Six. Six? Six! Seriously, I cannot believe you are already six years old, Cooper. You are such a special kid, and I can't even explain in words how much I love watching you learn and grow. Yes, as I ALWAYS tell you, "Can you just please stop growing so you can stay little forever??!!?!" But, really, it's pretty great watching you navigate life as a you know it.
The start of kindergarten marked such an incredible change for you. In the past few months, you have learned SO much. You can READ! I am a teacher, and I still am floored at how fast you have picked up reading and word skills. You have a special bond with your teacher, and she has showed you how fun and exciting every day at school can be. Miss Laurent is quite a teacher and has started your years of school off on the best foot we could have imagined. You love to read. The Berenstain Bears are your obsession. You love to learn. You love to teach Izzy. You love to share your knowledge and random facts, especially if it involves animals. Snakes, alligators, lions, tigers, dinosaurs, and Komodo dragons are among your favorites. You are a good boy at school. We have heard that you 'have a lot of energy' and you 'get excited about everything' but that you don't cross the line very often. We are helping you work on keeping your hands to yourself (and that hugs are really best for your family members) and to be patient about other people having turns to talk. We know you have a lot to say, but so does everyone else.
You are a very good big brother. You like to protect Izzy and teach her things (even though sometimes she doesn't want to hear it). You help her when she's scared and nervous. You are SO patient with Carson. You have learned to be gentle but still play hard with him. You have learned to accept that he likes to copy you and do everything you do. He will always look up to you--so I'm glad you're getting used to it now!
You are growing like a weed and eating us out of house and home. You have blown through another clothes size since starting kindergarten, and if you don't outgrow clothes, you put holes in them. You are tough on equipment, but I'm glad you like to play and get dirty and be outside. You love to play basketball, baseball, and hockey, and you are convinced that next winter you'll try wrestling (thanks for the inspiration, Miss Laurent!!). Outside is your happy place, where you can run and be loud. You lost your first tooth before you turned six. You seem to get excited about just about everything. Except food you don't like. We are still working on that whine when you are 'afraid' to try something new.
You are sensitive but are learning that most things aren't worthy of your tears. It's been tough getting you to stop overreacting to getting hurt... but you're getting there. You love to snuggle and I love that you aren't embarrassed to hold my hand in public or give me hugs and kisses. You give the BEST hugs :) You do not like getting in trouble, and you get pretty sensitive about it when it does happen.
Cooper, you're awesome. You are one of the best gifts God has ever given me, and nothing you could ever do would make me stop loving you. I am so proud of the little boy you are, and I am so blessed to be your mom. Enjoy being six! It's going to be a GREAT year!
Party Time!!
Cooper was jacked up for a great birthday! He is pretty lucky to always celebrate his birthday on Christmas break... it frees us up for a day full of family fun!
He awoke to a room full of balloons, as is our tradition. Don't worry. He wouldn't let me forget.
Breakfast at the bakery with smoothies and a his favorite chocolate muffin.
He LOVED getting magnet tiles for his birthday gift from us.
That night, we visited some friends we haven't seen in a long time! The Johnston's, Frei's, Perkins' and Kalal's all got together and had a great time catching up! Carson missed out on the fun... he and Ada stayed back at the house :)
A couple weeks after his 'real' birthday, we had a birthday party for him with some of his kindergarten buddies. His kindergarten party was his FIRST friend party, and it didn't disappoint :)
Jaxson Overline, Cooper, Trayton Gutzke, Collin Pike, Bennett Grant, Rayne Vogel.
The boys made personal pizzas. Carson just ate the ingredients.
It was important to Cooper that his sister got to be a part of his party, too. She had no hesitation about being with all the boys.
Can you say... ENERGY? The boys had a blast playing together for a couple hours, but boy, it got wild. There was no fighting, but two and a half hours together was just about the perfect amount of time... any longer and I think I would have lost my mind.
Have fun being 6 Cooper!!
No comments:
Post a Comment