Two By Two: Six!!

Wow. The boys are six. Doesn't that somehow seem so much older than five? When you have a five-year-old, you still have a little kid. When you have a six-year-old, you have a grade-schooler. (And when you have two six-year-olds, you are so busy that you have to backdate posts. I love that blogger says this was posted on March 15.)

What a year this one has been! In reality, six really is different than five. This year has seen the boys grow in so many ways. They started elementary school. They were separated for the first time. They have grown into gangly kids, and have absolutely none of that baby fat left anywhere on their bodies. They have real conversations, with us and with their friends, and ask tons of questions--good questions! They have learned independence (sometimes too much), attitude, and although they haven't thrown out any really bad words yet, they have certainly risen to new heights with potty humor. Oh, and they are smart. They both scored in the 99th percentile on the standardized test that they took at school in the fall. They both read at a second grade level (I'm betting Charlie is closer to third grade). They thoroughly understand multiplication, and I just taught them both division. Once their old Montessori school director taught me how to explain it to them, they both picked it up in about two minutes.

This year has especially been one of growth for Joe. We were worried how he would do in a class without Charlie, and he has just blossomed. I think he's kind of like the nerdy-cool kid in his class. He's very popular, has lots of friends, and--in kindergarten!--several girls fighting over him!!! He's also got a good buddy, Owen, who is really his first close friend besides Charlie. And Joseph--my child, the one who takes after me--is becoming a decent little athlete! He did a great job this fall during soccer, has been taking soccer after school and loving it, and is super excited to be starting tball games soon. He is one of the better kids on his teams--and for that matter, he is also one of the smarter kids in his class, apparently--but unlike his brother, neither is something he really cares about. He just enjoys himself. He is becoming more and more independent at home, and can reasonably well be expected to get ready in the morning and evenings, pick up, and do most of his chores by himself (OK, often with a good bit of reminding, but once reminded, we don't have to do this for him). He is also becoming more and more independent from Charlie. He is starting to lean towards his own interests, choosing what he wants to do instead of what Charlie will do with him. He and Charlie are still best friends, though, and he would still rather hang out with our family than anyone else. We hope he stays that way at least a few years longer.

This year has also been one of growth for Charlie, albeit a little bit tougher on him. With a new school, new independence, and separation from Joseph, Charlie has struggled a bit. We wonder if he lost his place a little. He's always wanted to be "the best." I think he sometimes measured that by simply trying to outdo Joseph, and now he doesn't know who to outdo. He also has a lot of independence in his class, and I think that causes him to really test his limits. He does better with structure than with chaos, and there is more of the latter in his kindergarten class. But he has worked very hard to improve his behavior, with very good results. We are proud of him and think he is learning some great life coping lessons. His competitive streak is still very much alive (and sometimes gets the best of him). Of the two boys, he exhibits more independence from us, and more attitude in doing it. We're working on the attitude part. But he is also the same sweet kid he has always been, who will often see an opportunity to be helpful and just do it, and can brown-nose with the best of them ("You're the best mommy in the whole world!"). He perhaps fights a little more with Joe (but still loves him more than anyone), but remains almost always loving and helpful towards Will and Helen. He really looks out for them. He is, if possible, even more into sports than ever before. He understands more details of more sports than me at this point. He starred during soccer this fall, and tball looks promising--he learned to catch this year, and he's pretty darn good at it. If anything, he's a little one-dimensional. We try to remind him occasionally that there are other things in life that are fun, besides sports. He is mature beyond his years, and he'd rather sit with his dad and watch and comment on a sports game than anything in the whole world.

Since we had to invite two kindergarten classes, plus a few friends, we had the boys' birthday party at a local park. They were a little disappointed that every kindergartener there didn't want to participate in a big tball game, but in the end they consented to heading over to the playground and having fun with everyone else. There was a lot of running around and a lot of gathering of the pebbles on the playground and dumping them everywhere, because apparently, that's tons of fun. (I noted a difference between girls and boys. Both played with the rocks, but the girls knew that they should stop short of throwing the rocks up in the air and hitting other people. The boys, not so much.) For the third year in a row, they requested no gifts, but a charitable contribution instead. It was Charlie's own idea to help victims of the Haitian earthquake. We nixed his original idea of having people bring tools that we would send over so they could rebuild their houses--sweet, but a little unworkable. So we found the Soles for Souls organization and requested the donation of used shoes to be sent to the earthquake victims.

Joe on the rocks

Charlie being silly and swinging

It's a wonder this tire held on the kids on it that day!

Aren't the cupcakes cute? Kudos to The Dessert Shoppe.

On the boys actual birthday, which fell during spreak break, we were in Ruidoso skiing (another post on that later). But there was still plenty of celebrating to do. We had cake and candles, and this time presents! Frankly, the boys are pretty easy to please gift-wise. They got cash from Gramma (their favorite!), board games from Gransan and Grandad, Harry Potter books from Mom, new calculators from Will, and some cards depicting countries all over the world from Helen. Dad got them some magnetic baseball and football helmets so they can keep track of the NFL and MLB standings, but UPS (or maybe Dad's shopping timeline) didn't cooperate. But once those arrive, they will definitely be their favorite present.