The Tuesday before you were born
I went to the doctor. I was a bit over 38 weeks, and you were showing no signs
of wanting to be born. Undeterred, my ob scheduled an induction for the next
day. My last ultrasound had you measuring rather large, and they thought it was
a good idea to get you out. I left with instructions to call the hospital that
night to check if there was availability and try get in the next day. That
would put me going into the hospital on May 30, so in that case you'd be a May
baby. Your due date was June 9 (coincidentally Emma's birthday). It turns out
that there were no rooms that night, so we didn't check in to the hospital
until May 31 and well, I guess you were destined to be born in June. So, finally you were born after a long and
painful labor. And, well, that was five
years ago. And, that was the day my life changed
forever in the best possible way.
Happy 5th birthday to
my sweet, not so baby boy.
What can I say about year number
five? I guess the biggest change was
adding a baby to the family. You did
amazingly well, and it was as though overnight you became this big boy. Emma transitioned pretty seamlessly into our
lives, and you are so tolerable and accepting of her being around. You are hardly ever jealous, and just
yesterday during our aquarium trip, you told us that you were going to give
your stuffed fish from the arcade to Emma.
I think your exact words were, “this one is for Noah, and this one
(holding up the stripey fish) is for Emma.”
Melt. My. Heart. Emma, of course,
absolutely adores you, and although you don’t really say it, I think it makes
you pretty proud. Bathtime has always
been a struggling point with you, but lately I have been asking if you would
take a bath with Emma because she loves taking baths with you, and you seem to
come readily and happily along. You are
such a good big brother, and Emma is so lucky to have you.
You have progressed so well in
school and therapy this year. Your OT,
Mer, even told me recently that she has seen very few children progress as much
and as quickly as you have. You are such
a hard worker at school, and you have so much (so very much) enthusiasm for all
that you do. You excelled in academics
(not a surprise), and you can write your entire alphabet and all your numbers
0-9. You also learned to draw shapes and
create a stick figure. Writing is not
always your favorite activity, but letters have always been very motivating for
you, so there are times when you are really into it.
You love books, and your room is
starting to look like a mini library.
Right now, you are loving Tiki Tiki Tembo., Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive
the Bus. Leonardo the Terrible Monster,
and Pete the Cat. You are starting to
sound out words and can guess pretty well from memorization. You still have a battery that never dies, but
you have really improved this year on body awareness and taking responsibility
for keeping your hands to yourself and having a quiet body. It is a work in progress, but you don’t give
up. You are such a happy child and only
have the occasional burst of temper. Sticker
charts are in full effect at home, with six stickers resulting in a new box of
legos or a trip to the ice cream house and six frowny faces can mean no books
before bed or no tv. You are so funny
with those frowny faces. You
unfortunately got one last week for something, I can’t remember, and it was
frowny face number two. You said, “You
only have two frowny faces. Not
three.” I think they might be starting
to lose their effectiveness.
You talk nonstop about whatever
is going on inside your head. I have to
remind you often to have a quiet mouth and to listen and answer. Again, it is a work in progress. You memorize anything and everything that
catches your attention. I’m usually
pretty careful about what you listen, read or watch, but for some reason you’ve
recently picked up a “stupid, stupid, stupid” chant. I’m hoping it loses your interest soon,
because Momma prefers sweet words to come out of your mouth. Recently, you have picked up some language
from a Sesame Street IPhone App. It’s
basically a book that you follow along.
There is a lot of dialogue followed by “said Elmo,” or “cried Prairie
Dawn.” Just today you told me, “ ‘Sure
you can have some chocolate milk,’ said Momma.”
I always comment to Daddy, oh the things that are going on inside that
little brain of yours.
You are continuing to grow, and I
am so relieved winter is over because you can finally wear bottoms that aren’t
required to go down to your feet.
Speaking of clothes, you love getting “dressed for the day,” and you do
a pretty good job of picking out your own stuff. This summer you are preferring the longer
shorts that hang past your knees, which I think is so funny! At least it give me an excuse to buy you new
duds.
Overall, I think your year has
been awesome, and you just get better and better! Here's your photo recap.
Birthday boy - June 2011
Being a big brother - June 2011
First day of school - August 2011
Happy boy - August 2011
Christmas Eve - December 2011
Backyard fun - Janaury 2012
A walk on the beach - February 2012
Rodeo day - March 2012
Closer to FIVE - April 2012
![[Noah]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnovEEJKbwe-21dHZDYeyNixXHWW8EhWnc2wY-ufFAzTweaydQSIsbAZp9HjmMKQNG2AwbzfJeBOFiyNzww4m4GasdT0Z0xGeEcLE9Epw2hApHUWLEbjIRuB5I2VmtEy5CkEwFFpHa3-Ts/s1600/DSC_0424.jpg)
![[Emma]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrlw82fPjO98D65KmyEs-hmLxsekbItHXtAYPC94OhfNEP3i2QV5wJwsAmnktv1FN17cQW22VNW1zEM6CZhWVXkF2f0AF_jX34bimbYh1SBrUqo0IYCWmVvno6phX6WPoULIWVLLaTu6tP/s1600/DSC_0044.jpg)
