Garrett: Five Years!

Who is this handsome big kid?!?

Garrett's Birthday Interview
Age: 5
Height: 3 ft, 5 in
Weight: 35 lb, 4 oz

What is your favorite color? Red and Blue
What is your favorite animal? Puppy Dog (No surprise there!)
What is your favorite book? Puppy Dog Books (Shortly after he remembered the name of a specific puppy dog book, "The Perfect Present", although I honestly think he only named that one because he had read it the previous day)
What is your favorite song? Hark the Herald
What is your favorite sport? Football

Hanging at an Augustana football game last fall!

What is your favorite thing to do with Mom? Birthday Outing (I'll just pretend he means all the outings I take him on, not just his singular birthday one)
What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Cuddle (A little surprising, since most "cuddling" with daddy turns into a tickle-fest. Although maybe that's why it's his favorite...)
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Dig (Seriously. He got some construction trucks for his birthday/Christmas, and while he's made do with using them in the snow, he can't wait to get them out in some sand and dirt)

If I had to guess, I would say fishing is a close second to favorite outdoor activity

Where is your favorite place to go? Pavilion (Same answer as William at five!)
What is your favorite fruit? Cherries (I believe it, although I could justify indulging him more often if they weren't so darn expensive)
What is your favorite vegetable? Sweet Potato (Fortunately, these are generally easy to find for a reasonable price)

He likes them so much he insists on helping Mommy peel them! (Seriously--we had to get him his own peeler. He loves helping out in the kitchen, and most of the time he is legitimately helpful)

What is your favorite cereal? Marshmallow Treasures
What is your favorite treat? Lollipops (Thank goodness we get enough Dum Dum suckers at parades during the summer to last us the whole year)
What is your favorite meal? Jambalaya
What makes you happy? Playing with Mommy and Daddy (Awwww...)
What makes you sad? When everyone is sick and I can't play with them (This is been the story of his life this year. William was sick for something like five days in January, and Connor was sick for another two, plus they all recently took turns being sick over President's Day weekend. It's been fun running an infirmary... Not)
Who are your best friends: Kason and Oriya
What do you want to be when you grow up? Construction worker who works on roads (I'd like to think he could set his sights a little higher than that, but hey, whatever makes him happy!)

I think he'd also make a pretty fine construction worker who built houses--or even the architect who designed the builds!

What was your favorite part about last year? Going to the bowling alley (And thanks to the Kids Bowl Free summer program, we get a whole bunch of trips in during the summer!)
What is one thing you want to do this year? Play with toys (Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure we can arrange that)


Well, here we are. Another five year old. Another kid starting school in the fall. Two years ago when I was worried about William's separation anxiety and how he would adjust to Kindergarten, I would have told you that I wasn't worried at all for when Garrett's turn came around. But now that we're here, I'm not sure how I feel. I can't exactly pinpoint when it started, but he's gotten way more clingy to me, he acts super shy all the time (to the point of not even wanting to answer questions from grandparents; he'll hide behind my leg instead), uses a whiny baby voice most of the time when he actually does talk, and his ability to control his emotions (especially the disappointing ones--like being told no) seems like it has gotten worse. Oh, and he absolutely does not like participating in instructor-led activities (like songs at library story times). So that stuff will be fun for him to figure out in kindergarten. And honestly, even if he navigates those hurdles well, I know the first few weeks will still be rough because he sometimes still struggles in the evening if he doesn't get a nap during the day--so a solid day of kindergarten without even his normal afternoon rest time is sure to leave him exhausted (and prone to acting out). Yay.

While he has never been the "star of the show" during Sunday School performances, he's regressed from at least singing and attempting the actions to this: standing like a statue and hiding out as close to his cousin Jonathan as he can

He did start YMCA camp last summer, which seemed to go well despite some reservations on his end, so at least that's a good sign for kindergarten (although I'm curious to see how this summer goes; I'm a little nervous that it might be worse than last summer!)

A few notable accomplishments from the past year: he figured out how to ride a pedal bike (William got one for his 6th birthday and Garrett had it mastered about as quickly as William did) and he started full-on reading shortly after his 4th birthday (and he is now reading the chapter books William brings home from school!). I'm sure there are tons of other ones, but those are the big ones that come to mind.

Biking boys!

And just a few other notes/observations from the past year. He definitely likes to be silly (see above picture for proof) and enjoys making other people laugh, but sometimes to a fault. Connor will sometimes do things he isn't supposed to do (like throw Legos), but because Connor is laughing and thinks it's funny, Garrett will sometimes join in (and usually escalate the situation to a higher level of wildness), even if he knows it is wrong. On the flip side, if he doesn't join in on Connor's bad behavior, he will try to reprimand Connor for it. And not just a simple telling him to stop; I've heard him threaten Connor with consequences in a full-on parent mode. So we've been working on what is appropriate for a brother to do (remind him that he's breaking the rules and getting Mommy or Daddy if he doesn't listen) versus what is appropriate for a parent to do (set consequences like being sent to his room).

Living his best life at the beach

Enjoying the smoke bombs at the 4th of July

As I mentioned earlier, Garrett has a tendency to have some really big emotions, and I often find myself struggling with how to parent him through those moments, and I think part of that is because he is showing a tendency toward being a right-brained learner, and I am very (very) much a left-brained person. He's really good at coming up with creative solutions to problems (especially if the solution--like moving chairs and climbing on to things--gets him something he wants). He really gets into art activities and loves to free play/free build with things. He is a lover and a nurturer through and through (which I know I've mentioned on probably every single one of his updates). And I know that absolutely none of these things are "negatives", but man, it's been a challenge for me to figure out how to get into that side of my brain so I can do my best to meet him where he is.

Onions making me cry? I'll just wear my sunglasses! Problem solved (well, sort of. The onions still bothered him a little bit)

We took the boys to see my cousin's son perform as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, and Garrett was totally enthralled the whole time

Who needs building instructions to create awesome block towers?

Still nothing but love for all (and I do mean ALL) his stuffed animals

Happy Birthday Garrett! You may be small in size, but you do life big--you love big, you play big, you fight big, and you give me attitude big (I couldn't get through the whole post without throwing that last little bit in there--you can be plenty sweet but boy when you want to you can be full of sass!). We love you!