Five-Year Check-up

Today was Will's five-year well-child check.   He did great to answer all of the nurse's and doctor's questions.  And his health was superb.  We both admitted that he avoids vegetables when they're served to him, but that otherwise he has a decent appetite and is only average picky.  

He weighed in at 38 pounds (30th percentile) and is 41 inches tall (15th percentile), which is right on the growth path he has always followed.  He received his final two vaccines (chicken pox #2 and polio #4) that are required until the 6th grade!  He also had a finger prick for the iron test.  We left the doctor's office with three band-aids and one Dusty Crophopper sticker.  We ran an errand for me afterwards to Ulta and there was a dollar store next door that Will wanted to check out.  He (very easily) talked me into this $5 Playdoh toy.   He chose that instead of getting frozen yogurt, which is what we were going to do to reward his bravery.  This was the first check-up where Will knew in advance to ask about shots.  I told him there would be two, and he was a bit anxious about it in the days before and in the minutes before.  The finger prick made him cry since it surprised him, but the tears stopped quickly after the shots. 

Summer Soccer

This week kicked off the summer soccer season.  Now, for better or worse, the boy that didn't have any extra curricular activities for the first 4 1/2 years of life will now have activities three nights per week (swimming, soccer and gymnastics).  After loving winter soccer, he asked if he could play this spring but it was at the same time as gymnastics.  When he asked about it again this summer, we said yes.   We were excited to see his school friend Blake!  There are two fields that play at the same time:  four-year-olds and five-year-olds.  Since Blake's birthday isn't until September, the boys are on different fields.  

 

There ended up being 14 five-year-olds (they only need 8 to play), but with the hot weather, it was probably good that the kids got more rest time.  Will scored two goals and was adorable to watch play goalie since he was in a squat and continuously shuffle stepped to protect the entire goal.  Most of the time that he was in the net, his team was controlling the ball at the end of the field, so he didn't get much action.  But he did get to catch and pick up the ball once.   This was the first time we had an activity where we had to take our own chairs.  I was pretty impressed with myself for knowing to bring chairs (and bug spray).  I didn't plan well for the lack of rest rooms, so still trying to perfect the soccer mom thing!

Birthday Presents

Last weekend I spent Saturday morning participating in the neighborhood yard sale.  Will played outside with the neighbor boy a little but retreated after awhile to start assembling all his birthday Legos.  I think he spent something like 8 hours over the course of the day assembling, disassembling and reassembling Lego sets!

We did take a break in the middle for bubbles and a first attempt at kite flying!  It wasn't very windy, but we did get it flying by running through the yard!   I'm looking forward to taking it to an open field to actually get it in the air.

Birthday Party

For the first time, we had Will's party somewhere other than our house and invited kids from school.  We ended up with 9 kids:  3 buddies from school (Liam, Blake and Ryan); 2 neighbors (Dylan and Tyler); and 4 work friends (Ava, Hannah, Colin and Carter).   Will chose the cake from the book at Target.  I think he just wanted the Dusty Crophopper toy that came on top!  We gave bubble sticks as party favors and ordered labels that had the other Disney Planes movie planes on them. 

Did I mention we not only had it outside of the house, but we had it at Chuck E. Cheese?!  Arriving at the party was the first time I had been inside a CEC.  It seemed smaller than I remember Showbiz Pizza Place being when I was a kid.  But, I'm taller now, so they're probably the same.   The party was on a weekday evening, and we were the majority of the guests which was great! 

Each kid got a cup of tokens to ride rides and play games before and after dinner and cake.  I barely saw Will all night, since he was off playing with his friends or Uncle Ryan.  The two-plus hours went so fast that we didn't even use all the tokens and we didn't redeem the tickets for toys that night.  Will just wanted to get home before bed and unwrap his presents!

 

 Will and Uncle Ryan won an extra 1,200 tickets in the Ticket Blaster.  I'm pretty sure 1,185 tickets were collected by Ryan - including a 1,000 point Magic Ticket.   He was finding tickets in his pant legs and sweater throughout the evening.   I'm glad Ryan was a good sport to get into the machine with Will, because he could choose one "friend" and there was a lot of confusion about choosing only one friend.  He wanted all of his buddies to get a chance.

After the blaster we had pizza and cake.  The whole party was well run by our enthusiastic party hostess, Ashley, but there were some tense moments as she moved the cake to get ready for the birthday song and cutting but first there was a "show" on the TV that lasted almost 8 minutes.  That's an eternity when cake is within reach of the kids!

Will added a lot of comic relief when he totally rocked the air guitar with his balloon guitar.  Chuck E. was very impressed.   Then finally it was time to blow out the candles (which took about 5 blows) and then chocolate and/or yellow cake for everyone!

Will told me his birthday cake wish was to have his party at Chuck E. Cheese every year!  I'm certainly not opposed to another party there - especially with the awesome Wednesday night crowds!  We do have to go back sometime to use the rest of our tokens and to cash in his points from birthday night.   It was a relatively affordable and super fun night, and the birthday boy and his friends LOVED it.  He was well loved by his friends, who all got him presents that he loved:  4 sets of Legos, Planes, puzzles and Transformers.  He's been busy working on Legos ALL DAY today. 

Stats for the Baby Book

Since I started writing and printing this blog, I gave up on any plans for a baby book or scrapbooks.  It's been a great stress relief actually!  But when I print my posts each year, it doesn't take any of the sidebar information.   I almost lost it messing around with templates, so I will memorialize the baby book stats here for my records:

• Birth: 7 lbs, 10 oz, 19.5 inches
• 1 Month: 9 lbs, 5 oz, 22.25 inches
• 2 Months: 11 lbs, 8 oz, 23.5 inches
• 4 Months: 14 lbs, 7 oz, 25.5 inches
• 6 Months: 16 lbs, 2 oz, 26.0 inches
• 9 Months: 18 lbs, 6 oz, 28.5 inches
• 12 Months: 20 lbs, 8 oz, 29.25 inches
• 15 Months: 22 lbs, 14 oz, 31.75 inches
• 18 Months: 24 lbs, 4 oz, 31.75 inches
• 21 Months: 25 lbs, 6 oz, not measured
• 24 Months: 26 lbs, 4 oz, 33.5 inches
• 30 Months: 29 lbs, 4 oz, 36.5 inches
• 3 Years: 31 lbs, 36.5 inches
• 4 years: 33 lbs, 39 inches
• 5 years: 38 lbs, 41 inches

Birthday Boy

Word can barely express how much William is loved!  He is such a great little person, and his daddy and I love watching and guiding his growth.  There are so many things we want to do and places we want to go so we can share them with him.  These two pictures are a great show of his personality!  He has a wonderful smile (and laugh) and is a real sweetheart!

The top picture was a relaxing snow day where we enjoyed our homemade cappuccino and hot chocolate while coloring and watching Disney Jr.  Will and I have a great weekend routine that involves sleeping in, making brunch, and lounging around.  Sure, sure, we get out and play or go places, but we sure do enjoy downtime on the weekends after going hard all week!

The bottom picture shows two of Will's loves:  avoiding bedtime and building things!  Almost everything he builds is a vehicle or weapon, and he's always got a very inventive backstory to share about it, or an adventure to go on.  I'm excited for him to learn to read so he can start getting lost in books the same way he gets lost in his stories!    

Gymnastics Session 1

This week was the last day of Will's first session of gymnastics.   He now has two weeks off while the gym moves to a new facility.  The next session will run weekly until school starts in August.   To be honest, I don't think gymnastics is the best value for the sports money for us, but I didn't want to stop after just one session.   We'll see how this summer session goes and then reevaluate whether he continues or not, but he doesn't seem to learn as quickly as swimming or have as much fun as soccer.

My biggest complaints are that there is not enough focus on tumbling for this age group and that there is too much standing around. Will's boys only class is already trying all the men's gymnastic events like pommel horse, rings and vault.  I want him to learn how to do cartwheels!  I also want him to be moving during most of the class.  Since they're working on the equipment, one boy works with the coach and the other 3 or 4 are usually causing a ruckus off to the side. 

His score card:

FLOOR

• Cartwheel over block
• Forward roll down wedge
• Backward roll down wedge

POMMEL HORSE

• Jump to front support (needs improvement)
• Half circle concept on mushroom

RINGS

• 5 swings at 45 degrees
• Tuck hung
• Inverted hang with assistance

VAULT

• Stretch jump onto mat
• Stick landing from block

PARALLEL BARS

• 5 swings using block
• Tuck support hold (needs improvement)

HORIZONTAL BAR

• Jump to support 3 times on a low bar
• Swing with re-grasp (needs improvement)
• Hold chin over bar 3 seconds (needs improvement)

Blackhawks Hockey

I went to my first hockey game this weekend as part of a client outing in the company suite.  This was the first game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings.  We didn't know until late Friday night who would have home ice (depending on the winner of the Kings-Ducks series), so it was up in the air whether our tickets would be for Sunday afternoon or next Friday night.   Since the Kings won, the Hawks get to host the first two games as the higher seed. 

The game was thrilling, and we were sitting on the edge of our seats for all three periods.  This is a far cry from the Bulls games when we go and we mostly stand inside the suite eating and chatting!  The biggest surprise to me was how often they clean the ice.  As someone who has never been on an ice rink, I didn't think about how much ice chips up while they play.  The "ice crew" of scantily clad ladies scooped up ice shards with shovels and put it into their wagon.  There were also fully dressed men who helped scrape it to the edges, but the ladies were the ones who shoveled it up.  The zambonis came out during each intermission.

After the game, the Hawks lined up to congratulate each other.  None of the shaking hands with the opponent like you see in amateur sports.   The Kings just sort of disappeared back into the tunnel, I guess. 

The final score was 3-1 for a Blackhawks victory.  There was also a fourth goal that was taken away.  Each of the four Blackhawks scores (or almost scores) sent the United Center crowd into a frenzy.  The celebration was amazing!  I didn't even notice when the Kings had scored - that one didn't get as much attention! The other neat part was the final 3 minutes or so when the score was 3-1 so the Kings goalie left the net unattended to play offense hoping that 6 on 5 would result in a Kings score, since that was their only chance to attempt to tie or win.  Luckily the Hawks were able to play effective defense and prevent any more scores. 

Liam's Birthday Party

This weekend went so fast!  Will had his regular gymnastics on Saturday morning and then Liam's birthday party in the afternoon.   It was at Odyssey Fun World where we had a play date this winter.  it was the first time he had invited any school friends besides Will.  These five boys play together at school all the time.  Liam and Will move up to a new class in June and then will head off to kindergarten.  The three other boys have another year of pre-kindergarten since they have fall birthdays.

 Blake, Ryan, Jacob, William and Liam

Blake, William and Ryan enjoyed playing air hockey.  Will liked to act as the go between making sure the puck didn't get stuck in the middle.  Ryan looks like he just got scored on and is bending down to fish the puck out of the return slot.   Jason stayed home to install the new microwave and a few more cabinets, so I got to chat with the other parents and hold Liam's baby sister while the bigger kids played.