Your 5!

Dear Boston,

You are finally five! You have been talking about turning five since the day after you turned four! I really can't believe you are five years old. Daddy and I were talking to you the other day telling you all about the day you were born and I told you how you will always be so special to me because you are the person that made me a Mommy first. You loved that bit of information and I could tell you felt so proud. 

 Daddy and I are so proud of you. You are such a great boy! You love to color these days and can spend hours doing it. It is so fun to see the little people you draw, but my favorite is when you draw designs that cover every square inch of the page. You have also loved to do color by number pictures and they are all over our house. 

 You are such a collector. Everywhere we go you are starting some sort of collection which leaves our house full of trinkets. Whether it be bottle cap lids, golf balls, marbles, rocks, or sticks there is always something with you. Every time we leave the house you have to bring something with us. It makes me crazy because you don't even play with it in the car or wherever we go. You just drop it on the floor of the car, but you HAVE to bring something. 

 You still have the BEST laugh ever! I will do anything to hear it. You love to make people laugh and your favorite way to do it is by telling knock knock jokes. They usually go something like this.... "knock knock", "who's there?", "juice", "juice who?",  "juice will you drink me". I usually laugh at how not funny and random they are, but I love them! Speaking of laughing you have been throwing out the craziest fake laugh. I wish I could say it's cute, but if I'm being honest it can be pretty annoying. Whenever you start doing it I try to do something to get the real one out, because it is SO much better!

 You are still my little snacker. You used to just want to snack all the time and never eat, now you eat pretty darn good, but still always want a snack. You would pick a bowl of fruit for your snack any day over most things unless it were candy. You definitely have my sweet tooth. A random food that you LOVE is Feta cheese. You pair it with almost anything and love it. Sometimes you ask for just a bowl of Feta for a snack. You are most definitely a lunch time eater and sometimes I am shocked at how much you want to eat. 

 You are still my tall skinny boy. You are an exact mold of your Daddy. You were getting frustrated with your underwear, because they would twist so much around your skinny legs. I bought you a pair of boxer briefs to see if you liked them better on your legs. I wanted to cry because it made you look so much older, but boy were you in heaven! I don't think you have ever felt so cool. Boxer briefs became a very common conversation when you were around and I caught you asking some of the older boys at church if they wore boxer briefs and you were very happy to report that they did!

 I can't not mention your negotiating skills. They are incredible and work so well! I am sure some day they will work in your favor...wait what am I saying they work really well in your favor right now! I guess what I was thinking is that someday you will use them for something that will benefit you well in a work environment. I'm not kidding though you can talk your way in or out of almost anything. There are so many times I will walk away thinking "how did he just get me to commit to that!"

 You are such a great friend. You have really come out of your shell this past year and it has been so fun to watch. You aren't afraid to make new friends at the park or school and I think we have preschool to thank for that. You still get a little nervous when there are a lot of kids especially if you don't know very many, but for the most part you are a pretty social little guy! You love to play with your friends and ask to do it every day. 

 Speaking of preschool you absolutely LOVE it! You are learning so much and are a pretty smart little boy! I swear you could be reading a lot more than you are if you would let Daddy and I help you, but the second we try to "teach" you anything your brain runs away. I think once you actually start reading books and see that you can do it you will really take off and love it! You always talk about how you can't wait to read to Carter. At school you of course love recess time and always talk about what you did and who you played with. It is so fun to hear you be so excited about school. I hope you always enjoy it and love to learn. 

 If you could I think you would permanently live outside. There is no where else you would rather be. You are constantly asking to go to the park, go on scooter rides,  take a walk to the jungle, cruise around the neighborhood, or go on a collection hunt. It makes me so happy that you love it so much and I can't wait until the weather clears up so we can spend more time out there. Winter is not a good time for you. Your asthma is always out of control and going outside only makes it worse. You do a pretty good job doing your breathing treatments so thankfully it isn't to hard to manage. 

You are by far the BEST brother to Carter! You have so much patience with him and these days he takes a lot. He always trying to break, sit on, or mess whatever you are doing. You are so proud of him and whenever you are around friends you LOVE to show him off. It makes mommy so happy. It also makes your friends and other little kids less nervous or curious about his trach and feeding tube. You always tell them how cool it is and it switches their thoughts of thinking its weird or scary to thinking it's pretty darn cool. You love it when he does the same things as you and you are by far his biggest cheerleader. Whenever he does something new you make sure to let the world know it and celebrate big time. 

I love you so much Boston! You make me crazy and calm all at the same time. You keep things funny around our house and bring such a special spirit into our home. You have become my best little buddy and I can't think about my world without you. "I love you to China ortess and back" like you always say. I am not sure where or what ortess is, but you say it all the time like it's really far away and that you really love me a lot so I will take it. Thanks for being you, because I sure do love you!

Love, Mommy