So far, only one of us has a birthday in August, and that’s Dakota, who turned five today. I guess we’ll know in about three weeks (if not sooner) whether he’ll share his birthday month with his baby sister or keep it for himself. I don’t think it matters much to him either way.

He did really well tonight at the party. It was just family and very close friends, not a big blow-out, not with Kylie on the way so soon. But still, I don’t know how Tammy does it. She’s a born party giver, I guess, because there were dinosaur decorations and a dinosaur cake and good food and good times, all of it thrown together in the last 24 hours. And, you know, she’s also eight months pregnant with a very active baby.

Dakota was a little overwhelmed as people started arriving, but he got into his groove. He had two new big rubbery dinosaurs to play with, and that kept his busy brain productively occupied for a good long time. He’s not the most verbal five-year-old around, but he can say Stegosaurus and T-Rex and know what he’s talking about. He can even say herbivore and carnivore, just like his big brother.

And for the most part his big brother gave him center stage tonight. His little brother? Not so much. Aiden was, as usual, the life of the party, performing stunts and spreading his cheery smile around. Unlike Dakota (and very much like D.J.), he’s a highly verbal child, especially for fourteen months old. Some of his jabbering is just jabbering, but there’s always a point to it, and you can always find a word here and there to hang some meaning on. And he knows he’s funny (which I’m sure will pay rich dividends later on).

Dakota was a champion at present-opening time. He listened as Tammy read him his cards. He was interested in everything he got and able to express his thanks. And he didn’t forget about what he got, either. Later, after he had gone to bed, he kept sneaking out to take one more thing out of the pile and take it back to bed with him. And because his baby sister wasn’t born today, he’ll always have this day to himself. We can’t be sure about the month yet, though.