Matthew: Six Years!

 

A few years ago our school started taking kindergarten pictures at open house night so parents could be present (and hopefully help ensure better/more relaxed photos). I assumed Darrell could handle taking Matthew to get his photo while I did PTO stuff, but I may have been mistaken (to be fair, Darrell maintains that they did try multiple times to get a better picture, but apparently the options were "good smile but not looking at the camera" or "awkward smile while looking at the camera"). Oh well. At least he's cute

Age: 6

Height: 3 feet, 8.5 inches (an inch taller than Garrett at six, and nestled neatly between William's and Connor's heights. For a few years we thought he was going to give Connor a run for his money on being the tallest, but maybe not!)

Weight: 44 pounds, 4.8 ounces (I'll be curious to see how this number trends the next few years. William was actually the heaviest at six by half a pound or so, but Connor has jumped way ahead in recent years. I don't think he'll ever be our lightest--Garrett seems to have that pretty securely in the bag--but I wonder if he'll stock up like Connor has or just keep floating along the 40th-ish percentile like William)

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Animal: Monkey

I'm sure he would have held a monkey if that had had one at the circus, but holding a snake is pretty darn cool too

Favorite Book: Berenstain Bears

Favorite Song: Joy to the World

Favorite Sport: Soccer

Favorite Thing to do with Mom: Play Skip-Bo

Favorite Thing to do with Dad: Play Uno

Favorite Thing to do Outside: Play soccer

Apparently not as cool as soccer, but I thought he did an awesome job navigating some of the all-terrain sections of the bike trail this spring

Favorite Place to go: Wings

Not Wings, but that didn't stop him from having a ball!

Favorite Fruit: Strawberries

Favorite Vegetable: Peas

Favorite Cereal: Cocoa Dino Bites

Favorite Treat: Smarties

Favorite Meal: Cajun Chicken Pasta

What Makes You Happy: Playing games

Playing games makes Mom happy too

What Makes You Sad: When someone punches me

Who are your Best Friends: Liam, Silas, Aizen

His brother Garrett didn't make the cut during his birthday interview, but he sure did at school

What do you want to be when you grow up: Artist

Favorite Part about Last Year: Going to Great Wolf Lodge

Riding the Lazy River with Dad

What is one thing you want to do this year: Go to Great Wolf Lodge

It's a little crazy to reflect back on the time Matthew spent at home by himself in the spring of 2025 and then the start of kindergarten for him that fall when he's already months into 1st grade, but I dug myself into this hole and the only way forward is to dig myself out of it. 

I'd be lying if I didn't say that part of me was looking forward to Matthew starting kindergarten because I was excited about the prospect of getting to run errands without a little tagalong and think of all the stuff I could get done around the house if I didn't have a kid underfoot! However, I quickly realized shortly after Matthew started kindergarten that I still had the same number of errands to run, and turns out my little tagalong never really slowed me down that much. Sure, my library stops were a little faster and we made fewer detours to parks, but having Matthew at school didn't magically give me all kinds of extra time, especially since he also did a really good job of entertaining himself at the house so I could get stuff done there. Truthfully, I think I had a harder time adjusting to all the boys being in school than he did adjusting to kindergarten, but I suppose after 13 years of having kids at home all day it shouldn't have been too surprising that the sudden freedom of getting to do everything on my own timeline would be a little hard to navigate at first.

Speaking of kindergarten, Matthew did absolutely awesome. Thanks to all my PTO stuff he's pretty much been in the school his whole life, and we were a little concerned that his familiarity with some of the staff and the school building would be problematic, but he did great transitioning from "Mom's helper" to "kindergarten student" (although he did say that his class took a tour of the school on one of the first days to help students learn the building and he was "super bored" because he already knew his way around the whole school). He still hasn't been super interested in putting letter sounds together to read words, but he works hard in class and gets all of his stuff done, so we're trying not to push the reading thing too hard. Plus after having three boys that just took off with reading, it's actually been kind of fun to work on sounding out words and seeing his excitement when he figures out a tricky one.

We were a little nervous that he would be a bit of a class clown--he's always doing silly things to get a laugh out of people and if someone is going to goof off in a perfectly normal family picture it's almost always guaranteed to be Matthew--but his teacher has said he does just fine. Is he a little wild and squirrelly? Yes. Is his behavior well within an acceptable kindergarten range and does he redirect quickly when needed? Also yes. Of course, sometimes I worry I don't get the most honest answers from teachers because they all know me and our family so well and I worry they might be a little over-tolerant of Matthew's antics, but I guess I'll just have to trust them. Which of course I do, because we know that underneath Matthew's silly and wild exterior is a truly determined, hard-working boy and over the summer we saw proof of the things he can accomplish once he puts his mind to them.

Probably the most noticeable feat of determination was this hike we did in the Black Hills over the summer. Darrell was tasked with researching family friendly hikes, and Little Devil's Tower hike came up. He said it was 3.5ish miles out and back with some rock scrambling required at the end, which I thought sounded fine. What he failed to mention is that there would be over 700 feet in elevation gain on the 1.5ish mile hike to the summit, most of which occurred at the end over nothing but rocks. Matthew--who has plenty of experience hiking but has only done a few hikes of this length and basically nothing like this as far as terrain goes--was an absolute rock star (as were all the boys). And if that picture of him on the summit isn't proof enough, he was pretty darn proud of himself for making it

These pictures are really just placeholders for a few other things Matthew tackled over the summer before kindergarten (and really, they're just too cute not to share). At the beach over the summer, Matthew really started to show some confidence and independence going out into the waves without Mom or Dad holding his hand. He certainly didn't try to keep up with his brothers (those fools make me nervous sometimes!), but it was fun to watch him get more brave as the week went on and venture a little further out into the water alone. And while fishing is nothing new at the lake, Matthew jumping off the dock by himself is. We'd been encouraging this as early as last summer, and all throughout this summer as well, but Matthew was just super hesitant to jump in without someone to catch him (even though he was perfectly comfortable swimming unassisted with his life jacket on). Then all of the sudden in August he decided he was ready, and off he went! It was a huge step for him, and apparently significant enough of an event that this fall (fall of 1st grade), it was the thing he shared when they had to write about a time when they were brave. 

You may be full of silly and sass and I know you'll always keep us on our toes, but we also know that you'll do great things because you aren't afraid of a little hard work and flexing that courage muscle. We love you!

(And no, we have no idea where the desire for a turtle cake came from. But when it comes to birthday cakes my boys get what they want, no matter how silly or random!)