I have found myself making all of those statements, and then some, in the last few months. How is it that 5 years can pass in nearly a blink of an eye! And now I have this Big Kid. Kid! Up until 5, I truly looked at him and thought, oh he still has those chubby cheeks, or the dimples on his knuckles, and he still says cute words like Hippo-haw-mus or Lellow and I think of him as a baby.
But that term no longer applies to my Big Kid! Nope. He now refers to me as Mom, the official title you get when one has a big kid, Mommy is reserved for emergencies or non-social environments. He now asks for privacy, makes statements like, "I know I know Mom, you told me already" and plays with knights and castles instead of Thomas the Train.
The biggest change since turning 5 - School. My little man finally started Junior Kindergarten at Achiever Christian School and to say he loves it would be a gross understatement. The first day he immediately left my side to begin making new friends and barely had a moment to give me a hug goodbye. When I asked him to hug me, the look of total inconvenience on his face was preiceless, albeit a bit sad for me, but expected nontheless! His teacher Miss Linda gave him stellar reviews after his first two days, saying that he fit in seamlessly with the other children, already appears to have a favorite play area(the puppet theater) and LOVES recess.
The transition was a lot easier than I expected, for both of us:) I didn't cry as I thought I would walking away from the classroom on that first day...after all I did spend nearly every day of his first 5 years of life with him, so this milestone was bound to be more difficult for me right?! My eyes welled up for a brief second when I walked away but that was it! Having the baby with me was a great distraction, and thankfully Kim was there to take pictures and treat me to a playdate at Target and Starbucks that morning.
I still stick by our decision to wait as long as we did to start him in school. I am so very thankful for the endless amount of quality time and memories that the two of us were able to share for these short special years. Our children are only little for so long before they spend more time at school than they do at home and even though at times T and I had our rough moments, the end result is a bond is so tight and that I absolutely cherish.
Back to the big day. This year T made all the big decisions for his party. Ever since his birthday last year at the Oakland Zoo, he said that the next birthday would be at a zoo again! So when I told him he could have it at Happy Hollow Park & Zoo he was thrilled, and talked about it every day since September. He also chose a theme, fittingly Dragons, just like Happy Hollow's Danny the Dragon and his favorite movie How to Train Your Dragon. He chose the cake, the frosting color, the party favors, his party day outfit(Dragon shirt) and the EVite!
His party was awesome! Most of his close friends came and we were so happy to have everyone there to brave the cold day with us! The park was almost empty, as there was a threat of rain that day which scared most people away, so the kids had the place pracically to themselves! They didn't have to wait in lines, and could run about as they pleased! It sprinkled briefly but that was it. We had pizza and cake in the picnic area outside the park and it ended up being the most pleasant experience. I know T will remember this birthday for many years!
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