Five.

Andrew – today you turned five years old. I can not believe it. I truly cannot and I will confess that I felt a little sad last night before bed as I hugged you and mentioned that it was the last time I would hug my four year old Andrew. You, however, could not be more excited to turn five and have been counting down the months, weeks, days, and finally hours for the last 6 months.

I think you were expecting this whole birthday thing to run exactly as last year and even told me how you were going to hit your pinata this time. We had to sit you down and tell you that not all birthdays are the same each year. And instead of one bigger party like last year (even though it was totally impromptu), we were going to celebrate a little at a time. Hopefully when all those little celebrations are over, I will post again with pictures of the birthday boy.

• You are totally into exciting descriptive words and your vocabulary seems to grow everyday with more of them. It's not uncommon for something to be the “Most totally coolest thing ever times one million!”


• You love anything “Hot Wheels” related. The cars, the computer games, the clothes, the gear, the music.


• You love preschool. You are not quiet a willing to give me the play by play of your day any more, but sometimes you pull something that you learned from school out of nowhere and blow me away with it. The last two weeks you learned about space and took a “Space Trip” and this next week you are learning about plants and seeds.

You and AJ wearing your "Space Helmets" in your "Spaceship"

• You love your computer time. In fact, it is what we hold over you use to motivate you to complete chores and help out with no grumbling and complaining. Your standbys are PBS.com, PlayhouseDisney.com, and of course, the current favorite, HotWheels.com.


• You love playing with your classmate/neighbor, Gabe. You see him every school day and now that the weather is nicer, you've been able to ride your bike with him the days in between, too. It's fun to see you in an environment with “peers”.


• You have lots of energy. And sometimes that energy gets a little out of control and you become a wild man. You need to work on being aware of your surrounding a little bit more... but I'm sure as a five year old... that will get better. I'm thankful for your energy – and I know all those bruised heal eventually.


• You love your brother. And while he does pick on you and antagonize you sometimes, you are still great friends and for that I am so very thankful. One of my favorite sounds is hearing you two play together... planning very seriously or giggling uncontrollably.


• You still aren't a fan of fruits and veggies. You will give us your obligatory bite, but you otherwise stick to peeled apples and carrot sticks. Although due to a recent preschool week on nutrition, you are at least more aware of what's healthy, what's not, and why you should or shouldn't eat something.


• Your favorite foods are still cheeseburgers and french fries, pizza, and of course pumpkin muffins.


• You claim your favorite song is still the “Oh No” song, by Matt Redman; but recently we've had to listen to Toby Mac's “Lose My Soul” quite a bit on YouTube. I catch you singing it around the house all the time.


• You love your Bible story at the end of each night. I'm so thankful you do. And while I think that some stories might just go over your head, I am surprised about how much you really get. I love listening to you pray. I can't describe it, but it's beautiful.

Andrew, I'm baffled at how fast the last five years have gone. Well, maybe the last four years... that first year was a doozy and felt long due to lack of sleep. But the rest has flown by. I'm so thankful for your silliness, your goofy faces, your sense of humor, your logic, you faith and so much more. Happy Birthday, Buddy.