Well, it happened. My little 4 pound, premature babies, who’s heads could fit in the palm of my hand, turned FIVE. Yes, five. No longer babies, toddlers or even preschoolers, but school-aged, reading, shoe-tying five-year-olds. I’m in a bit of denial.
They are such special little boys and I can’t believe how much they’ve matured this past year. The biggest change has come in the last couple of months as they have learned to read. Now they spend their days writing songs, books, letters—basically filling my house with pages and pages of paper. I’ve been fascinated watching them learn to sound out words and reading what they’ve written and how they spell words. Recently they both have read Dr. Seuss’s Foot Book and One Fish, Two Fish.
They are endlessly creative and entertain themselves (or each other, I guess), all day. Today, for example, it’s 10 am and they have already built ships with legos, went on a mouse hunt, sang songs about Winnie Pooh, and played with Josh while I ate breakfast in relative peace. They are always “up to something” in some imaginative world. It’s so fun to listen to and watch.
They are quite athletic and LOVE playing any sport. We can never narrow down a favorite, they love them all: basketball, hockey, football, soccer, and baseball. They received razor scooters from my parents for their birthday and I’ve been amazed watching them master them so quickly. They’ve got a great sense of balance and quick feet! They seem to be competitive, but not as much as I expected (being that their parents are perhaps a little too competitive)…thankfully, we don’t have to deal with tears on lost games.
They are great brothers and friends. They are a team; a twin team. It still is very rare that they do something individually. If one wants to play outside, the other will too. If one is reading books, the other one is too. One does not stand out as a leader, they switch this role often. They are amazing big brothers to Joshua and very patient with him. They always find time to say “hi”, grab his binky or a toy for him, or give him a quick head pat. They don’t complain about having to be quiet for his nap times, or get frustrated when he cries (I feel like they’ve taught me a lot about patience!) They are also Josh’s biggest cheerleaders: just willing him to talk, crawl and learn.
Numbers are still their strong suit; especially Sammy. I’ve heard things like, “Five fives makes 25, mommy.” And, “Is 24 plus 24, 48 mom? I got that answer because I added 20 plus 20, and then 4 plus 4.” They can count to 100 by 10s and 5s and LOVE math.
I caught them in their first big LIE this past weekend. I noticed an odd “hole” in Sammy’s hair, and asked him how it got there. He told me he had no idea, and when I asked him if he or Seth cut it things got pretty quiet. I couldn’t get a confession, and neither could my parents. We eventually found a smaller cut in Seth’s hair as well, meaning it was a group effort from the two of them. When my dad tried to get a confession out of Seth, Seth’s reply was something like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Finally, it was Ben who got the confession out of them. The scariest/funniest thing about all of it: they had a conspiracy to BOTH not tell, and stuck with it for days at a time. Yikes! What other conspiracies are they going to be up to?
Thankfully, they have finally grown out of all their sleep problems! It is rare that I am woken up by a terror from one of them, and if I am, it is very short. They also fall asleep quickly without any problems. Thank you Lord!
They are great eaters and I can’t believe how skinny they are compared to the amount that they eat. Their favorites include: pizza, steak pasta salad, hamburgers and French fries, fish, chips, carrots, and sweet and sour chicken. They also LOVE all things fruit and roll-up pancakes that they make with their daddy on Saturday mornings. They never complain about being gluten free—it’s just a part of their life.
They still love legos, but aren’t quite as obsessed as they were last year. They also love to build with blocks and do mazes and puzzles. They love being outside, playing with dirt, “cleaning” the house with squirt guns and riding their bikes.
The love to play games. Their favorites are UNO, Blockus, Sorry and their newest Labyrinth. (I can’t wait until they are old enough to play Catan with us!)
Socially, they have taken great strides this year. No longer do they look for me while they are playing with friends (okay, so I do have a little twinge of sadness about this fact). They no longer have separation anxiety, but still don’t want to go into Sunday School at church. Their best buddies are their cousins (the Plato girls and Hansen boys), Wesley (who really is like a brother to them), and the Gowen kids. We really are blessed to have such wonderful kids for them to hang out with!
(Sam, Seth)
Seth has such a sweet, considerate heart. He is so thoughtful of Josh and his family. He’ll fold laundry or pick something up, just to make me smile. This spring he ran inside to tell me, “Mommy, look: flowers are blooming! You love flowers!” He’s got a great little giggle and loves to tease. Overall, he’s a bit quieter than Sam, especially in groups. He learns things slow and steady and rarely gets frustrated. Seth has loved learning to read and write, and writes and writes and writes! Last weekend he wrote a “book” about two friends named Ary and Omi…just hilarious. He’s a quicker runner than Sam, and may not pick up on skills as quickly as Sam, but usually surpasses him a bit on ability eventually. He’s bossy and likes his ideas to be played. I find myself saying, “Seth, let Sammy use his idea too,” often.
Sam is intense, persistent and passionate. He thrives on touch and wrestling with his daddy. When he wants to learn something, he puts his head down to learn it and won’t stop until he does. He is endlessly curious and is not “ok” with an “I don’t’ know answer.” He loves to learn about the food chain and “who eats who.” He loves to smile and laugh. He is an excellent builder and loves sports. He always, always wants his daddy to play sports or wrestle with him when he gets home. And if Ben’s tired, he’s content to sit on his daddy’s lap and watch sports. Sam is pretty outgoing in groups, and has the silliest giggle when something tickles his funny bone. I’ve got to say, he’s the liar of the group and sneaks doing things he knows aren’t allowed (little stinker).
Well, that’s all I can come up with for description of my little five year olds for now. I’m sure I’m missing a lot—it’s much more complex to describe what they are up to compared to Josh! Overall, I have to say I LOVE Seth and Sam at this age. I’m so grateful that we have decided to homeschool them next year, because I know it would break my heart to think of them going away for hours each day. They are daily a delight to me and really easy kids. They are an amazing help and rarely complain. I love them so deeply and am very, very grateful to have the privilege of being their mother!
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