*I guess that title should technically read "Case is Five Years and 2 months old". Your 4 year old post didn't get up until January so I'm calling this a win. :-)
Dear Case,
Five years old! Only 13 more years until you can vote. Only 11 more years until you can drive (although I've seen you drive you're tractor and motorcycle... I think we're going to hold off on this milestone as long as we can). Less than 1 year before you're in school. Like a real all day everyday school. My time with you just got real limited. What am I going to do without you at home???? I'm not ready to share you with a teacher everyday. They can't possibly love you like I do and yet they are going to get to spend just about as much, no it's worse, MORE time with you than I will 5 days out of the week. And Lord help the first kid that hurts your feelings because it will take a whole lot of prayer for me not to go all "mama bear" on them. All this is making homeschooling look like a much better idea!
5 years just seems so old! I can still remember the joy and relief the day that you were born. I mean I can totally go back to that day and remember the feelings, and emotions, and smells and sounds. And somehow that was FIVE years ago! I love that you're growing and that I am blessed to watch you turn into this
little boy that you're becoming. I just wish I could pause time and rewind whenever I want to. Enough of the mommy depression I'm sinking into... let's talk about you at 5 years old.
You are so smart! I am amazed at the things that you already know and how quickly you pick up new things. You have known your letters for a long time but on a friend's recommendation I bought you the BOB books to start learning to read. We literally worked through one book and off you went. You just read book six of the series today. You do it 90% on your own.
I'm really hoping that you hold onto this love of reading! You've enjoyed having several chapter books read to you before bed already too. I always think you're not listening but every time I ask you questions at the end you always know the answers. I'm guessing your poor teachers are just going to love this about you :-)
Another big childhood milestone happened in September, right before you turned 5. You learned to ride your bike with NO training wheels. I have no idea how old I was when I did this for the first time but I definitely remember the moment! I hope it's one you'll remember too, except for the bribery it took for me to get you to try it the first time... you can go ahead and forget that part.
You started preschool in August and you LOVE it! There hasn't been one day that you've not wanted to go or come home and told me you didn't like it. You love your teacher too! I can't get a good feel for the friend situation at school. It sounds like you play with only girls at recess. It is usually Maggie's name that I hear the most. I think you have your first crush too. Her name is Isabella. I saw Isabella on one of your field trips and you have very good taste. She's a very pretty little girl. I'm pretty sure she's destined for popularity because all the kids seemed to flock to her. It's crazy how that kind of thing starts so young. It sounds like you've tried to get her to play with you and she won't. Shrug it off kiddo, I'm sure this won't be the last time, and she doesn't know what she's missing!
Here's a funny story for you... When I asked you why you liked her so much at first you said you didn't know. Then I said, "Is there something about her that you like?" and you said, very matter of factly, "I just like all of her body." Well there you go. Now let's hope Isabella's daddy doesn't stumble onto my blog!
You LOVE to snack! You ask for snacks about 72 times a day. Seriously! Your favorite snacks are Pirates Booty (I'm pretty sure that's just because you think the name is funny), crackers, veggie sticks, goldfish, applesauce pouches, granola bars, and anything sweet. Your meals usually consist of turkey and cheese (this is what you ask for EVERY time I ask you what you want to eat), eggs, cereal (usually honey nut cheerios but your favorite is Golden Grahams), chicken nuggets (the frozen kind... yeah, I'm awesome), hot dogs, grilled cheese, and mac and cheese. You love EVERY fruit out there but veggies aren't your favorite. Broccoli, corn, and lima beans are about the only veggies you will eat willingly. You have a pretty typical kid palette. You are not up for trying new things but you are pretty good about taking a "no thank you bite" of everything you put on your plate. You drink water throughout the day and milk at meals. Occasionally you will get juice or lemonade if we are out or if you are with Grandma and Grandpa :-)
You don't typically take a nap anymore. Most days you stay up while Ty naps but then you go to bed a little bit before him. This is mostly just for my sanity. You two are CRAZY together and the going to sleep process becomes a bit much when you both go at the same time. You usually go to bed at night around 8:30 and you get up in the morning around 7, depending on how close we are to the stupid time change. When you go to sleep at night you like to pile everything in your bed on your head and that's how you fall asleep. It's so weird!
 |
| Last night as a 4 year old :( |
You like to watch tv but you don't tend to sit still for very long unless of course it's one of your snacking opportunities. You like to watch Wild Kratts, Team Umizoomi, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Paw Patrol, Power Rangers (I've put the kibosh on this one because you turn into a crazy kung fu person after you watch it), Transformers and Avengers, but you don't get to watch these much either because I don't like the commercials they have in them. You love to go to the movies. You usually do that with Grandma. You like watching movies at home too. Some of your favorites are Toy Story (all of them), Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Chicken Little, Wall-E, and any other Disney movie (they pretty much own us).
You enjoy playing with your cars and building tracks with Daddy and Ty. You LOVE when we get the train out around Christmas each year and you're pretty good at driving it too. You like to go to "fun places" like Monkey Joes, the Children's Museum, the zoo, any playground, come to think of it there aren't too many places you don't enjoy going as long as it gets you out of the house for a while (with the exception of the fabric store... not your favorite). When we are at home you like to play with your characters mostly (Transformers, Avengers, etc.). You also love doing puzzles and you are really good at them. You've taken a new liking to coloring since you started school too and all of a sudden you are aware of the lines. This helps to calm Mommy's OCD. Thanks for that!
You're favorite is to be outside though. You'd spend the whole day outside as long as it isn't too hot. you're started climbing trees quite a bit... not a great choice of activities since you're my accident prone one but so far this hasn't landed you in the ER. I'm sure it's coming.
You LOVE to hang out at Uncle Ben's barn or Grandma and Grandpa's camper, where you can ride on the boat and swim in the lake.
Speaking of ER visits, it's time for your annual ER update. You only visited the ER ONE time this year. You read that right! One time. That might be a record for you. You were with Grandma and Grandpa at their camper. You and Ty had both made it all the way through the night in the camper without Mommy and Daddy, well really the first time your brother made it through the night at all. I woke up about 9:00 AM and thought we were golden, and then I got a phone call from Grandma saying they were headed to the ER because you were playing near the firepit (which hadn't had a fire in it since the night before) and fell into it. The only thing that hit the actual firepit was your hands and only one of them sustained a burn from it. It wasn't a terrible burn but definitely one that needed to be checked out. My heart sank. All I could think was about how bad it could have been if you had done the same thing the night before. Mommy was pretty pregnant at the time and I instantly became an emotional disaster. I would like to blame that on the pregnancy but I'm guessing my reaction would have been the same regardless. I pulled myself together to walk into the ER to meet you guys there but once I saw Grandma start to lose it I began to sob like a blubbering idiot. I mean embarrassing, loud, ugly crying. Sorry about that. If Grandma hadn't cried I might have been able to maintain just the ugly cry without the embarrassment but no such luck. I'm sure the people nearby thought you were dying or something. I'm just so grateful that it wasn't worse than it was.
 |
In the ER. It was a disaster when they tried to
pull your hand out of that ice bag! |
 |
| Didn't stop you from building puzzles! |
You love to play with your friends! We still get to see our Baby Jam friends on occasion but it's getting more and more rare these days. I'm guessing next year will be even harder when you are all in different schools. I hate to see this end because I love those kiddos and their mommas but we have sure made a LOT of memories with them! We did still manage to get most of the group together for our annual birthday party. I just LOVE seeing you all together!!!
You all have changed a little since the beginning...
You tend to get to see Andrew and Sage more than any of the other Baby Jam kiddos. You always have a good time with them. Sometimes it consists of a trip to the zoo, or museum...
 |
Sage's birthday party
|
 |
Children's Museum
|
...and other times it consists of you dressing up as a princess (sorry boys... had to, and p.s., we didn't make you do this!:).
Ty is absolutely your best friend thoough! You tend to spend much of the day taking advantage of him, as he would do ANYTHING for you but your friendship with him is so much fun to watch aside from that. You love to jump out and "scare" each other or whoever is walking into a room. You like to role play with your transformers, cars, or any little characters you can find. I frequently hear you pretending to be Power Rangers or super heroes too but that ALWAYS ends in a fight or someone getting hurt, it's pretty funny to listen to up until that point though.
 |
| There's a whole lotta lazy happening in this picture! |
Probably the biggest change for you this year is that you are no longer the big brother to one brother but TWO! Knox Haddon was born on July 22nd and you LOVE him! I was worried that he would disrupt "normal" in our house but you and Ty both love him more than I ever thought you would. You say that he is "our" baby. You call him Knoxerbird, Knock Knock, and Knoxy... well I guess that's what we all call him but you started Knoxerbird. You are SO helpful with him, whether it's putting his paci in, talking to him to make him happy, or snuggling with him. You genuinely love him and that couldn't make my heart happier! Probably my favorite part of your relationship with him is how funny he thinks you are and how you are always performing for him.
 |
| How we announced Knox was coming to Grandma and Grandpa |
You are such a fun little boy. I have loved being your momma for these past 5 years. I'm looking forward to seeing who you become when you're all grown up but for now I'm just LOVING the boy that you are. I pray that you never lose your silliness, your kind heart, or that beautiful smile of yours. I love you Stinky Face!
Mommy
