Hot sill-ull (and my cake!)

Last night around 10:30, I found myself raiding my mother's pantry in search of a stray boxed cake mix. SOMEONE in our house is turning 3 today, and while I planned to make a tasty cake in a few days when we celebrate his birthday with family members, the little squirt conned me into a last minute addition.

Every day for a week or so before his birthday, I asked him what he wanted to eat on his special day. "MY CAKE!" he'd excitedly exclaim. I tried to redirect his focus to any other food-- spaghetti, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, eggs, pizza-- you know, real, actual FOOD, but had only limited success.

Which brings us to late last night, when the stinker face managed to earn his way out of bed for a brief moment by pooping in his diaper. (Potty training this kid... now there's a prospect that makes me want to poke at my eyes with a fork.) We had considered taking him to IHOP this morning for breakfast while Bug was in preschool.  His little eyes all blurry from sleep, I asked him if he wanted pancakes for breakfast in the morning.

"Nope!" he chattered, cheerfully. "I want hot sill-ull. (Which is Baggins for 'hot cereal'- basically Cream of Wheat.) With MY CAKE!"

And so, because he is just about the most delicious, delightful, and adorable little man ever, I scrounged up an old cake mix and whipped it up at nearly 11:00 at night.

As crazy as our lives are right now-- three kids! House hunting! Work!-- I couldn't let today sneak by without a little tribute to my precious Mister Baggins. My middle child. My precocious, silly, smart, goofy little dude who could not possibly have joined our family only 3 years ago.

He is kind. He is naughty. (Oh boy, is he naughty.)

 He is witty with a wicked sense of humor. He is full of energy. Mister Baggins approaches most of life the way he approaches playing with his Daddy: head first and at full speed, arms stretched out wide and that light-up-the-room grin splitting his cheeks wide open.

Baggins can charm his way into extra cell phone time with every single one of his extended family members after Mama and Daddy have cut him off. He can quote State Farm commercials (She. Sounds. Hideous. Well, she's a guy, so...) He can sing the ABCs and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and, sort of embarrassingly, plenty of current radio hits that may or may not be entirely kid friendly. Baggins loves hunting tigers with his cousin, loves his slippers, loves his big sister, and loves Matchbox cars.

Oh yeah.

And Mister Baggins loves cake.

Mama loves you, Nugget. Right up to the moon. Happy birthday.