Five

On Friday of A Team Week 145, Asher turned a whopping FIVE years old!  Seriously...How have five years gone by already!  It seems like just a little while ago he was our snuggly little newborn and now he is looking forward to school in less than two months!

At five years of age, Asher is a can be extremely mature for his age but then is also known to throw a complete fit when things do not go his way (usually bedtime).  He is a great big brother, helping Avery with tasks too difficult, including him in on his imaginative play and quickly letting me know whenever Asher is hurt (or doing something he shouldn't be doing).  He is thoughtful and kind.  He loves to pick flowers for me whether they are found along the sidewalk or at Meijer.  He also loves to help his daddy with WHATEVER Daddy is doing at the time...especially if it involves tools!

By far, his favorite thing to do is to build and fix things.  A couple of years ago Eric bought him Andrew Henry's Meadow, a book about a little boy who loves to build things, because he said it was a book he liked as a kid and it reminded him of Asher.  I had never heard of the book, but now as I watch Asher grow and develop, I can completely agree.  He is our own little Andrew Henry, and now that he can climb into our backyard Magnolia he is often found up there with his tools building some sort of contraption.  As much as I will miss this house if we ever move, I have to say I'd LOVE to find a house that had a tree big enough for him to build a fort in...although then we might never see him again!

Asher also likes to help me and has become very independent in the last year.  He loves to sweep and vacuum whenever given the chance and does a pretty good job.  He also loves to cut things up for dinner and make his own lunches of salami rolls or PBJ sandwiches.  He now gets his own drinks of water and will often get ones for his brother as well if requested.  He also gets dressed completely by himself now (usually getting himself undressed and redressed for the day before I even get out of bed).

Physically, Asher continues to grow and loves to get new clothes as he does so.  Last year at this time, Asher was 42" tall and 42 pounds.  Since then he has grown 1.75" and gained 4.2 pounds.  He continues to be a good eater and I realized the other night that he can polish off a Red Robin cheeseburger in an amazingly short time.

As he grows he continues to have a few words that he says incorrectly, still saying 'yudder' instead of 'other', 'oosally' instead of 'usually' and often mispronouncing any word that starts with 're'.  I hesitate to correct him though because I know that soon those cute baby words will be gone and I will miss them.  For a long time he would use the word "extremely" in almost every sentence he spoke, but now it seems 'immediately' has become the new 'it' word.

Asher no longer naps but thankfully is willing to play or read quietly in his room to let Avery and I do so.  I'd hoped that when he gave up nap time it would make bedtime easier, but this is still a struggle. He does go to bed MUCH easier than he did when he was little, but he still has a very hard time settling down at night and often does not fall asleep much earlier than Eric and I do.  Hopefully if we find a new home with his bedroom further from the action of the house this will change.  For a while he would sleep without a light on, but now we seem to be back to the light. Thankfully though he is OK telling Alexa to turn it on at only a small percentage of the actual power (she doesn't listen to me).

Socially, Asher is still a bit of a loner.  I pray that this will get better with kindergarten, but worry on how he will react to this new setting.  He is excited to go to school, and plays well with his friends at daycare.  However, with kids he does not know or even see on a daily basis he has a very hard time inserting himself into a group.  One-on-One doesn't seem to be an issue at all, but in group play he continues to be shy and standoffish.  I guess in just a few weeks all of these questions will be answered.

In addition to building things as I mentioned earlier, Asher's other favorites include playing 'hide & seek', forts and legos.  He loves to watch Rescue Bots and also looks forward to movies during our long car rides or with the family.  His loves to get and read his Lego and High Five magazines and also loves to listen to me read Charlotte's Web (we're on our 2nd run).  He insists on Eric and I coming up with a different type of hug and kiss before bed every night and loves to surprise me by jumping off of his bed into my arms whether I am ready for it or not!  His favorite things to eat that he gets on his own are apples, pears, oranges and salami...although he'd also get himself suckers and Zots from the pantry if he were allowed.  So, that is Asher in a nutshell.  He truly is and always will be our little Blessing as his name states.  He has only been in this world for a small fraction of my life so far and yet I cannot imagine life without him!  Mommy will love you forever buddy!

To close, I gave him a Five Year Interview recently and here are his answers...along with answers from a similar quiz that I gave him last year and forgot about...

1. What's Your Name? "Asher Robert Migrin" (Age almost 4: "Asher Robert Migrin")
2. How old are you? "5" (Age almost 4: "Free' soon 'four!")
3. When's your birthday? "Tomorrow? (giggling)" (Age almost 4: "Three & Five & June")
4. How old is Mommy? "I don't know" (Age almost 4: "5")
5. How old is Daddy? "1" (Age almost 4: "6")
6. What's your favorite color? "Red" (Age almost 4: "I don't know...all the colors...yellow and purple and green and all the favorite colors")
7. What's your favorite food? "Hot Dogs, Pizza & Cheeseburgers" (Age almost 4: "Pepperoni Pizza")
8. Who's your best friend? "Elias" (Age almost 4: "Gabriel & Hannah")
9. What's your favorite song? "Batman & Everything is Awesome" (Age almost 4: "Jake & the Neverland Pirates")
10. What's your favorite movie? "Lego Movie" (Age almost 4: "Inside Out")
11. What's your favorite animal? "TRex or Monkey" (Age almost 4: "Lion")
12. What are you afraid of? "Monsters & Witches" (Age almost 4: "Lions & Boats (?)")
13. What makes you happy? "Playing with you (mommy) & Daddy" (Age almost 4: "Water splashing & bubbling")
14. What's your favorite place to go?/Where do you wish you could go on vacation? "Florida" (Age almost 4: "Disney World")
15. What do you want to be when you grown up? "Fireman" (Age almost 4: "A Mommy" (giggling))
16. What's mommy's favorite thing to do? "Play with us" (Age almost 4: "Play outside")
17. What's your favorite treat? "Zots & Skittles" (Age almost 4: "Suckers")
18. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? "Mommy & Daddy"
19. What is your favorite television show? "Rescue Bots"
20. What is your favorite outfit? "Batman Costume"
21. What sport do you like best? "Soccer"
22. What is your favorite cereal? "Frosted Mini Wheats"
23. What is your favorite book? "Batman"
24. What are you really good at? "Playing Baseball" (?)
25. What is your best memory? "Sledding with Mommy & Daddy"
26. What would you buys if you had $1000? "A Robot Mommy & Daddy...a 'retend' one" :P
27. What vegetable do you hate the most? "Peppers"
28. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? "Superman"
29. Who is your biggest hero? "Batman"
30. What do you like to do best with your friends? "Read Magazines"
31. What do you home you'll get to do before your next birthday? (roughly summarized: some sort of contraption including a power line, string, bungee cord and trampoline - frightening to say the least)

So, that is Asher at age five.  We are excited to see what the next year brings.  Now for his actual birthday...

Asher's 5th birthday was on the Friday BEFORE the 4th of July weekend and AFTER the crazy two week period of working to get our home on the market.  For the weekend we decided to go to the cottage and had planned to go on Thursday night so that we could enjoy Asher's birthday in Michigan rather than in the car.  As the week went along though with averaging only a few hours of sleep a night, getting stitches in my foot and having all of our time consumed with cleaning, fixing things up and staging our home there was no time to pack.  Thus, we decided to leave on Friday morning instead.  After wishing our big boy a happy birthday, we spent the morning packing up and getting all of the last minute things done around the house.  Note: When I first saw Asher that morning and said "Happy Birthday Buddy, you're 5 now!", he responded, "I know!  I looked at my feet this morning and they are bigger!"  

The first part of the morning was very stressful to say the least and our nerves and patience were shot.      It is always important to me to make my boys' birthdays special though so we attempted to salvage the rest of the morning with a birthday breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  We headed over there for a family breakfast and the change of pace helped change our stress levels and moods.  I brought a candle along with us and Eric asked our waitress to put in in Asher's pancakes to start his birthday celebrations.  It was a great way to change things up during an otherwise forgettable morning.

(2) Videos: Asher's Birthday Pancakes

Video: Dinosaur Races at Cracker Barrel

After breakfast, we headed back home to finish getting ready and to also tell our neighbor about the move before the for sale sign showed up later that day.  Then we loaded into the van to head to Michigan.  Earlier that morning, Asher asked me if he could switch out his carseat for a booster seat in the van.  Back when we had gone on our winter vacation, we considered letting him use a booster to make it easier to travel.  After placing him in it though I decided he wasn't big enough yet and told him we could try it again when he turned five.  As his fifth birthday approached, I remembered this conversation and hoped that he did not.  However, when we told him he was five that morning (after informing us of his larger feet) he promptly asked if we could try out the booster seat again.  Thus, Eric put it in the van to see how Asher fit in it.  He was/is bigger and it fit much better but I still didn't like the idea of putting him in a  seat that is not as safe as the 5-point harnessed set with head protection.  I informed Asher of this decision and he WAS.NOT.HAPPY.  He proceeded to throw a huge fit and while I tried to reason with him the safety benefits of his carseat he did not want to hear it.  Finally, I was able to get his mind back on to his birthday and at that point he asked if we could wear party hats in the van.  I thought, if that is what will make him happy again on his special day then that is what we will do.  I went into the house and looked for the hats we'd purchased for Eric's birthday but couldn't find them anywhere so I went into full-on desperate/crafty mommy mode, channeled my inner kindergarten memories and made him his own special birthday crown.  He was thrilled and when he asked if he could put some stickers on it I raided my scrapbooking collection for some stickers and let him go at it in the van as we made our way to Michigan.  I thought he would just select a few of his favorites but instead he used up every single sticker I gave him, but I didn't care...My birthday boy was happy again! :)

Finally at about 12:30 that afternoon we said goodbye to our home and were on our way.  The drive to Michigan wasn't terrible but it was LONG.  We got stuck in several construction zones before ever leaving Illinois.  At one point Asher had to use the bathroom but we were stuck in the middle of four lanes of traffic on the freeway.  Let's just say we made some memories that I wasn't planning on that day!  :P  Eventually though we made it to Eric's parents' home and after I wrapped the final presents (which Eric's mom thankfully picked up for me as Amazon Prime let us down and our trip took longer than expected) Asher was finally able to open his birthday presents and begin the celebration of his day!  I was also thrilled that Eric's mom picked up some balloons for him after I was already feeling guilty that his birthday thus far had been a total bust!

Earlier on this morning, Asher told Eric that he hoped Grammy and Gramps got him tape for his birthday!  Not every little boy wants tape for every birthday and holiday gift but ours does!  Grammy obliged and made it even better with his very own tape dispenser!  :P

After Asher opened up all of his presents from us and Grammy and Gramps we enjoyed a birthday taco dinner followed up with birthday chocolate chip cookie/ice cream sundaes and then a Hot Tub Party for the boys (my stitched foot couldn't join them)!  Thus, Asher's birthday may not have been the most exciting birthday ever, but it finished well!

Video: Asher blows out his candle