Nate is 5

My biggest boy turned 5 recently.  It's still hard for me to believe.  Five seems old.  At least we have some more time together before school starts for him.  

We usually let our kids have their first friend party when they turn 5.  Nate wanted a Star Wars party.  I think it turned out pretty well.  We only had a few kids show up (and I didn't invite too many--I learned my lesson after Natalie's 5th birthday party when I think we had like 19 kids).  Kids that age are pretty easy to please.  We assembled some paper R2-D2s, shot stormtroopers with Nate's nerf gun, and then went after the Darth Vader pinata.  

I have to give a shout-out to Pinatas La Fiesta.  When Natalie turned 5 and wanted a Tweety pinata, they were the only place I could find one.  This time around, they had a Darth Vader.  And they're really nice.  I just love that place. :)

After that we came inside for some cake and ice cream.  Nate wanted Darth Maul on his cake.  He also had to be holding his double lightsaber. Here was the result:

I added that blue area because I thought it might be hard to see a black figure on a chocolate cake.  I think it  ended up making it look weird.  Oh well.  Nate really liked it so I guess it all worked out.

Singing to the birthday boy:

We also celebrated with the typical birthday lunch. I got to have the honors and we had a fun time just the two of us.

I just love that smile.

His actual birthday was on Sunday.  We had cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast and then his birthday dinner that night (beef stroganoff).  I think all of his gifts were a hit this year.  He has loved playing with all of them.

Elizabeth was really thoughtful.  She made him this little pillow almost entirely on her own:

 

Here it is up close:

 

 She also insisted on getting him something that had been on his list for awhile.  He really wanted one of those big bears from Costco.  So, now we are the owners of a gigantic bear.  Somehow he manages to sleep next to it in his bed. He was pretty thrilled:

They all love him.  I have to admit it was kind of fun being the person buying the big bear in Costco.  I got tons of smiles when Eli and I picked it up.  :)

Nate also got a soft blue blanket that he wanted.  He has been sleeping with that too and loving it.

Thanks again, Costco. :)

He also loved these Star Wars action figures from Grandma and Grandpa Allen:

 I think he had a pretty great birthday.

Nate is such a sweet boy.  We've had some struggles since the girls started school because he really loves to play computer games (specifically the Wild Kratts games on the PBS kids website) and he was feeling like he should be able to play more than I was letting him.  He may have just been sad that the girls weren't around, too.  I don't know.  All I know is that he was angry at me for a few days there.  Luckily we've gotten past that and he is back to his sweet self.  

Nate is a very good helper.  He is usually very good about doing things I ask him to do.  He is definitely very motivated to earn his media time most days.  Just tonight he was willingly washing the dishes after dinner.  Don't get me wrong, he can dig in his heels about some things.  For instance, he doesn't like getting dressed for church and he is also being weird about saying prayers right now.  He really doesn't like talking to people he doesn't know either so it can be impossible to get him to say "thank you" or "hi" to someone who is trying to give him something or talk to him.  Still, he is pretty easy-going overall.

Nate is a great big brother to Elijah.  He is very patient with him, which is not always an easy task.  He hardly ever gets mad at him.  I love watching them play together and laugh together.  I hope they'll be good buddies.  Nate's a great little brother, too.  He looks up to his sisters so much and loves when they let him play with them, even if he just gets to watch them play.  He does not like it one bit when they won't let him in his room if they are getting changed or something.

Nate has a lot of physical gifts.  He is very athletic and does well at anything involving a ball.  He is getting good at shooting hoops in our backyard.  He found a small basketball that is perfect for him and he can make baskets with the hoop at regular height.  I think baseball is still his favorite, though.  He loves climbing things.  Just today he was impressing some older boys at the girls' school by climbing really high up a light pole.  They had to try it, too, and were struggling at first. (Natalie actually zipped right up that thing, too, when she did it.)  I'm not sure the school would have approved of it but it was fun for me to see his pride in accomplishing it.  I was such a climber as a kid, too, that it makes me happy to see my kids doing it.  Except those times when I'm terrified they're going to fall. :)

He is learning more and more every day.  He is like a little sponge soaking up facts, especially when it comes to animal facts that he learns on Wild Kratts (his favorite show).  He has a pretty good vocabulary for a 5 year old, too--probably from hanging out with his bookworm sisters.  He still hasn't mastered reading yet.  I think that is mostly because I haven't worked with him enough.  I was thinking the other day about the fact that I used to make the girls have quiet time with books when they were his age.  Sometimes they'd fall asleep and sometimes they'd just look at their books.  I wonder if that is one thing that helped them to break through the reading-is-hard stage--they were motivated to figure out what the words were saying.  I haven't made Nate do that and he still firmly in that stage.  I know he'll figure it out with practice, though.  Poor 3rd and 4th kids--they just don't get pushed to excel as much (at least mine don't).  The good thing is that I've relaxed a lot as a parent so I guess they get the benefits of that, too.  It is tricky finding a balance in all of this.

We sure love our Nate.  I definitely can't imagine our family, or my life, without him.

I just have a hard time with the fact that he's not my little baby anymore!