Happy Birthday Smarty Pants!

(My sister prefers her kid's name not be used on the Internet. Hence, the nickname.)

My nephew, Smarty Pants, turns 3 today. Three years old. I use the nickname 'Smarty Pants' affectionately because he's, well, he's extremely smart. Of course ALL the kids in my family are gifted :) but Smarty Pants is quite something to be around. He says things like, "Mama, my potato is sitting on top of the tines on my fork." Yeah, "tines." He uses words that friends my age don't know.

For his birthday dinner tonight, sweet little Smarty Pants requested Tandoori Chicken. Not hot dogs or mac'n'cheese or ice cream sundaes, but a few weeks ago, at the dinner table, he came out with "Mama, I think this Tandoori Chicken would make an excellent birthday dinner!" It's an Indian dish I'm quite certain most other preschoolers in America have never even tried. Hell, I have never even tried it, and I'm decidedly older than Smarty Pants.

So. To my sweet little Smarty Pants, the one whose brain works faster than his tongue can get the words out, the one who is enamored with construction equipment and loves to cook in his play kitchen, know this: Your Nina Robyn loves you very, very much. And misses you terribly.

Happy Birthday, Little Bear.

PS - Just for your birthday, your cousin Kostyn decided to give his parents a gift — the gift of him walking all on his own. He started right after we hung up the phone from singing "Happy Birthday" to you. We are all very excited. Video to come....