Our first two five year olds

1. Nadia was a social butterfly and loved to carry on conversations with strangers. Ian has gotten a lot less shy, but he's not at all a "social butterfly."

2. Both kids LOVED wearing costumes at this age. Nadia loved princess costumes, and Ian likes superhero, Star Wars, and Monsters, Inc. costumes. This month he'll be receiving two costumes as gifts from us - Mike (from Monsters, Inc) and Captain America.

3. Nadia's favorite color was pink (second favorite was purple), and Ian's favorite is green (second favorite is orange).

4. Nadia's soothing habit was sucking her thumb, and Ian's is touching his belly button. Neither had given up their habit even though I had tried to help them with that.

5. Both were sporadically taking naps at this age. Ian gets up earlier in the morning (usually between 6:00-6:30 am) than Nadia did.

7. Nadia loved playing with a Leapster at this age (we didn't

have an iPad yet), and Ian loves playing with the iPad. Nadia spent far more time playing in her bedroom than Ian ever has. She was great at having "quiet time" and often listened to books on CD from the library. Ian hasn't learned how to have a quiet time in his room. He usually stays down with me while Oliver naps and Nadia is in her room.

8. Both could do 100 piece puzzles independently and bigger puzzles (up to 300 pieces) with assistance.

9. Nadia was braver at the playground and at amusement parks than Ian is, but he has come a long way and does ride most rides that he's tall enough to ride. Both of them LOVED the whip and the kiddie roller coaster at this age!

10. Nadia could write all the uppercase and lowercase letters and the numbers 0-9. Ian can write all the uppercase letters.

11. Both of them LOVE being read to (picture books and chapter books) and also watching tv. Both of them loved Little Critter, Froggy, and Berenstain Bear books. Ian's favorite dvds are the ones with Larry Boy (from Veggies Tales) and his favorite show is Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

12. They both always include Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Maurice in their prayers.

13. They both were walking with me while I pushed the stroller to the playground at this age.

14. They both loved to drink skim milk; Ian drinks far more water than Nadia did at this age. They both loved eating pizza, bagels, crackers, pretzels, chips, yogurt (just vanilla for Ian), grilled cheese sandwiches, various kinds of cold cereal, chicken nuggets (Ian needs honey), hot dogs (Ian needs mustard), pancakes, bananas, fish sticks, macaroni and cheese, brownies, cookies, fruit snacks, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and chocolate frosted donuts. Nadia needed raisins to eat vegetables when she was five. She ate much faster than Ian does.

15. Nadia was better at counting from 1-100 by ones and tens than Ian is, but I haven't worked with him much on it yet.

16. They both easily learned Bible verses. Ian can recite more books of the Bible than Nadia could at this age.

17. Nadia loved to jump off the diving board (with arm floats) and would swim without floats in the area of the pool that was two feet deep. Ian has never had an interest in coming near a diving board. He prefers to stay in the baby pool.

We love both of our five year olds very much, and in three years we'll have our third five-year-old! Thank you, Lord!