Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Finally. He's 5. He's been waiting on this day for a long, long time. It's been a difficult year for my little guy, but he's finally made it to 5. Let me give you some background. Before we moved, he was in Mother's Day Out (aka school for him) and got to play soccer and baseball. He had lots of friends on the street to play with and kept himself quite busy. Then, we moved him to Germany and everything changed. It's probably been more tough on him, than any of us. We got here and we struggled with the decision of whether to put him in German preschool or not. That was our one and only option for him. We weighed the pros and cons and talked to him about it and he wasn't too excited about going to school where they didn't speak any English. Hindsight, mommy was probably more fearful of it than he. Anyway, we chose for him to stay home one last year before he heads off to kindergarten in the fall. On top of that, military rules are different than in the civilian world and in order to play ANY sport or be involved in anything around here, the child must be 5. Hence, this is why he has been waiting so long.... He's ready to start school and play ball!

Hayden, Hayden, Hayden. You are a funny little fellow and make me laugh on a daily basis. I seriously could write a book of things you have said. I wish I had written more of it down. I certainly have my days with you that are long and daunting (like Tuesday.) Then, I have my days where I fight back tears because I know this is the end of my time with you being a "little" boy before kindergarten starts just a few short months away. It seems like just the other day I was in the hospital giving birth and out came this 9 lb 8 oz bundle of boy with lots of blond hair.

You are an aggressive, feisty little thing. You are not always wild about your sister "sharing" your toys with you, but you are adjusting. Some days you are very gentle with her and other days I catch you doing things to her behind my back. You and your brother are inseparable. You fight some, as most boys do. But all in all, you are each others best friend. You ask when Landen is going to be home from the time you wake up until he walks through the door at 3:00.
You make friends fairly easily. However, you broke my heart one day not long ago when I told you a little girl down the street was moving soon. You looked up at me teary eyed and said, "but I won't have any friends." Poor thing. There I went again saying, "just wait until your 5 and you'll get to play ball and go to kindergarten and you'll have LOTS of friends then. "

Well buddy, you're 5. Baseball has started and you are also taking a gymnastics class. You are thriving with your new found "friends" and grinning from ear to ear. I'm going to miss you next year when I'm eating lunch and I don't have anyone to play restaurant with. Or, when I head to the gym and don't get to make sure you take your gameboy along. I'll miss watching you stay in your pj's until 4 pm when I finally make you get dressed because we are going to be seen in public. I'll also miss watching you change the channels with remote in hand, just like a man.

We love you and are so proud of you. Happy Birthday, little man. I hope its all you thought it would be and more.