5 Year Well Child Check-Up

Jaida had her five year old check up yesterday. She is as healthy as can be ... but then again we already knew that. She is 41.25 inches tall and if she continues on her current growth curve she will be about 5'3" or 5'4" as an adult. That sounds just about right. She is also 38 pounds. So about 50% for weight and 30% for height.

Dr. Smith was asking Jaida all sorts of questions just to get a feel for her linguistic abilities and ability to comprehend more complex questions. Jaida sat there and had a very nice conversation with the doctor. She then showed him how she can read a book. He was very impressed and said I am going to really need to advocate for Jaida this year and get her working at a accelerated pace in school to keep her from getting bored.

Anyhow, a very good appointment overall.

A Bouncing Good Time

Jaida and Jaxon had their joint birthday bash on Saturday. This year we decided to have the party hosted outside of our house. We chose a play arena called Bounce About. It is a large warehouse that has several very large inflatable play areas ... a moon bounce, two obstacle courses, a large slide and smaller slide and then a contained moon bounce slide structure for the under three set. The kids ran and bounced for a solid hour. After that we had pizza and fruit and then strawberry short cake and ice cream. I think all the kids had a great time and were totally exhausted afterwards. Jaida invited several of her friends from dance, some friends from school, and then her best friends Jordyn and Peyton. Jax's little friend Faith also came. They all had a really good time.

Companionship

There are times having two kids feels like a tremendous amount of work. For instance getting them ready to go in the morning, getting them to share toys, getting them to agree on what they want to eat, etc. But these times are so overshadowed by the friendship we see blooming in our kids. While they still bicker on occasion and each seems to derive great pleasure from pestering the other they absolutely adore each other. It is so nice to see them getting to the age where they actively seek each other out for companionship. It is also really nice to see that they are both very protective of each other against those they perceive as outsiders. I know they will have times where they drift apart and then become close again but I hope this love they share as little ones stays with them forever.

Some pictures of our two little monkeys.

Hanging out at the Awakening statue at National Harbor


Climbing up the hill at the zoo


Sharing a sandwich, curb and some giggles at the zoo


Feeding the geese at the park


Showing us the daisies they picked while at the dog park


Playing a computer game


Enjoying a late afternoon popsicle. Look at how they squeezed themselves together.


I am going to post this on both kids blog to serve as a future reminder that once upon a time they really did like each other. :)

Exuberance

The one thing that never ceases to amaze me about Jaida is how much of herself she throws into everything she does. She never half way does anything. Once she decides this is something she indeed wants to do she goes at it full throttle. I think this following picture really is a great example of her enthusiasm. It was taken during her PeeWee World Cup soccer tournament. She really had a blast and played her little heart out.

She even made a few goals, chased the ball down and *stole* it a few times and ended up with a pretty good skinned knee in the process. She played hard.

Dance Recital

Jaida's dance recital was last Saturday evening. She did absolutely great ... all the girls really did wonderfully. They knew their routine and got right up on the stage did what they were supposed to do. Most importantly they had a blast .... they were all giggles and smiles which was nice to see.

Here are a few pictures ...

This is Jaida with the other girls (minus one) from her class


This is Jaida up on stage as her routine began


The girls are boogie woogying their little hearts out in this one - their song was Rockin' Robin


This was during the final bow for all the dancers. Look how happy and excited Jaida is ... her expression says it all!

The day all about Jaida

is what we have fondly taken to calling yesterday at our house. Since it was her birthday Jaida got to pick how every aspect of the day went. She decided that she and Jax should have cinnamon rolls (hot out of the oven) and strawberry ice cream for breakfast. Let me say that now Jax thinks he should have strawberry ice cream for breakfast every day. I gave her the choice of us staying home from work and celebrating or her going to Nancy's house. She opted for making cupcakes to take to Nancy's to share with her friends and politely requested that I stay at work late so she could get lots of celebrating in with her friends. :) They spent the day swimming, playing video games, spa and she was completely worn out by the time I arrived (late, of course) to pick her up and head for home. Once home she opened all her pressies ... which she totally loved. She then requested creamy mac & cheese and all the candy she can eat for dinner. The funny thing is the thought of eating unlimited quantities of candy for dinner must be intoxicating because she doesn't even like candy. Anyhow, she ate a copious amount of mac & cheese and then we sang Happy Birthday to her while she blew out five candles stuck in a cupcake. A bit more playing and by the time she hit the bed she was asleep in 30 seconds flat.

Saturday, we are having a combination party for Jaida and Jax at a local bounce arena. Jaida is SO excited as many of her school friends that she has been desperately missing are going to be there. Should be lots of fun!

Five Years Old

I am not exactly sure when I blinked and my little chubby baby became a very slender 5 year old girl. It scares me a bit though. I have really made an effort to live in the moment with my kids. I don't wish time to fly by to get out of rough patches or phases of undesirable behavior. Instead I try to live in the now knowing that with the little bit of bad will come an abundance of good. So in some ways I feel like we have had a very full five years together but in another way I feel like the five years just went by much too fast.

During the dark hours of the early morning my first baby, my only girl baby, turned five years old. This seems huge. She has left the baby in her behind forever. She has had her feet firmly planted in the domain of the little kid for a while now as evidenced by dance recitals, playing piano, learning to swim, tying her own shoes, playing soccer, etc. One thing changed during the early morning hours today ... she is now officially five years old. For the last year I have spent a fair amount of time in denial still calling her a toddler because she was after all only four years old. A four year old is not of school age and therefore not a little kid is what I told myself (over and over again). I am feeling a little weepy today as I think about Jaida as a baby and how quickly these last five years have sped by. Even though I am a little weepy I am mostly happy when I think about all Jaida has become in the last five years and all the potential she holds for the future.

Happy birthday my sweet girl!

Preschool Graduation

This last Friday Jaida had her preschool graduation ceremony. She put on her little white cap and marched into the sanctuary with the rest of her graduating class. They performed several songs and other things they had memorized for the occasion. It was really very sweet. All of the kids seem so tiny .... much too small to be heading off to full-day kindergarten in just a couple of months. I think Jaida is ready to head off to her new big school to learn all that she can in kindergarten. Her mama on the other hand is not so ready for this change.