I blinked and he is 5.

Dear Sullivan,

Holy smokes!  I blinked and you are 5!  FIVE!  

How is that possible?  Seems impossible but here we are.  Its where we are right now.  Of course it is.  It is not like we have not lived day in and day out that past 5 years.  No, we definitely have.  We have lived through the morning whines, road trips, vacations, holidays and all the mundane events of our daily lives.  Together.

 I have so enjoyed watching you grow and learn.  Your intensity for life and emotion can only be matched by a select few.  I am not going to lie, it makes parenting you a challenge sometimes.  You question EVERYTHING (as you should).  And you remember exactly what we tell you, your experiences and how you felt every step of the way.

But in turn, you have brought so much fun and excitement, adventure and magic to our everyday lives.  You demand that we live in the moment and have all the feelings.

And we get to see life all over again through your eyes.

You are now a whole hand old.  Because of you, we are living right in the heart of life.  The "sweet spot".  Still little but big enough to understand so very much.

Right now, it is all about experiences.  I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to experience life with you.

You do life with such gusto:)

But that is just your way.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I became you mother.  And I am glad I didn't know.  We have figured it out together (still are figuring it out).

Somehow your birthday turned into a 3 day birthday celebration extravaganza.

But thats ok.

You are only 5 once, right?

It feels like such a milestone birthday for me you.

Five is a pretty big deal.

And we run with big deals around here.  We do big deals BIG.  We don't shy away from big deals.

Because we love big.  Like 50 million.  I love you 50 million and that is big.

I love you to the sun and all the planets, because it is farther than the moon.  But you already know that.  Because we talk and talk and talk and talk about everything.  All the time.  Non-stop.

Keep talking, keep questioning and keep loving life.

Love,
Mama

The Daily

Did I mention that three year olds are terribly difficult to handle?  And did I ever mention they get so much more enjoyable when they are 4?  Well, it's true. 

So all you parents out there trudging aimlessly through toddler town with your threenager, wandering dangerously close to the city limits but never able to cross over into the fields of freedom from tantrums over toast cut in the wrong direction and the fact that, by nature, peanut butter is sticky...

I am here to tell you it gets better!

Enter this guy:

Oh, he still has his moments, don't misunderstand me. But the ratio of enjoyable conversation and banter is far greater than mere survival through tantrum after tantrum after tantrum. 

He's a superhero in a tiny but mighty body. He uses the words "like" and "actually" like they are going out of style.  He cleans up the living room without being asked. He doesn't take a nap anymore. He eats entire hot dogs without needing them cut up. He has watched Top Gun (excluding sex scenes) and has related the experience of Maverick to his life where a daycare buddy of his had to go to a different school leaving him alone and unsure if he could go on without him but then finding the bravery to do so. 

Suddenly, he "doesn't want to talk about" when he jumped and landed face first off of one of the toys at the mall. He reassures me, "Grandma will think of something," when negotiating eating a Lunchable for breakfast instead of for lunch when Grandma is watching him for the day. And I had to agree with him. Can't really argue with that. 

But then he will go to swim lessons and cry and freak out the whole time because one of the instructors "was a guy."  And he will promise to do better next time but only if there are "two girls" there teaching him to swim. 

Four. Way better than 3. And hilarious.