My boy is five!

365 days ago, I wrote the following post as Andrew was on the eve of his fourth birthday.  Right now, my clock says June 21, 11:58pm.  In a few more moments, my little guy will be five.  An energetic, focused, exuberant Five.  When you’re raising kids, the hours do sometimes gooo soooo sloooow, but the months, they fly by on zippy wings.  Andrew is still so much the little boy he was at two and three and four, and yet, when I look back at photos or videos, I can see just how much he’s changed.  In the past year, he’s grown more aware of the world outside his own skin, and yet, he’s still so very content to do his own thing.  He sometimes adjusts to unfamiliar situations with a calm that surprises me.   He’s gotten funnier and punnier, and the knock knock jokes keep on comin’.

In the last 12 months, Andrew’s leapt into reading.  He started with Gerald and Piggy books, and these days, he can read just about anything he wants.  Too many words on a page frustrate him, but he reads Sylvia all her picture books…an activity that makes my heart fill and overflow.  Andrew loves to do art projects, to help cook in the kitchen, and to work (endlessly?!) on his workbooks.  Physically, he loves to climb trees, he is experimenting with the idea of giving up his bike’s training wheels, and he’s almost able to paddle a few feet in the pool. I imagine that in a year, we’ll be at a whole different place!

While his mind is growing and his limbs are strengthening, my little Andrew man is still such a cuddlebug.  He wakes up in the morning and wants to snuggle.  Occasionally he still tucks his arms down between us when we hug, just like he used to when he was tiny.  He glows with love toward me and Bryan and Sylvia.  I feel so very lucky that he is my golden haired boy.

Andrew, you were a terrific four-year-old.  You were so easy and fun and amazing to me this past year.  And now you are brim-full of excitement about Kindergarten.  I look forward to spending the next year with your five-year-old self.

And if I was your fairy godmother and could grant you a few sparkling qualities on your birthday, I would wish for you health and compassion and resiliency and kindness and curiosity.   Happy birthday, my dear boy!