Evan at 5 years old

I wanted to take a few moments to record some of the basic information about Evan now that he's turned 5 years old.  First of all, he's still a very healthy boy.  His weight and height at his 5-year doctor check up are right on track at ~42.5 lbs (63rd percentile) and 44 inches (76th percentile).

He is wearing 5T clothes now, though he can still fit into some of his 4T clothes, most are getting a bit short on him.  Especially long pants...though some of the 5T pants I've gotten him are too long!  You just can't win with this age I guess!  He wears size 12 shoes, though he recently just moved up to a 13, given he was in a 12 all summer now. I just got him some new boxer brief underwear too, which make him look so grown up!

Evan is still very physically skilled, meaning he is very good at riding his bike now, and he can do monkey bars (as long as they're not too high), fireman's poles, climbing walls (at playgrounds), and he does swinging all by himself.  He loves playing outside at playgrounds and riding his bike.  Evan also likes to dance and often will turn on his favorite music (a dubstep kind of electronica, with his favorite Pandora station being called "Zombies ate my neighbors" radio).  He has some fun moves and gets very serious-faced when doing those moves.  He's already learned a new song/dance from school, called the "popsicle".  It goes like this:

I say to Evan, "Hey Evan, are you ready to pop?"

He says, "Pop what?"

I say, "Popsicle!"

Then he dances and says "My hands are in the air, my feet are moving, this is how you popsicle, pop-sicle, pop-pop-sicle" while he puts his hands up then down to the ground and then he wiggles and moves his arms in a side swimming motion. It's so cute!

He is also trying to learn how to do handstands and more gymnastics-type things.    I think watching the Olympics the past few weeks may have also inspired some of that.

He is maturing so quickly, but he still has his temper tantrums on a regular basis.  Yet, I see him help Emma sometimes or share with others, and those moments are beautiful to see my boy growing up.  The other morning on our bike ride to school, he got to the cross walk before me and waited for me.  Yet, there were cars stopping for him, so he waved them to go.  They hesitated at first, but then went. I could tell he thought that was pretty fun, because he did it again at the next corner we came to (the one right by the school where there were lots of cars going by).   And only one week after starting school, he is able to be just dropped off at the front door and then he goes through the school and finds his classroom all by himself.  In fact, he started telling John not to come in with him, that he wanted to do it by himself!

Recent Firsts:
--Kindergarten!
--Watched summer Olympics (mostly swimming, gymnastics, and track/field.  In fact, he wanted to stay up recently to watch "the fastest man in the world"/Bolt win another race).
--Drive in movies (we went to two this past summer)
--"wiggly" tooth (it's not too loose yet, but his front right upper tooth is just a tad wiggly)
--First (full size) ferris wheel ride (at the County Fair this year). In fact, he got a wrist band and rode lots of rides (his first rug slide, a climbing fun house that he went into over and over, and all the kiddie rides, including the carousel).

--First drawing (of a dinosaur) he made for mommy (addressed to Moo at first...lol)

--First Face painting (at a friend's bday party)

What he does well:
--Phonics/letters/counting.  He's even learned to do some addition and subtraction (we do this at snack time with grapes or berries). I think he's definitely academically ready for school and may be reading in no time
--Figuring things out/problem solving (if he can keep his cool and not get frustrated, see patience issue below).  I am always amazed about how if he asks me a question and if I ask it back to him rather than answering, that in most cases he can reason a pretty good answer.
--Building dominoes tracks and hot wheels tracks
--Makes own breakfast (Eggo waffles in toaster)
--Runs TV (to get to Netflix or Pandora) and tablets (mostly to watch You Tube Kids)

What he needs to work on:
--Patience (with himself and others). Building his dominoes runs has been helping with this, because it really makes him focus and be careful and then even when he accidentally knocks them down early he's learning to be okay with that...most of the time. :)
--Temper
--Not jumping to conclusions (he'll get upset when he thinks you may not be giving him what he wants, when in fact you just were asking a question or explaining something first, etc)
--Accidents (he's been having a lot lately for some reason...), and also wiping himself after doing #2 (can't wait for that!)

Loves playing with water squirters!

His favorites:
--Water play (squirters, water balloons, swimming pools, water slides)
--Hot wheels, RC cars/trucks, Dino Chargers (the latter may just be a fad interest...)
--Candy (Smarties, taffy, chocolates)
--Foods: spaghetti, pizza, mac n cheese, Chic-Fil-A, MacDonald's (not my doing!), Noodles and company ("Green noodles", which is their pesto cavitappi), Papa Johns, most any pasta, he now likes corn dogs too.  Ice cream and cupcakes! Any snacks, such as cheese/crackers, Cheetos (pronounced "bah-cheetos"), he's on a big Cheez-its kick right now, fruit, cookies, etc.
--Searching "water slides" with voice search on You Tube Kids, also likes to watch videos of dominos
--TV shows/movies: the Home spinoff cartoon (right now), previously was really into the How to Train your Dragon movie and cartoon, Mater's Tall Tales, and Pokemon.  He still watches things over and over, so when he's onto something he watches it (and even the same episode) non-stop!
--Batman, Spider Man (though he doesn't have the toys or watch the shows, he thinks they are cool and likes having his clothes/backpack have these kinds of things on them)

He doesn't like:
--Being told no
--Naps (good thing he doesn't have to take them anymore at school, but at home we do ask him to have some quiet time in his room)
--Most vegetables, but he will eat carrot sticks/ranch dip, red bell pepper (at least he used to, but he hasn't in his recent lunches), broccoli with cheese sauce, zucchini, corn.
--Alarms (as a result, he's afraid of the smoke alarms in our house and doesn't like to go to a different floor of the house by himself)

He loves his little sister a lot, even though they fight all.the.time.  Well, I guess not ALL the time, given sometimes he does sweet things for her.  Like this morning I caught him trying to help her get her shirt on, or when him and I went shopping recently, he wanted to get her a new play doh toy and give it to her right away when we got home.  So even though he picks fights with his sister a lot, I don't think he could imagine life without her.  When he's too scared to go somewhere in the house on his own, she'll go with him. When he wants to play, he often involves her.   The other evening they were both playing tag (happily) together in the backyard. I'm glad they have each other!

Life around here certainly isn't slowing down.  Now that Evan's turned 5, soon Emma will be 3.  Time to start focusing on my little girl for a little while to get ready for her big day!  I can't get enough of these kids though! <3

I feel so proud to watch him grow up, and I know he'll mature a lot this coming year in kindergarten.  I am looking forward to him becoming more independent, but it is also a little bittersweet because I know he will not need me as much. While he's not a baby anymore, he'll always be my first born baby.  Nonetheless, I gotta let my little bird learn to fly.  As Evan likes to tell us with regard to naps (not needing them anymore) and other things in which only big kids can do it, he's 5 now. :)

My 5-year-old