Mainly Ashton is all about the questions these days. The questions are constant, the likes of which were fully illustrated not long ago in my tooth fairy post. (The latest doozy: "Where does the sun go when it sets?" Nothing is ever an easy answer!) But it's really fun and funny (sometimes) because his questions/comments of course reveal how he thinks about the world. For example, our main shtick with dinnertime is that if he eats his chicken/pasta/whatever, he will be a member of the "Clean Plate Club" and he will be big and strong and able to touch the ceiling like Daddy. This idea seems to be very appealing to a five year old (and a two year old actually). Now after every meal they reach their hands in the air to see how much closer they are. Really, they do. It's cute and heartbreaking. But the other day, after a playdate:
"_______ must not eat their dinner because every time I see them they are small."
"Well that might not be the reason. Everyone is different right?"
"Yep I guess. Some are big and some are small. And they have different eyeballs, different chairs, different houses and different hearts. But they better start eating if they don't want to be small."
Speaking of eating, Ashton really only takes issue with peas. He doesn't willingly eat a lot of things so there's still some prodding, but he'll try things when I ask and generally I don't worry about him subsisting on air and crackers, which is the phase I'm in with Alex. I truly never thought I'd see the day where Ashton not only eats all his broccoli, he eats it first!
Five years old has brought a lot more independence with things besides food but not in a bad way. He's just his own little person now! Let's dive in...
5 year old pedi appointment: He did NOT want to go to the doctor, he was very worried about shots. He really kept fretting over it and I said, "How about we don't go to the doctor, how about we go to the... pediatrician?" "What's the pedia-matrician?" "Kind of like a doctor, but they tell you good news about how big you've gotten from eating all your dinner and give you a sticker AND maybe even a lollipop."
"Oh. What if they tell me I'm too big?"
I'm telling you, this kid and his doozies! We walked in and he said "Is this where I was born? No? How was I born then?"
Height: 46.25 inches (97th percentile)
Weight: 46.6 pounds (84th percentile)
Shots: None
Vision test: Pass
Hearing test: Pass
Family jewels: 2
Shoe size: 12
Clothes size: 5
Other goodies:
Favorite toys: Legos (Lego birthday party post is next) and his remote control ("remote co-no-trol") monster truck for the backyard.
Biggest obsession: his wallet, which is filled with expired gift cards and Chuck E. Cheese tokens. He carries it everywhere.
Favorite movie: Kung Fu Panda
Hero: Jason (obviously)
Little brother: "OW-wex"
Speech: As you can see by Alex's name, not perfect when it comes to pronunciation and he lisps on certain sounds. But he chatters away, knows a zillion words and has full on conversations easily so it's really just about the sounds, which I'm told are all still within the normal range for his age.
Allergies: He passed his peanut challenge this past winter and this fall we have almond, pistachio and hazelnut scheduled. Egg and sesame = still there.
What I love most about him: how, when he gets really excited/thrilled (like discovering something is eating our garden tomatoes and coming to tell me) or is waiting for something to happen (like to see if his monster truck will flip or watching me finish up a lego set) he jumps up and down a little. He just can't contain the exhilaration.
First (and on-going) crush: Kayleigh, our 9 year old neighbor. He regularly hugs her and tells her he loves her, and even invited her to sleep over. When she asked "But where would I sleep?" he looked at her like the answer was so obvious: "With me, in my bed!"
Things that make him cry: not a lot. If he works particularly hard on something and Alex wrecks it, or if he really gets hurt, but even then I have him walking it off after a good hug. He's generally very tough. He did cry when I told him we needed to go to the doctor to get the infected splinter out of his foot. I couldn't get it and he looked at me and said "It is going to hurt?" and I told him honestly: "Yes." And he cried. That was a hard truth to tell :(
Recent skills: learning to swim! He can sputter and splash his way from one end of the pool to the other without a floatie. It's not pretty, but he does it! More importantly to me, he's not scared to try. He really does everything - he bodysurfed and let the waves crash over him in the ocean for a solid week during vacation (still need to post on that!), he picks up bugs, traverses the monkey bars, jumps off things that are higher than I would prefer, scooters and rides his bike over roots, rocks and steps to see what will knock him off, and even tried salmon.
Would rather do anything than: make Santa mad
Stops everything when he hears: Shut Up and Dance with Me, Sugar, or Uptown Funk.
To describe Ashton in one word (by me): Explorer
To describe Ashton in one word (by Jason): Active
To further describe Ashton in more words (by me, because one never cuts it): An optimistic, kind little boy with lots of friends and a general sense of what's right and important and what's not. He's adventurous but also gentle and his teachers and anyone who watches him say he's just so good. I'm really, really proud of him.
Biggest challenge: getting a decent picture of this amazing, nearly 4 foot tall human being. Seriously it's impossible.
Up next: TK with Mrs. Cooney starting Sept 7! No kindergarten just yet- the cut off date is August 31 so he will be the youngest or almost-youngest in his class. In Natick they go from 8:30-2:41 pm with one short recess. While I know Ashton could keep up academically, in my heart I'm just not ready to send him to school 5 days a week to sit at a desk for 8 hours. I've yet to hear any stories where a child being held back was detrimental so we've decided to do just that. If things drastically change, we can send him straight to first grade after this year as kindergarten isn't mandatory in MA.
What he did on his birthday, August 3rd: 8/3 was kind of a lead up day to his big party on 8/5. They had slushies at camp, but Jason had to work so we didn't really have a special dinner and we didn't sing Happy Birthday. The kids (Ashton, Alex and Kayleigh, who is over a lot) had hot dogs outside per Ashton's request, then popsicles and then opened a couple of presents.
Nothing compared to that whoopee cushion, which I picked up at the last minute. I mean, they all laughed so hard for so long.
Potty humor is always a hit.
Alex had a difficult time in that it wasn't his birthday ("Me! I...TWO! MY bir-day, ME!") and cried a lot when Ashton had presents and he didn't. Ashton got annoyed and I overheard him say "OW-wex! Stop it! You only get two birthdays a year and this one isn't one of yours! It's one of mine!"
I object to two birthdays a year only because they are already growing up too fast. Five year picture attempts in all their glory!
Speaking of eating, Ashton really only takes issue with peas. He doesn't willingly eat a lot of things so there's still some prodding, but he'll try things when I ask and generally I don't worry about him subsisting on air and crackers, which is the phase I'm in with Alex. I truly never thought I'd see the day where Ashton not only eats all his broccoli, he eats it first!
Five years old has brought a lot more independence with things besides food but not in a bad way. He's just his own little person now! Let's dive in...
5 year old pedi appointment: He did NOT want to go to the doctor, he was very worried about shots. He really kept fretting over it and I said, "How about we don't go to the doctor, how about we go to the... pediatrician?" "What's the pedia-matrician?" "Kind of like a doctor, but they tell you good news about how big you've gotten from eating all your dinner and give you a sticker AND maybe even a lollipop."
"Oh. What if they tell me I'm too big?"
I'm telling you, this kid and his doozies! We walked in and he said "Is this where I was born? No? How was I born then?"
Height: 46.25 inches (97th percentile)
Weight: 46.6 pounds (84th percentile)
Shots: None
Vision test: Pass
Hearing test: Pass
Family jewels: 2
Shoe size: 12
Clothes size: 5
Other goodies:
Favorite toys: Legos (Lego birthday party post is next) and his remote control ("remote co-no-trol") monster truck for the backyard.
Biggest obsession: his wallet, which is filled with expired gift cards and Chuck E. Cheese tokens. He carries it everywhere.
Favorite movie: Kung Fu Panda
Hero: Jason (obviously)
Little brother: "OW-wex"
Speech: As you can see by Alex's name, not perfect when it comes to pronunciation and he lisps on certain sounds. But he chatters away, knows a zillion words and has full on conversations easily so it's really just about the sounds, which I'm told are all still within the normal range for his age.
Allergies: He passed his peanut challenge this past winter and this fall we have almond, pistachio and hazelnut scheduled. Egg and sesame = still there.
What I love most about him: how, when he gets really excited/thrilled (like discovering something is eating our garden tomatoes and coming to tell me) or is waiting for something to happen (like to see if his monster truck will flip or watching me finish up a lego set) he jumps up and down a little. He just can't contain the exhilaration.
First (and on-going) crush: Kayleigh, our 9 year old neighbor. He regularly hugs her and tells her he loves her, and even invited her to sleep over. When she asked "But where would I sleep?" he looked at her like the answer was so obvious: "With me, in my bed!"
Things that make him cry: not a lot. If he works particularly hard on something and Alex wrecks it, or if he really gets hurt, but even then I have him walking it off after a good hug. He's generally very tough. He did cry when I told him we needed to go to the doctor to get the infected splinter out of his foot. I couldn't get it and he looked at me and said "It is going to hurt?" and I told him honestly: "Yes." And he cried. That was a hard truth to tell :(
Recent skills: learning to swim! He can sputter and splash his way from one end of the pool to the other without a floatie. It's not pretty, but he does it! More importantly to me, he's not scared to try. He really does everything - he bodysurfed and let the waves crash over him in the ocean for a solid week during vacation (still need to post on that!), he picks up bugs, traverses the monkey bars, jumps off things that are higher than I would prefer, scooters and rides his bike over roots, rocks and steps to see what will knock him off, and even tried salmon.
Would rather do anything than: make Santa mad
Stops everything when he hears: Shut Up and Dance with Me, Sugar, or Uptown Funk.
To describe Ashton in one word (by me): Explorer
To describe Ashton in one word (by Jason): Active
To further describe Ashton in more words (by me, because one never cuts it): An optimistic, kind little boy with lots of friends and a general sense of what's right and important and what's not. He's adventurous but also gentle and his teachers and anyone who watches him say he's just so good. I'm really, really proud of him.
Biggest challenge: getting a decent picture of this amazing, nearly 4 foot tall human being. Seriously it's impossible.
Up next: TK with Mrs. Cooney starting Sept 7! No kindergarten just yet- the cut off date is August 31 so he will be the youngest or almost-youngest in his class. In Natick they go from 8:30-2:41 pm with one short recess. While I know Ashton could keep up academically, in my heart I'm just not ready to send him to school 5 days a week to sit at a desk for 8 hours. I've yet to hear any stories where a child being held back was detrimental so we've decided to do just that. If things drastically change, we can send him straight to first grade after this year as kindergarten isn't mandatory in MA.
What he did on his birthday, August 3rd: 8/3 was kind of a lead up day to his big party on 8/5. They had slushies at camp, but Jason had to work so we didn't really have a special dinner and we didn't sing Happy Birthday. The kids (Ashton, Alex and Kayleigh, who is over a lot) had hot dogs outside per Ashton's request, then popsicles and then opened a couple of presents.
Nothing compared to that whoopee cushion, which I picked up at the last minute. I mean, they all laughed so hard for so long.
Potty humor is always a hit.
Alex had a difficult time in that it wasn't his birthday ("Me! I...TWO! MY bir-day, ME!") and cried a lot when Ashton had presents and he didn't. Ashton got annoyed and I overheard him say "OW-wex! Stop it! You only get two birthdays a year and this one isn't one of yours! It's one of mine!"
I object to two birthdays a year only because they are already growing up too fast. Five year picture attempts in all their glory!
We love you Ashton!!
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