Three Times the Fun: Happy Belated 6th Birthday Boys!

First day of KG at Woodman Park School! Aidan, Brady, Gavin

BAG, the force is STRONG with these 6 year olds! Thanks Aunt Pam and Uncle Tony!

For the first time in awhile I have another bout of insomnia. Maybe caused by the boring John Irving book, I finally was able to finish - all 537 pages in nearly 2 months. bleh. But I have been both wanting to write up the boys who they are as they are 6 and sort of dreading it and I haven't been able to figure out why I am dreading it. Maybe because after what I felt like was a wonderful birthday your dad and I were able to provide you with last year, I feel like this year the family birthday the night before your actual day was rushed and less special than last year? Maybe because we are in a relative state of upheaval and have been for nearly 7+ months? Maybe because I am honestly mourning how quickly my boys are growing up? Maybe because I feel like there is SO MUCH OTHER STUFF TO GET DONE and for once, I am feeling beyond stretched? So here goes. I hope my sweet, sweet boys know this delay has nothing to do with my love for them and the awe I have in watching them grow up - neither of those are diminished in the slightest, I just want to be able to do justice to who I see them as at 6 years old. :)

Aidan, First day of soccer, fall 2014

Aidan
Who you are today? You are my independent and loving child and you are a performer. I feel like this question can best be summed up by the conversation you and I had the day before Kindergarten. You were brushing your teeth the morning before KG began and you said to me, "Mom?! What if EVERYONE in my class wants to play with me?" Sort of genuinely concerned and starry-eyed with the possibility. What I love about you is the confidence and enthusiasm this question expressed. But what I love even more was how the conversation went after this. I laughed, because I think most people, especially as they get older often have the opposite concern, what if NO ONE wants to play/befriend me? And I said "that would be a pretty good problem to have, huh?" You said yes. So I said, "You know what you can do? Because it is very easy for you to make friends (which it is), you can be on the lookout for other kids who maybe DON'T make friends as easily as you and you can invite them to play with you and other friends in your class." Your response, "You're right, I COULD DO THAT!" as you were literally lost in thought in what a FANTASTIC opportunity this presented you with! Wonderful. Your lego-building is going to new heights, though you are sometimes a little protective of sharing the legos with your brothers - you LOVE saving your creations and aren't into destroying them for someone else to build with. You are still as delighted to be the center of attention as ever and you very easily interact with strangers in a most delightful way. I am also seeing you bloom and flourish in kindergarten! Even though you mentioned being nervous not having your brothers in your class (which honestly surprised your dad and I) I know that you are enjoying your class and your teacher believes you are doing very well. I myself have seen your interest in the academic side of development increase, and you seem to be enjoying some newfound confidence there, which is great to see. I think for a long time your brothers have had some of the academic skills come more easily to them and their willingness to fill the air time (i.e. talk over you or shout out the answer because they are excited) often shut you down and made you anxious because it hadn't come as easily to you. You are an incredibly hard worker and that will serve you well in the long run. You are LOVING soccer in a way that is all your own. You are doing great with your skills, but you are also really tenacious in your play, that determination will also serve you well. You are also still our budding musician and I look forward to a time when you will be learning to play an instrument, as I know you look forward to that as well. I love you so much, my sweet Aidan. I hope that you are finding yourself to be truly happy.

Brady first day of soccer, fall 2014

Brady
Who are you today? You are still our questioner and the family narrator and are my FEELER, even when you don't want to be. This can also be summed up by some of the days leading up to the first day of kindergarten. You had told your dad and I how you were happy to have your own classroom, which also surprised your dad and I, since you had previously indicated nervousness at not knowing any one when new things started. I think you were trying to put on a brave face. For several days leading up to KG you were having some big emotional outbursts over legos, how brothers were playing games with you (or not), what you were perceiving as fair (or not) from dad and I and we were both at a loss from time to time as to how to respond. Finally the night before KG came and you went into near meltdown playing Trouble with me (when you lost one) and then with me and your brothers. It was fireworks. We then were calmed enough (i thought) to go upstairs and get ready for bed and while I don't remember what triggered it, I had asked you to go and get ready for bed in my room because you needed to leave a situation. You went into my room and were laying on our bed just SOBBING. While your dad got your brothers ready for bed I went and laid with you and asked what was wrong (thinking it was probably abut school) and when you could finally talk you said "I'm worried about EVERYTHING NEW!" We talked for a long time about how it was normal to be nervous and worried when you started new things and how I had been nervous when I started school, and when I had started a new school and college and new jobs, etc. I think it was a shock to you that 1) you have lots of times when new things are in store and 2) I as an adult had even been nervous. I was able to calm you when I asked, "What would make you feel the most confident to wear tomorrow?" You said your blue soccer outfit from Ameena and Hamad and I told you I would wash it that night. That was like turning on a light for you, bless your heart. I then of course offered that for Aidan and for Gavin, which is why you all were wearing your most comfortable clothes, as opposed to clothes that might have looked cutest for first day of school pictures. You are SO generous with your brothers when they are REALLY upset. You really have integrated the concept of compromise into your character, even when you can see sometimes you REALLY don't want to (like when you really want to hold my hand on the way to school, but you give it up for your brother instead, or when you give your brother a cup you would prefer to drink out of, or give them a turn before you are truly done.). We have cautioned you that this may condition your brothers to throwing fits when they want something if you always give in, but the harmony seems more important to you. You are LOVING soccer and your skills are really fantastic. Daddy has even admitted to me that he has to TRY to defend you these days. You may wonder where your competitiveness comes from, but you and daddy are like two peas in a pod in this aspect of your personalities. You LOVE making jokes and I can see your wit coming out all the time. You seem to be loving KG, and your reading skills are coming right along. While you aren't necessarily at a stage where you are reading on your own, you are reading signs and small things everywhere we are. It is fantastic. I love you so much my sweet boy and I hope that you are feeling secure and stable in our move to NH.

Gavin first day of gymnastics, fall 2014 (but at the soccer field, he wanted to do his brothers' pose)

Gavin
Who are you today? Thus far you are our creative and silly child. While you are often doing your own thing, the things that you are coming up with on your own continuously amaze and impress me. You are our story teller, both verbally and in writing; you wrote a book before you had even turned 6 (The Monster). You are now on your third book (The Two People Fight and Mystery of the Mansion, respectively) and they are getting longer, more detailed and more hilarious! You still love to hide from us in plain sight and catch me off guard with your jokes fairly regularly. You have big emotions lately, but I feel like that is from you being SO grown up at school, sometimes at home you just need to let some things out. Speaking of which you are LOVING KG. You love how hard you get to work at your morning work, about as much as you love PE, which seems like a good balance to me. About a week and a half ago, we had to go to the dr. for your asthmatic cough and there was some crummy book in the exam room called "I'm a big sister". I gave it to you thinking you could check it for sight words (which you knew every single one of the 30 sight words within a week of us getting the sheet) and low and behold you READ ME the ENTIRE book, one we had never seen. It was so magical seeing you using this new skill. I was so lucky to have video of you reading it to me and being completely unaware that I was recording you. I think I can say for sure "Thank goodness for iPhones" in this case. :) You are LOVING your gymnastics class as well. I think it is safe to say you have found your people in this sport (at least for now). You are so focused and you listen so well and try so hard that is is SO much fun to watch. I can tell how much Coach Jon and Ms. Dubois enjoy having you in their class because you surely are engaged in the group and have such enthusiasm that i bet it rubs off on the other kids. You were sort if in the middle of Aidan and Brady in your concern about starting KG. You were definitely having big emotions that week, but on the whole were excited to start and very happy once you were there. You are certainly my sentimental boy, as you have cried a couple of times about being homesick for our life (because I think that is what it is really about ) in Iowa City. It broke my heart one night as you were getting ready for bed when you burst into tears saying how much you missed our house and yard and our basement and then you said "but I really miss my friend Anthony the most of all." I promise, my sweet one, I am working to organize some playdates for you with new friends in your class. Hilariously, you are the first of your brothers to be invited to birthdays. I'm sure it just has to do with who is having a birthday/bday party, but your first one without them is in a week and I am sure you will love every second of it! I love you to pieces Gavin and I hope that you will find security and comfort in NH sooner rather than later.

Hiking Mt. Kearsarge, late July 2014. Gorgeous, fun hike!

This is certainly just a snapshot of who you boys are these days. You are all funny and enthusiastic and creative and caring and competitive and daring and charming and curious in your own ways on any given day. I love any time I am able to spend with you all and am constantly in search of creating memories as a family and with you as individuals. Thinking back to the night before KG, each of your teachers had provided each of you with a poem and a bag of "magic confetti" that you were supposed to read and then place under your pillow to help calm any nerves and give you good dreams the night before school began. Your teacher promised to put some under her pillow as well. Your dad and I did not think this was something you would identify with, but for all three of you it seemed to do the trick! Gavin poured all of it under his pillow, Brady put some under the pillow and left some in the bag to use "for the next time he is nervous about something", and once Aidan heard that, he too left some in the bag for "next time". Gavin of course re-bagged his the next day, but it was so cute to be peeling little pieces of the confetti off of each of you in the random places it had stuck while you were sleeping and to see how calmed and confident you were in how well this would work. Thank goodness for kindergarten teachers and what they know works for children your age!

Mt. Kearsarge hike before the rain came. My heart is so full when we are hiking as a family! (ABG)

I feel so thankful and blessed to be your mom and I still love that you sometimes call me mommy. I know those days are getting fewer and farther in between, but I am also so excited to see all of the new things you will be learning and how you will be incorporating your knowledge into your individual perspectives and personalities.