BIRTHDAY SPOTLIGHT - SCOUT MATTHEWS STARKS

Our little Scout is having a Birthday on Wednesday and because I am sure I will be busy with other things I wanted to make sure to do a SHOUT OUT to Scout.

Scout will be 4 years old and I CANNOT believe he is turning 4! My sweet little baby (sorry son I know you are not really a baby) is growing up so fast. I thought I would share some facts about Scout, so here we go...

1. Scout was named after "Scout" from To Kill a Mockingbird. She was very active and adventurous as is our Scout. His middle name Matthews is Devin's paternal Grandmother's Maiden name (shout out to Nana).

2. Scout was born on 3/4/5 (easy to remember), but also he was born on what would have been his Great Great Grandmother Starks 100th Birthday - Cool, huh?

3. Scout was born weighing the same amount that I weighed when I was born - 7lbs. 11oz.

4. Scout is the only one out of 4 children who has ever had surgery, stitches or seen any type of specialist. Scout has had to see a Pediatric Opthomologist at 4 months old and Dermatologist at 18 months. He is also the only child who has ever been so sick they had to stay in the hospital for a period of time. When he was 18 months old he got pnuemonia and Rotovirus all within a month of each other and ended up staying in the hospital for 3 days. I stayed there for all 3 days and slept on a stupid cot. He pulled his I.V. out twice and they ended up putting it in his foot and wrapping it up real good. Ugh, he is quite the stubborn kid. He has asthma as well and we are pretty good about keeping that under control for the most part.

5. He is a Daddy's Boy for 50% of the time and a Mama's Boy the other 50%. He is so close to both of us. I think he is the only one that is split 50/50 between us. He and Devin have this special bond that is just a little bit different than the other kids. Devin would probably deny it, but he does give into Scout a lot more than he ever did the other kids (shhhhh!).

6. Scout is very POLITE - he almost always says Please and Thank You, and when he burps or toots he will almost always will excuse himself, but still laughs about it. Burps and Farts are always funny, right? Well unless it is the older boys and your riding in the car with the windows up and there is no warning - that is just appalling to me. Sorry I got off track.

7. Scout is obsessed with going to CHUCK E. CHEESE's. He has been one time at his cousin's B-day Party, and he begs everyday to go again. He will walk around the house and pick up change off of the floor and say, "Look Mom, money for Chuck E. Cheese, where a kid can be a kid.". I always laugh so hard when he includes the last part - hysterical.

8. Scout's Best Friend in the whole world is his cousin Haley. He LOVES her so much. He is crushed if she is having a bad day and won't play with him. He gets so sad, but when they are playing good together it is the best day ever.

9. Up until a few months ago Scout refused to use a crayon or a pencil to draw or color. He always prefers to have someone else drawing or coloring and he is perfectly happy just watching the art come to life. Well he finally started to take an interest in drawing/coloring on his own. A couple of weeks ago he showed me that he could write his name - and I was blown away, because I never really showed him how to write letters, he just figured it out. He also can spot his name when he sees it written down. He has been able to pick out all the letters and numbers (1-20) since about age 2 and has known all of his shapes since he was about 2 as well. He also can work a computer like nobody's business. He has been playing Nick Jr. games since he was like 2 or 3 as well. He loves all of the kids shows, but CANNOT sit through Disney movies or any fun cartoon movies. He just could care less. I know weird.

10. Scout has a very special bond with his Big sister Daley. She has always played with him and made him feel so loved. She will almost always include him in anything that she is doing and he LOVES it. When she isn't feeling up to playing with him he cries and bawls as if someone just committed some horrific crime against him. Daley is one of his favorites.

11. Slade loves to tease Scout to the point where Scout will cry. Anything Slade can say or do to make Scout freak out well to Slade that is so funny. Slade will say, "Hey Mom, are you my Mom?" and I will say, "Yes, Slade I'm you Mom.". Scout will get real upset and say, "No, you're MY MOM!!". So then Scout says, "Mom are you my Mom?". And again I say, "Yes, Scout I am your Mom.". Scout will look at Slade and say, "Ha Ha see I told you.". Then Slade will repeat the same thing over and over until Scout is just beside himself. I hate when they do this cause it drives me CRAZY (yet still a memory) :).

12. Our family is a very musical family. We sing all the time and so Scout is a BIG music lover. His most recent FAVORITE SONG is Jason Mraz's - "I'm Yours" and he knows all the words. He loves when we drive in the van and that song comes on and we all sing it together. I love to adjust my rear view mirror so I can watch him singing. It is so funny. He also knows a lot of Green Day songs, being that his oldest brother plays their songs A LOT and knows everyone of their songs. He knows many of these songs as well. A funny thing about singing is when he and I lay in bed together he has a few songs that he always requests for me to sing to him. One of them is a song by The Dixie Chicks called "Godspeed" and I have been singing this song to him since even before he was born. I love it so much. Another song I love to sing to him is Billy Joel's "Lullabye", as well as "Baby Mine" which is from Dumbo, but I love Better Midler's version of it too. So yeah we LOVE singing - A lot!!

We all Love Scout soooooo much and can't imagine life without him. He is more than likely my last child so I am trying to relish every moment of these younger years. Scout is so sweet and loving. He expresses his Love always whether it is verbally or physically. He has blessed our lives for sure.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOUT!!!