Five Years!

Noah turned 5 back in April! Can you believe my first baby is already five?! I'm really starting to believe the whole "blink and he'll be off to college" comments. Yikes. He was sick with an ear infection on his actual birthday, but that didn't stop him from enjoying some cake and opening a couple of small presents. 

Poor kid looked so miserable!

We finally had a birthday party for him in early May since every weekend in April was already booked with other birthday parties and family visits. We had it at a local indoor trampoline place and a number of our friends came out to celebrate with us. Noah desperately wanted an Iron Man cake, but our local bakery could only do an Avengers style. Close enough! All of the kids got insanely sweaty and had a great time bouncing around like crazy people. I mostly hung out with Elodie so I didn't get to watch much of what Noah was up to, but he definitely had fun!

Instead of writing 5th, they made it look like we wished him a happy "fish" birthday. Ha!

Being silly with his future wife, Livey!

At Noah's 5 year wellness visit he weighed in at 35.5 pounds which puts him around the 13th percentile, and he was 42.5 inches tall which falls at the 38th percentile. He is still my little runt! According to the ASQ-3 he still shows some gross motor delays, but we know what his issues are and we're not terribly worried. No he might not be the fastest runner or the best jumper, but I have learned there are much bigger worries in life. So be it. He got his final vaccinations before Kindergarten and despite some tears and sore legs that night, he handled them like a champ. 

Speaking of Kindergarten, Noah is registered for next fall! He is so excited and constantly asks when he gets to go. I am confident he will do well, and I'm excited for him, but I'll admit that it does make me a little sad that he's at this age already. He's just growing up so fast! He "graduated" from his preschool last week and will only attend for another week or so, and then it will be summer! Woohoo!

My little scholar!

So what is Noah up to? What's he like at age five? Well for starters, he is still the world's sweetest big brother. He loves to try to make Elodie laugh, and showers her with attention. Sometimes I catch him making up songs to sing to her, most of which involve lyrics about how much he loves her. It melts my heart! Occasionally it gets overbearing and we have to remind him to be gentle and give her some space, but for the most part he is extremely good with her. He has moments of feeling attention starved and lets us know by whining that "I don't have any attention" which usually breaks my heart and proves to be quite effective with me. Nobody ever said having two kids was easy, and especially when one of them has special needs!

In terms of his interests, Noah is very into Transformers, super heroes of all varieties, dinosaurs, "inventing" things (especially traps to catch various creatures), and watching nature shows, all of which he refers to as "Animal Planet." His favorite show remains "Octonauts" and his favorite movie still has to be "How To Drain Your Dragon" along with its sequel. He still loves to be read to, and is starting to "read" books he knows by heart. They must be focusing on writing a lot at preschool because lately he is also very interested in writing words. He will ask me how to spell something and will then write it down either on paper or with his magnadoodle. I recently gave him a small notebook and a pen and he has written pages of meaningless symbols. It's very cute! We've started to notice some fears creeping in, especially of being alone in his room at night. He started coming downstairs fairly regularly and playing in the living room until one of us would hear him. I explained that it's ok to come downstairs but if he does he needs to come see us and not play in the other room. Since we had that talk he has been very good about it. I am always so proud and impressed with how obedient, well-behaved, and conscientious he is. His preschool teacher told me he is one of the most caring students in his class. It makes my heart burst with love for that kid! 

My handsome little man, growing up too fast!

In vs. Out

Elodie was born at 38w6d gestation and today she is 38w6d old! What a difference 9 months can make! Happy In and Out Day little lady!