Paul is 5!

Paul is 5! While there is something to love about every stage, I'm finding that 4+ seems to be the sweet spot for me. But before I dig into Paul at age 5, let's take a trip back in time to his previous birthdays!

Paul on his birthday! He's rocking a jaundice tan and is so puffy in this picture (probably since I was on IV fluids for days before he was born - his delivery was pretty complicated).

Paul at 1! I don't have great photos from his 1st birthday party as I stupidly scheduled his 1-year shots the day before... rookie mistake. He's crying/not happy in most of his birthday photos. But we had a fun brunch with my younger sister on his actual birthday!

Paul at age 2... This was March of 2020 - little did we know how our world would change in a matter of days!

Paul at age 3! Are you noticing the theme of cookie birthday desserts?

Paul at age 4!

Growth: He's still very, very petite - he only weighs 33 pounds. For context, Will weighs 28 pounds! Paul has been around the 5th percentile for weight since he was about 2 months, though, so it's not concerning as he has been staying on his growth curve. He has been asking when he can move into a booster seat, though, and that feels VERY far off since you need to weigh at least 40 pounds to move into a booster..  When will he be 40 pounds? Age 8? He wear size 10 shoes, 3T/4T tops, and mostly 3T pants. 

Words and phrases: He is still very chatty and talkative. His latest clutch phrase is to say "speaking of..." Like last week, we were talking about the US (I can't remember what exactly we were talking about) and Paul said, "Speaking of America, today was Presidents' Day!" He's starting to sound like a mini-adult! 

Likes:

- He loves being outside! When the weather is nice, his favorite thing to do is use his scooter. We bought him a bike last spring but he has only been on it a few times. I figure eventually he'll be interested in his bike. But for now he is very fast on his scooter and can handle 2+ mile routes. He also was more interested in swimming and water sports/boating last summer! Since we are in the midst of a brutal winter I should also mention that he loves sledding, making snow angels and playing in the snow.

- We introduced him to LEGO this Christmas and he is a BIG FAN! I'm a fan, too, so am glad we have a go-to gift idea for years to come. 

This was the start of a Spiderman character - it took us 3 nights to do this set!

- His favorite show is still Wild Kratts. He shares so many facts with us, like did you know the eyes of a giant squid are the size of a basketball? Or last week he told us he could run on the top of the snow like a snowshoe hare. I can guarantee I did know anything about giant squids or snowshoe hares at age 5!

- He still loves to read. We mostly read picture books but I've started to introduce chapter books, too. He is starting to learn to read. My MIL got him the "Bob books" for Christmas and he can read several of them on his own. 

Firsts:

- I've started to do some one-on-one adventures with him! Last fall, we went to a pumpkin exhibit at the zoo, saw The Grinch, and I took him to a winter light exhibit. In April, we'll take our first one-on-one trip to AZ to visit my sister. He's very very very excited. 

- He'll also have his first friend birthday party but we are going to wait until April or May when it's reliably nicer to have his party. We made an arbitrary rule that friend parties don't start until you turn 5. I love the way families celebrate birthdays at school - it's basically a big park play date. Everyone is invited, the invite says "no gifts" (and people comply!), and you bring birthday treats. It's "easy peasy lemon squeezy" as Paul would say!

Dislikes:  There is not much that he doesn't like. He is a really positive, upbeat kid! I will say he is obsessed with being first... Ideally he wants to be the first one to get dressed, first to brush his teeth, first to get in the car, etc etc... We are trying to explain that you can't always be first and that being the first one dressed really does not matter in the grand scheme of things but he hasn't quite accepted that. 

Eating: is still kind of a challenge... his pediatrician has assured us this will get easier. I hope she is right. He really loves carbs and dairy. His favorite foods are cottage cheese, yogurt, banana pancakes and pizza. And he definitely has a sweet tooth - he loves donuts and cookies!

School: He's in the Pre-K room at school. He has really thrived in this room and has come out of his shell quite a bit. He used to be so shy and reserved but seems much more outgoing and social in this room. He'll transition to the public school summer program in June and then starts kindergarten in the fall at our community school so he has a lot of change ahead of him! He is VERY excited about kindergarten!

His school photos from the fall cracked us up!!

Big brother adjustment: He continues to be a very sweet big brother to Will! He's had to be patient with Will quite a bit and he's handled it pretty well all in all. I love watching their relationship grow!

I can't wait to see what the future holds for our sweet, smart little guy! Last year he spent his birthday puking from a stomach bug so hopefully the celebration is MUCH MORE FUN this year!!