Five

Eli,

Five whole years!  Five whole years have passed since that first day when they placed you in my arms.  I honestly cannot believe it has already been 5 years.  And every time I think about that it flashes in my brain that in 5 more years you'll be 10!

But let's not think about that for now.  For now let's think about now.  You started Pre-K this year and you've been a rock star for the most part!  For the first 6 weeks or so you got all but 2 pinks (best possible) and those 2 days you got blue (second best)!  And you are loving school.  Every day you come home excited to tell us something new you learned or to teach us a new song.

You also started soccer this year and you're are really enjoying it and doing very well at all positions.  You've played goalie, offense and defense and while you're not the top scorer and you have been scored on, you are doing really good and getting better every game.

But soccer had led to a red at school (worst possible) and an orange (second worst).  I know it's just because you are tired from school and soccer but we are doing our best to teach you that being tired is not an excuse for bad behavior.  We have 4 games left over the next 2 weeks so hopefully they will be better.

You specifically asked for a Spiderman birthday at Xtreme Athletics this year and then you told us that you wanted all the kids to have capes so you could pretend you were saving people.  That's when we realized that even though you said Spiderman you meant Superman.  So we ended up doing a superhero birthday and Mammaw and I managed to make capes for the kids.  You had a blast!

It seems like you have hit a growth spurt over the summer and suddenly nothing is fitting.  I'm slowly getting rid of all the pants and pjs that are too small and then last week we realized that even your underwear were too small :)  I cried the night that we bought the next size up and they actually fit you better than I expected.

What can I say, you are growing up in every way.  You are taking on more responsibilities: feeding the cats and sometimes the dogs; doing dishes and wiping off the table, picking out your own clothes and ready almost completely by yourself some mornings.  One morning you even made your own toast!

I'm not ready for you to grow up but at the same time I love watching you.  I love seeing little pieces of the person you are becoming each day.  I hope you always stay as helpful and loving as you are now.  I hope you keep on loving trains or find something else you are just as passionate about.  You are the best son and big brother around and we love you very, very, very much!  Happy Birthday big boy!

-Mommy