5

James has been extremely excited to turn 5. He woke up at about 6am on Thursday and ran into our room to inform us that, "I'm a whole hand today!" As usual, he had some surprises waiting for him at his chair. 

He got a Lego wallet and Lego game from Tim, a Monster Fighter Lego set from Mac and a subscription to Zoobooks from me. I'm sure you can guess who gave the most popular present.

 After a pancake breakfast, James got dressed in his birthday shirt for school. It was a BellaVita day.

Mac and I ate lunch at BellaVita with James. Mac got to sit at the table with the big kids and promptly stole my adult portion of lunch, quickly finished it and raised his hand for a second helping.

 James had helped his teacher make a cinnamon cake for dessert and then he got to carry the globe around the sun 5 times to represent his 5 years on Earth after everyone sang to him.

Mimi and Taylor picked him up at school and took him shopping to pick out a present and then out for frozen yogurt. He finshed the day with cheeseburgers at home and putting together his new Lego set with Tim. A pretty perfect day for a new 5 year old!

It is pretty hard to believe that 5 years ago, we were surprised with our early arrival and became parents to an itty bitty 5 pound baby. James changed our whole world and continues to make it better every day. His imagination and creativity constantly amaze me. He can talk to himself, play Legos and make up stories for hours. He would rather stay at home and play Legos than just about anything. He loves playing with friends and has a lot of them that he plays with regularly. James loves being read to and hearing stories and has incredible reading comprehension. He eagerly listens to chapter books, read by us and on cd, and impresses me with how much he retains and understands. He has absolutely no interest in drawing, coloring, writing or reading by himself. Although he has all the skills to be a beginning reader, he is completely lacking the desire. He told me he would rather just be read to and would find a job where he would never have to read or write by himself. This makes me glad for his October birthday giving him this extra year of preschool. Traditional academics and following directions are about the last on his list of what he wants to do, so I think Kindergarten would have been a struggle for him this year. James is a total goof ball and reminds me of Tim so much. The two of them crack each other up and James loves when they act silly and wrestle around together. Although Mac and his incessant desire to destroy everything that James creates out of Legos drives James crazy at times, the two of them are starting to play together more and more and have so much fun together. There is nothing I like more than when the two of them are chasing each other through the house or wrestling with each other and giggling. I can't believe what a big boy James has turned into. I am thankful he still loves to snuggle and sit in my lap and give us all hugs and kisses. I soak up all these little moments because I know the day will come when he will not be asking for snuggles each night before he goes to bed. I love this kid so much, what an amazing 5 years we have had together!