988 World Series video. Maybe the Dodgers will someday give us a more modern World Series video. We can only hope.

Some of Matt's Favorite Things
I already talked about Matt's love for baseball. It carries over also to football, soccer, and basketball. His love for any particular sports usually follows whatever sport is in season. Baseball is still king right now, but basketball and football are making some noise.
Matt also loves to read and to learn. He really amazes me with his ability to focus. I have mentioned that Karina is teaching him Latin right now. He is just eating it up. He is also trying to teach Jack as he goes.
Matt loves to be active, loves to hang with his friends (especially Jake and Ty), loves to help his Mom in the kitchen, and loves to be goofy (as you can see from the picture).

My Favorite Things about Matt
I love how Matt is gentle with his little brother, and how he likes to help him learn. When they are in their bedroom at night clowning around, you can often hear Matt say, "Oops, I'm sorry Jack. Jack, can you say, 'I forgive you'?"
I love how Matt loves to learn. It is fun to watch him get joy out of life. He wants to know everything from Geography to Math to Science.
I love Matt's increasingly tender heart toward God. I am really thankful for how he is interested in learning about Jesus, interested in praying, and how he responds more and more to direction and correction. I pray that this continues all his life. One of our main prayers for him is that he will be responsive to God, and that, through Christ, the Father will draw him close and captivate him.

Fun Memories
It is hard to believe that I am the Dad of a five year-old. In some ways it feels like Matt has always been with us. In other ways it is crazy to think that we have been parents for 5 years. Some of my favorite memories of Matt involve his clever wit:
* Matt first word was a sarcastic "okay" in response to us telling him not to do something.
* While Karina was pregnant with Jack, and while she and I were joking around about outlandish middle names we could give him, Matt suggested that we could name him, "Jack Cantaloupe."
* A few months ago while I was trying to take advantage of a teachable moment, Matt said to me, "Well, we've been going around on this for a while now."

I thank God for both of my sons. I am truly blessed. Happy Birthday, Matty. I am so glad to be your father.