Six years old!

12/12/09 right before he was whisked to the NICU

Ian Alexander, our boy who loves Superheroes, Legos, playing Mario on the Wii, and everything related to Star Wars, is turning six years old today! Here are six descriptions of this much loved boy of ours with one picture of him from each year of his life.

1. Loving - Of my three children Ian is definitely the most affectionate in terms of spontaneously giving hugs at random times throughout the day. Oliver and I receive the majority of Ian's  hugs. He also is the most prone to speaking words of encouragement - saying how much he loves me, telling me what a good cook I am, telling me I look pretty, etc., and he is the also the best at remembering to say thank you. What a sweetheart!

2. Can have a very long attention span. He would play Mario on the Wii for a very long time, if I would let him. He is allowed to play it for 30 minutes a day (in place of having a turn on the iPad). For more than a year he has been playing with Legos for multiple hours a day almost every day. Nadia plays with him some. They are using the Legos for dramatic play and the characters and plot of their stories is constantly changing and often includes characters from whatever chapter book I have been reading them lately. Now I should add their are times when he needs to be more FOCUSED such as when eating and doing his schoolwork. At times it's hard to do schoolwork with Legos close at hand!

3. Is a quick learner. It is easy for him to memorize Bible verses (and the books of the New Testament) for AWANA. He already finished his first Sparks book (which he started in September). He is doing really well with reading. He is enjoying reading books such as Amelia Bedelia, Frog and Toad, Little Bear, etc. Spelling has also come very easily for him. It won't be long until he finishes the first grade book. Science is his favorite subject. He has come a long way with his cutting skills and handwriting although his pencil grasp is still not quite perfect yet. He loves to sing or hum throughout the day. He often sings songs he has heard me playing on the radio or heard in church. I think he has the most accurate pitch of my three kids.

4. Has become much braver. He has been the most fearful and shyest of my three kids, but he is coming out of his shell in both regards. Every once in a while he still reverts back to his shyness (ex. last Tuesday night at the start of his first basketball practice but then he had a blast) or expresses fear over something like coming down a flight of stairs at church, but he loves big roller coasters like the Phoenix at Knoebels. Walking on the rope at the playground and riding his bike without training wheels are no big deal now whereas six months ago he wasn't even willing to try either of those. He also is doing great with singing on the platform with the children's choir even though this church is much larger. He also finally doesn't mind being alone in a room. When he first played soccer he wanted to run away from the ball because he was afraid someone might kick him, but this fall he played much more aggressively, and he scored about eight goals which was fantastic! Way to go, Ian!

Four years old (December 2013)

5. Has come a long way with eating. The list of foods he loves to eat keeps growing and growing. Some of his favorites include Apple Jacks cereal, Peanut Butter crunch cereal, Cocoa Puffs cereal, donuts, peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches, yogurt, popcorn, cheese crackers, hot dog with ketchup and mustard, cheese pizza, grilled cheese sandwich, goldfish crackers, chips, pretzels, tuna noodle casserole, rigatoni and meatballs, fish sticks, pulled pork, chicken bowtie bake, green beans, bananas, brownies, fried chicken, most kinds of candy and cookies, etc. He still has room for improvement with staying focused while eating (not getting out of his seat and eating rather than talking). he eats his breakfast very speedily most days (yay!), but lunch and dinner often take much longer than necessary (unless he's just given something like a hot dog without any fruit or vegetables). I am very grateful that his eosinophilic esophagitis is in remission right now and he doesn't have any restrictions regarding his diet. What an answer to prayer!

Five years old (January 2015)

6. Patient and honest. I am sure at some point in his life Ian will tell me a lie, but at this stage he is by far my most honest child. If his story contradicts Oliver's, I know to trust Ian's version and not Oliver's. I greatly appreciate his honesty. Also, he has by far the longest fuse in our house. He very rarely has lost his temper (Oliver has always been the one to provoke it).

We all love this six year old VERY much and can't wait to see how he will grow and change over the coming year. Nadia lost two teeth before she turned six. Ian hasn't lost any teeth yet, but maybe he'll lose a couple before he turns seven. He has REALLY anticipated this birthday because we told him he had to be six years old to watch the first Star Wars movie. We got the dvd and plan to watch it tomorrow evening. I hope it lives up to his expectations! He knows a LOT about Star Wars already, even though he hasn't seen any of the movies yet. He knows more than me about the movies, and I have seen them. Ha ha!