FIVE!

It's been 3 months since my last post! We've spent the new year focused mostly on Sam's speech, scheduling appointments and evaluations and taking advantage of new resources for him. I'll update you on all of that soon. We've also been hitting the gym a lot more. Michael has lost FORTY pounds and I've been training for a half marathon again. (Notice I did not mention any lost weight myself -- ha!) In January Adam turned FIVE, and I've been working on his post for 2 months! So without further ado....

Adam is FIVE and ready to take on the world!
Seriously, he is.

The other day he corrected Michael on spelling. (Sorry, Michael, but I'm going to share.) So here's what happened. Adam is really into Bernstein Bears books. There is one call No Girls Allowed. One day he pulled out a notepad and wrote a note that said Girls Welcome (because that's more polite), with a little help from us on the spelling. Then, instead, he wanted to make a No Bad Guys Allowed sign but needed help on spelling allowed. Michael coached him, telling him a-l-o-u-d and was immediately corrected by our 5 year old that, no, Daddy, that's not how you spell this 'allowed.'

He chooses more advanced words for common things than is expected. His stuffed animals are plush toys. He asks if a puzzle piece is in the right position. This morning he told me to come see his tidy room. He asks for assistance. He told me a toy was random. He walked in his room and found a malfunction. He asked Gramma if she was prepared to go to Kroger.

Between his Great States board game and his US states puzzle, he's learning the states and state capitals on his own by reading the names. We know this because if you ask him for a state capital he'll pronounce it like it's spelled (or how he remembers the word looks) instead of how it's pronounced if taught by us. Like Maine -- (which he insists is pronounced Main-ey), he will say August-a (AUGusta, like the month instead of AuGUSTa.) This winter our neighbors built a giant head sculpture out of snow in their front lawn. First thing Adam said when he saw it was, "That looks like the heads in South Dakota!" I'm not sure I ever knew for sure that Mount Rushmore was in South Dakota. You know, it's in one of those Western states I've never been to. But he knows.

He's very particular about sharing the rules. Sometimes these rules are just memorized. I remember when he was just 2 yrs old he'd recite to us “No mulch, no water, no biting”, a refrain I'm sure was drilled into little toddler ears at daycare before going on the playground. Or, he can repeat rules from his Fly Guy: Firefighter book about fire safety. (Last night he emphasized to me that we should never leave a candle burning while we are not home. Or near pets.)

Other times these rules are self created, like his rules for his apple slices (with no seeds and no seed holes) or his clothing (shirt with words and no buttons) or his bedtime stories (which he only tells me and not Michael):
1. Make sure I (Adam) can see the pictures.
2. Start at the top.
3. Read loudly.
4. No talking while yawning.
(Rule 4 was a late addition to the rule list due to my interrupting yawns, apparently. And even though I'm fully aware of #4, I often forget, and he will stop me every time to say (with exasperation), "Mommmm, no talking while yawning!")

His memory is astounding. He can recite whole books or full lines from his Mighty Machines movies or definitions he learned at school. Ask him the definition of Tundra and he will say, and I quote, "an area of land near the North Pole where the soil is permanently frozen a few feet beneath the surface." He loves advertising slogans and will tell me we need to go to "cut your rate plan in half", like it's a store name. Or, "hey, Daddy, did you know 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance?". Or "More Saving, More Doing. That's the power of the Home Depot."

He's pretty amazing.

Which is why we have him scheduled for an IQ test next week. Kindergarten is upon us and we are evaluating options of where to send him. He is currently registered in the local public school system (which has an A+ rating), but it's a lottery system for the full day option. (Do we feel lucky?!) We'll know in late April if he gets in the full day or half day. Since he's been used to full-days, 5 days a week, we definitely want him to go all day. We really like the school he'd attend and the principle there, but the school is only K-1st, and we wonder if he'll have access to resource materials at a higher level, if needed. (We are against grade-skipping, which Michael did in his youth. We wish for him to remain with his peers.) Which brings us to a private option, specifically a gifted school. An IQ of 130 is required. If he fulfills that, then we'll do a site visit and discuss further requirements and then make the best decision for our family.

Sending children to school is much harder than I anticipated! But there's no doubt he's ready. He's beyond ready.

But when he's not being a little grown-up man, he has plenty of time to be all boy.

What's Big for him:

• Riding his bike -- training wheels will come off this summer! (Though he tells me his new bike does not work well "up hills." I know the feeling, kid.)
• Wanting winter to be over. I don't know how many times he's asked me this. I think it started in January.
• Legos and Mighty Machines and Fly Guy and Books! Books! Books!
• Semi-trucks, flatbed trucks, log trucks, transport trucks, etc. Trucks, trucks, trucks!
• Piano lessons -- he is really loving piano! He frequently thumbs through his music book throughout the week. The new song he learned uses both hands to play.
• A few words still trip him up, but I love them -- Valentimes, sumbarine, light bolts, lemolade, snowmobio (snowmobile)
• He likes to direct you in conversation. Mommy, when I say this, then you say this.
• He likes to play a guessing game where he'll describe an object and I have to guess what it is (with the rule being I can't guess it on the first try)
• He likes to play word games -- name words that rhyme. Or are compound words. Or sound the same but mean different things (homonyms). Aloud/Allowed!
• He confuses phrases used for the passage of time. He'll say yesterday when he means last week.  He'll say I never when he means he hasn't done something in a long time. If I say we'll do something another day, he'll say we'll do it tomorrow after breakfast.
• He speaks from the heart, as in "My heart is hungry." Or, "My heart wants a new book." 
• He recently ran his third 5k race. He gets pretty distracted along the course but always finishes. Before the race Michael told him we need to practice (train), and he said, "But I already know how to run!" And then I asked him why we run and he said "to weigh off those extra inches!"
• Which leads me to his confusion of units of measure. The other day he used a yard stick to tell me the wall was 28 pounds tall!
• He'll begin soccer practice next week with his first game next Saturday.

I could go on. He has so many funny, surprising moments and draws amazing comparisons to things, we are often blown away. He's 5 going on 8, and I sure hope we don't skip those years in between for real because I love every moment with him!

Five year old Adam is so fun!