Happy Birthday, Alexander!

"Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout "Bang!"--George F. Will

For months Alexander has said he wanted a "big gun" for his birthday. He got bitten by the toy gun bug awhile ago, and I haven't exactly decided what to do about it. The gun thing must be in boy genes. We don't have an interest in guns, nor do we own any. I don't particularly like for Alexander to associate guns with toys. I haven't decided if it's better to let him play with the occasional toy gun and get it out of his system or let it remain a tempting novelty. Recently, I have broken down and gotten Alexander some relatively benign guns-that-don't-really-look-like-guns. So when we were shopping for his birthday gifts, we came across the king of all Nerf dart guns and ended up getting it for him. He was SO excited when he opened it. He said, "Wow!! You got me a huge, big gun 'cause I'm 3 now, and I'm big! I'm not little anymore, so I can have it!" Here's a shot of the little renegade in all his birthday glory.

Alexander was also very excited about getting his own lacrosse sticks. Ethan and Amy play high school lacrosse, and he loves to throw the ball around with his aunts and uncles. When Laura asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "Candy". After further probing, he said he would like "his own lacrosse sticks", so Laura and Jared found some just his size.