Happy Birthday Zachary Michael Counts

Not too many people (other than Germans) get to say they celebrated their 1st birthday in Germany, but lucky Zach does. It was a very busy day for him. It started in the morning with Mom and Dad both going into Zach’s room to get him out of bed, singing to him in English, then Dutch. He was SO happy to be sung to, and looked like a little dolphin flopping around in his crib. Then off to breakfast in his decorated highchair (a Counts tradition that you get your chair decorated on your birthday). He was of course enamored with the balloons on the wall and light. Z got his birthday hat and noisemaker and was ready to start the day. He did not get any presents in the morning, b/c we were saving that for when his Nana arrived later that morning. Art went off to work and Zach and I went to the airport to collect Nana. Zach got to show off his new walking skills. It was naptime when we returned from the airport, so his party had to wait. Art came home once Zach woke from his nap and we all had lunch together. He opened some of his presents and cards during lunch, saving the rest for after dinner. He played with his new stuff until nap time. Then dinner, and the big party. He got to have “cake” for the first time; more like a cheesecake that is mine and Art’s favorite dessert from our local market (Nah & Frisch). Zach wasn’t thrilled with it at first, and was willing to take bites from the spoon. Then he preferred to smash it all over his tray, until he tasted his fingers and realized that it is SUPER LEKKER (or lecker for you Dutchies, and good for you Americans). Then he proceeded to scrape it all off his tray and into his mouth…which of course was VERY CLEAN!  Then Zach got a special treat of riding on his new “fire truck” all the way to the Nah & Frisch to share some chocolate chip cake w/ the workers at the N&F, since they are so integral in his life. Mohammed ran off and came back w/ a present for Zach (small stuffed dog), and a present for us (a hand carved jewelry box from his home in Iran). He also received some baby shampoo from another worker (brother of Mohammed), and of course his obligatory banana-gratis (free). Zach was enthralled with the grapefruits that evening, and Mohammed put him in the empty produce section to play w/ them. After his outing to the market, we went back home for more present opening until he lost interest and wanted his new stuff only. We had to extend the party to June 1st for him to get through everything. It was a very happy day for all of us. So hard to believe that little Zachary is a year old…we survived a year as parents. We will take his picture of him in a Holland football (soccer) jersey tomorrow. This will be the first of what we hope will be a yearly tradition, tracking his growth on his birthday using a football jersey. (laugh if you must, but I saw this in a magazine and thought it was so neat – of course the daughter in the article was looking pretty irritated on her 13-16th birthdays, but happy in all the others, up to 18).