Dear Chase,
You turned 5 today! Five whole years, you can now put up a whole hand will all five fingers when people ask you how old you are! You’re such an amazing person–I am so proud to be your mommy and we got to spend a pretty amazingly ordinary day together. I did a lot of reflecting on how far we’ve come, how much you’ve grown, how much you’ve changed, all that you have learned…and then I did a little future projecting and got kind of sad that next year on your birthday you will spend the day with your kindergarten teachers and friends…I am happy for you, that you are going to start getting out into the big big world of learning, but I’m also pretty nostalgic of all of the time we have had together and I feel that slipping through my fingers.
This is how today went down…you came into our room at around 6:30am and said, “Mom, here comes a five year old!!!” Emmie was following you…you both share a room and I’m pretty sure either you wake her up daily, or she does you. She tends to stomp down her bunkbed stairs, and she tells me that you often creep up them and whisper to her that you are awake. Most days you would both be off playing and doing your own things…letting Daddy and I sleep in until Sawyer is up, but today was different! You asked if you could open any presents…and it seems like tradition in our house that first thing in the morning is the time to do birthday gifts–growing up for me it was always after cake and ice cream…I’m ok breaking that tradition in our family! So you opened up an adorable card from your sister, an Optimus Prime card from Daddy and I, and three gifts; two real Tomy Takara Japanese Beyblades (one from Emmie) and a fire house with guys and tools. You were psyched and declared this birthday (although we were only 10 minutes into it) better then when you turned two and three! We had PB smoothies, M&M pancakes, and some fruit for breakfast and sent Emmie off to school and Daddy off to work. You played with Sawyer, we had a giggle ticklefest while trying to get dressed, and then we went to the library–you met a new friend there and told him your name and that you were 5…today!! He said he turned 5 years ago and mommy secretly giggled because he was 5. We came home loaded up with books and a few DVDs for the week and then we had some fun baking your Lego while Sawyer napped. Once Emmie was home and Sawyer was up and the cake was done your one request was to ride your pedal car and bike–so we did that until dinner time–with a little snow play for fun…I cannot believe there is snow on the ground this year in your birthday pictures!! Your dinner request…hotdogs!
While we were waiting for the bus to come with Emmie on it you said to me, “When will the bus arrive?” And it just reminded me of what an awesome vocabulary you have! You had also said earlier that your lunch was delish and that your favorite thing about being a four year old was spending time with your family…and you were most looking forward to spending time with your family when you were five. So so sweet. And on the other end of sweet is a little boy with some HUGE emotions 🙂 We’re working on those…today at the library your friend and you both went for a stool at the same time…you were ready to just grab it, but he was on it before you could say boo. You let out a protest that it was the WORST DAY EVER and proceeded to pout for a bit…see, big emotions….but I reminded you to just ask for a turn, and you did, and slowly got over the mad. We talked about it in the car, that phrase that you throw out there, that it is the worst day ever…and we talked about maybe it really means you’re just mad in that minute, and perhaps the whole day doesn’t have to be ruined–and guess what, later when you and Em got into a squabble about whose turn it was with this pointer that you have…you said…”WORST DAY EVER…no…it’s been a great day…I’m just really MAD!” It is so so fun to watch you grow and learn and change and mature!
This year that you turned 5 we did so many things! You learned to ride a bike, we went to Disney world a month after your birthday, we spend the summer going to visit in lots of different places (farm, beach, mountains), you hiked a mountain, you biked three miles, we went on a cruise, you learned to duck your head underwater and love it…although you still sink like a 50lbs. piece of lead. You are a kind, sweet, and adoring younger brother who cannot get enough of his sister, and a mostly kind, sweet, and helpful older brother to baby Sawyer. You laugh like no one I have ever met and it is infectious, and your favorite thing ever is meeting new people! You are truly my outgoing, chatty little mayor who always comes up with something interesting to say. You are very very excited about going to Chuck E Cheese for your party…we don’t go often, but that last time we did was for a party and you knew that you needed to have your party there so you could go in the wind tunnel and try and catch the 1000 point ticket…here’s hoping that you’re not disappointed!
I cannot believe that five years ago you were this tiny…
Or that four years ago you were just turning one….and then we got a special ride in an ambulance because you were choking and landed us an overnight stay–thank goodness we broke that tradition with birthdays 2, 3, 4 and now 5!! I cannot wait to see all that you accomplish in the next year–keep growing, changing, learning, and sharing your love with the world! You have so much to give…I just asked you today while we were snuggling on the couch if you would still want to snuggle me when you were all grown up…you looked right at me with your big brown eyes and put a hand on my face and said, “Of course I will, mama!” You hug like you want to squeeze my whole head off sometimes, still love to be picked up, and often ask “for a real human” to snuggle before falling asleep…wish I could bottle all of my favorite memories and relieve them one by one of the last five years…from the first snuggles, to giggling about stinky toots tonight!
Love you big guy,
Mom