Lake Stevens ‘Costco baby’ celebrates first Costco-themed birthday

LAKE STEVENS — This boy’s first birthday was celebrated in the food court amid the Friday noon lunch crush and strangers pushing carts of Costco finds.

He felt right at home.

What’s up with that?

Carlisle Sarmiento is The Costco Baby.

A year ago, his mom was walking by the rotisserie chickens when her water broke. It made him a local social media star.

The Lake Stevens warehouse hosted a pizza party for about 25 family members, friends and fans. A section of red tables was draped with blue tablecloths. Helium balloons added to the festivity.

Carlisle, who goes by Lyle, came to the party wearing a “Keep hot dogs $1.50” T-shirt. His parents, Jona and Angelo Sarmiento, dressed in Costco logo garb.

The store gifted the birthday boy a tiny shopping cart with stuffed toys and an official Costco “Lyle” name tag.

The shopping cart was just his size to push. The name tag was good for chewing.

“We are going to sing happy birthday to our future employee,” store manager Chris DeLong told the gathering before the ceremonial cutting of a Costco sheet cake.

Lyle chewed on his name tag as a chorus erupted. The song added melody to the Friday flurry of noise and shoppers.

“That’s the Costco kid,” shopper Steven Day said, pausing on his way out. “I see him on Facebook.”

Lyle’s mom posts his milestones on the “Lake Stevens Costco” Facebook page, which has over 16,000 members for the store that opened in December 2022.

It was near closing time on May 25, 2023, when Lyle signaled his mom that he was ready to start the journey to the outside world. Jona was in scrubs from working a long shift as a medical assistant when she stopped by Costco around 8 p.m. to grab some items for a Memorial Day weekend camping trip, what was to be the couple’s last hurrah before becoming parents.

When she felt that telltale trickle of water, she didn’t panic.

“I wasn’t having contractions and was in disbelief really because I was only 37 weeks,” Jona said.

She kept shopping. Beef bulgogi, Oreo ice cream, canned cold brew coffee were still on the list.

She stayed calm as she went through the self-checkout and made the short drive home. When she broke the news to Angelo about her water, he was not so calm.

Lyle arrived the next day, weighing in at nearly 6 pounds.

A week later, he made his first Costco trip of many to come. His mom posted a photo of him in the stroller by the rotisserie chickens and shared the backstory. Lyle was an instant hit.

His first month photo was marked by a Costco pizza, a single slice missing to represent the age of the tiny figure in a onesie. It was followed by monthly photos of him by a pizza box with missing slices to show his age. At 11 months, he was grabbing the last slice from the box.

“I’ve had to eat a lot of pizza,” his dad said.

His 1-year-old photo is by a rotisserie chicken. He now weighs 18 pounds, six times the weight of a roasted bird. He stays on the go, so his days of sitting still for monthly milestone pics are over.

Lyle dressed as a Costco worker for Halloween with a mom-made name tag.

Now, he has the real deal.

Not only that, he has a job offer.

“We’ll have to figure out his hire date when he turns 18,” store manager DeLong said.

He already has the cart-pushing thing down.

Is there a person, place or thing making you wonder “What’s Up With That?” Contact reporter Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.