Philip at Five

At five years old, Philip is:

Artistic

A builder

Imaginative

Funny

A good playmate and big brother

A nature lover


A perfectionist

Fast

He loves knights, superheroes, Legos, dinosaurs and race cars.

This year he finally stopped raiding the pantry and now tells me when Julia is trying to sneak food.

He always surprises me with his sweet side. If I do something special for him, or get him a surprise, he will often tell me out of the blue, "Thank you for doing that for me. I really love it!" He also very sweetly gives me and Julia compliments about stuff I wouldn't think a little boy would pick up on - like my hair or clothing. He doesn't say I love you much, but I cherish these little sweeties that he gives me.

Wish I could bottle that sweetness

Over the past year, Philip has grown more independent and confident.

For the first time, he is interested in picking his own clothes and (usually) gets changed independently.

Probably the biggest change in Philip over the past year has been his social development.

He started preschool and had a great time. Despite being very slow to warm up, I was proud of how he did at school. He participated in the things he felt comfortable with and tried new things throughout the year. I have a very stubborn little boy. He told us he was going to "be quiet" at school and he found a way to communicate with friends and teachers without using words. Now according to his teachers, he wasn't necessarily always quiet - he made lots of happy noises and laughed a lot, but he stuck to his guns about not speaking in the classroom.

Having a little guy that is so very slow to warm up has its challenges, but it also helps us to celebrate each small accomplishment. When he plays with a friend without us being by his side, raises his hand in response to a question at storytime, or nods when an adult asks him a question, Andy and I quietly celebrate. He is making lots of progress - the change in him over the past year has been wonderful to watch and I know he is on his way now!

Friendships are playing a bigger role in his life. I love that he calls his classmates and neighbors, "the friends." He is finally to the point that he will usually run off to play with his buddies during playdates without insisting that Andy or I go with him. He also wants to invite pretty much any kid we meet over to our house to play.

He has started talking to adults who he feels very comfortable with - mainly family members and a couple neighbors. At the beach this summer he was okay sitting at the dinner table with cousins, aunts and uncles, even when Andy and I were busy doing other things.

His temperament has changed a lot, too. This little guy definitely gave me a run for my money from the day he was born through the preschool years. As he progressed from the early 4's to the older 4's, he mellowed out and now he is usually a breeze to take care of. He still has his meltdowns, but much less frequently.

He has started to play independently. I am amazed at how quickly he transitioned from needing lots of hands-on attention and ideas for entertainment, to playing quietly and happily with his toys for long periods of time (15 minutes is considered long at this point). Sure makes my life easier!

His art skills really took off this year. He went from scribbling to making his first drawings, to coloring in the lines, to now making more elaborate drawings.  His teachers always complimented him on the time he took with his artwork. They said he did quite well and had a much longer attention-span for it than most boys his age. These days he loves to draw and color. He will happily spend an hour or two after school just doing artwork - it is amazing.

Philip loves to learn about dinosaurs. Each time we go to the library, he heads to the nonfiction section to pick up some books on dinosaurs. My library bag gets really full, really fast!

When I first found out I was having a boy, I was very nervous about how I would handle one. I grew up with just one older sister, so having a little boy was very foreign to me. I feel like as he has grown, we have hit all the major little boy interests. At one he loved balls, at two - cars, at three - construction equipment, at four - race cars, and at five - superheroes. I have loved going through all these stages with him and learning new things along the way. I'm sure I have much more to come. Little boys are so much fun and my little boy is perfect for our family!

Philip's 5-Year Old Birthday 21 Questions

1. How old are you? 5
2. What is your favorite color? Blue
3. What is your favorite toy? Space Guys
4. What do you like to learn about? Space
5. What is your favorite TV show? Rescue Bots
6. What is your favorite food? Stuffed Shells
7. What is your favorite game? Angry Birds
8. Where do you like to go? Abby & Izzy's house
9. What is your favorite animal? I like tigers.
10. What is your favorite song? Spiderman and Tumeni Notes
11. What is your favorite book? Dinosaurs
12. Who is your best friend? Abby & Izzy
13. What makes you happy? Spiderman and catching fishies
14. What do you like to do with your family? Play
15. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Run around
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Bunnies
19. What was your favorite birthday gift? All of them
20. What do you think about before you fall to sleep at night? Dreams and stories
21. What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't want to be anything. I just want to be a person. I want to be a great biker.

July Journal

What a fun month July was! We returned from vacation and were off and running. Philip began swim lessons. He asked for the lessons, but when we arrived the day of first class, he got scared. I had to drag him over to the class, but the teacher immediately took him into the water, talked to him, and swam around with him...and he calmed down right away! He has done perfect ever since - trying anything new that she asks. We really like his teacher and it has been great to watch him learn and grow.
 

 

My parents came up for a visit. Philip invited them to his birthday party many months ago, so they made sure to be here for it! Andy went down to Florida for a few days, so it was nice to have their company and help.

Philip turned five this month! He was so excited for his birthday party this year and has been changing the theme that he wanted practically daily for the past year. We finally decided on a superhero party with an emphasis on Spiderman. He invited his best buddies, a couple from across the street, his grandparents, and his babysitter. This was the first time he wanted to invite a crowd!

Philip and I made this city skyline.

The kids sprayed the bad guys with spider webs (silly string).

 

After my parent's visit, Andy's brother came to town with his family. They had not been up for a visit since Philip was a baby, so it was fun to have them here.  Philip especially loved playing with my nephew. We celebrated Matt's birthday one night and went to dinner in Annapolis another night. Andy took Friday off from work and we went to the Natural History Museum and then into Georgetown. My niece wanted to go to Georgetown Cupcakes, so we fulfilled her dream!

Cousins

Watching the sailboat races

Philip had Andy take a photo of pretty much every animal in the Hall of Mammals.

A little birdie came to visit!

It was time for Philip to get a haircut. Julia insisted that her hair was getting long and she needed one as well. So we went in for her second haircut. It turned out cute!

Philip has been making up games for us to play. I love to watch his imagination and creativity grow. He has started picking up the cat and Herbie has been a really good sport about it! He picks Herbie up just under his arms and the cat stretches almost to the floor. They are practically the same height! When Philip is eating or doing something he likes, he will say, "I'm loving this." Philip also started calling Julia by her first name, as opposed to Babes or Baby. It seems that we are all making the transition now - we all used to call her Baby and I wondered what would happen when their new sister arrives. It seems that the transition is happening naturally as we prepare for a new little one.

Julia has really been taken by her play food and little stove top recently. She loves to go to the basement and cook up a meal for our family and guests. She seems to have swiftly transitioned into taking shorter naps - about one hour does it for her now. It seems like she wakes up practically as soon as I put her down, but I am thankful that at least she still takes consistent naps most every day. I'm pretty sure Philip was frequently skipping them by this age. She gets confused about the difference between overnight sleep and naptime - to her they are both naps. When she wakes up in the morning, she will ask, "Did I take my nap?" We took a break on potty training for a month or two, when she was showing signs that she wasn't ready yet. After returning from vacation, we eased back into it and she is doing wonderfully! If only I could convince my kids that taking a quick break from playing to go to the bathroom is not torture!

 

 

Julia has made great strides in the self-feeding department this year. This was last year's blueberry pie night...

 

and here is this year's. 

  

Both kids are having fun playing store.  They go into the pantry to grab some little shopping bags and fill them up with toys or food. Then I ring them up at their cash register. I never know where I will find some of our pantry food these days! Andy taught the kids a secret handshake that he grew up doing. He had tried before with little interest from them, but after watching his uncle/cousin do the same handshake when they were in town, Philip got excited about it. I love to see them doing their secret handshake and the excitement that the kids get from it.

Fun at the gym - their indoor playground.

 

That is all the news and notes from July!

Julia's Jokes V

After a fire truck passed us:
Julia: Where are they going?
Me: They must be going to help someone.
Julia: Yeah. They are going to help someone with a bear.

At school pick up Julia heard a girl scream with delight as she ran out of the school building:
"Is that an elephant?"

As Philip got into the car at school pick up one day, Julia said urgently:
"I have to tell you something Philip...we don't have any lolli's." (lollipops)

 

As I cracked peanuts for her:
"Hello peanuts, my name is I want to eat you!"

After finding that one of her markers was dried out:
"Awww, it's out of batteries!"

After yawning:
Me: A yawny? Are you already tired?
Julia: No, I'm not tired. That was just a morning yawn.

Julia: Mommy, you can't go into the water when we get to the beach.
Me: Why?
Julia: Because you might need to get someone a cookie.

"I'm going to take pictures of the whales. I hope they say cheeeese."

"I couldn't get out of bed because my hair was sweaty."

"All I want for my birthday are tails, strings, and scarves."

After receiving a package from Oriental Trading with birthday supplies:
"Yay, I got a flamingo!"

Me: Who do you want to invite to your birthday party?
Julia: I just want all my people that I want to be there.

"Why are ants ticklish?"

Reading a question from a food container:
Me: If you could fly anywhere in a hot air balloon, where would you want to go?
Julia pointing to her right: Ummm, that way!

While closing the door to her bedroom with Philip and I inside (the only other people home):
"I'm closing my door because I need some privacy."

 

"You have to come to my meeting. It's a Hickory Dickory meeting."

Signing her name on a card:
"Q-I-O-P-G-I-S. There - Julia!"

Julia: I want a snack.
Me: You are hungry a lot lately. I wonder if you're having a growth spurt.
Julia: I want some of that.
Me: Some of what?
Julia: I want to eat a growth spurt.

Jumping June

 

Graduation/Start of summer surprise for the kids - filled with things to do this summer

 

June was an exciting month for the kids. It was the first days of summer, which took some adjusting for everyone. Philip had two more sessions of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and now he is done for the year. He also participated in a week-long summer program at his school. Philip received a passport and the class visited a different country each day. He traveled to China, Peru, Djbuti, Jamaica, and the USA. They made some amazing crafts and he seemed to have a great time! This was his first time going away for a camp and bringing a lunch with him and he did wonderfully. I wish they ran more sessions this summer!

Andy had a trip to his birthplace - St. Louis! He came home with some team gear for everyone.

 

A downed tree in the neighborhood added some excitement for about a week.

Summer = fun with the hose

 

 

First pair of goggles for both kids - too cute!

 

We visited Philip's new school one day so they could do an assessment on him. He met the Kindergarten teachers and assistants and got to visit the classrooms. He said he looked at books about dinosaurs, monster trucks, and Hot Wheels, so he had fun, but I'm not sure how cooperative he was with the assessment itself!

The last two weeks of the month included our long-awaited, much anticipated trip to the beach. The kids have been packing up for the trip off and on since January. Every month or so they would go get grocery bags and fill them up with toys and things they wanted to bring to the beach to show their cousins. They were so excited when it was finally time to actually pack our suitcases!

On the way down, we visited some old friends in North Carolina for the weekend. The kids had a great time together - Philip especially loved playing with their 9-year old son. His room full of toys was like heaven for Philip! 

On Monday, we headed to the beach. The first week of the trip was spent with Andy's family. We shared a house with several of the families and all met up at Grandma's beach house each day for swimming and fun! While there, we celebrated our nephew's first birthday, had a talent show, and ran the Isle Mile. This was the first year that Philip actually ran the entire Kid's 1/4 mile - he did great!

Our family stayed for a second week at Grandma and Grandpa's condo and it was so nice to have some vacation time with just the four of us. The first week went by so quickly and this extra week made it feel like we were really getting away for a while.  We visited the beach a couple days and spent a lot of time at the pool. The kids both figured out how to swim on their own with just their floaties and they loved the pool. We had meals at some of our favorite restaurants and went into the marshes to get some pet crabs and snails that we kept for a couple days. One evening we went on a ghost crab hunt - Philip was especially good at spotting them!

Examining his new pets

 

Watching the workers maintain the golf course was the source of lots of entertainment that week

Last night at the beach - Philip loving his flounder

 

 

 

Best buddies

 

Philip has gotten very good at playing independently and using lots of imaginative play with his toys. He calls his weapons his "battles." He finally started taking the initiative to buckle his own seatbelt. I am so happy about that, even though it usually takes even longer for him to do it than it does for me to fasten both he and Julia in their car seats.

Julia is very sensitive to expressions and when she reads books, she wants to know why each person looks mad or sad, etc. It can be hard to get through a story with her - she is constantly interrupting to ask questions about the pictures on the page. She is certainly observant and inquisitive! She has started doing a little Julia growl when she doesn't get what she wants. She says, "Uh" or "Aww" in this deep little voice that is very endearing even though I would never tell her that!

 

 

Both kids are very concerned with traffic laws these days. Julia for one is always telling me to "Go" when we are at a red light. They both want to know all about why we do different things on the road. Julia says that if you drive too fast, the police officers will "slow you down." The kids also love to pretend to go to meetings. They usually pack up a bag, sometimes bring snacks, and head upstairs to go to their meetings. Sometimes I will even make them a little decaf tea that they are very careful to not spill in the meeting rooms.

As my belly grows, so do theirs

Things are going well for me. The pregnancy is progressing fine and baby girl has picked up her activity level. Philip asked very slyly one day if we could call the baby, "Sweetheart." Even though he thought he was being funny, it has stuck, so baby's nickname has become "Baby Sweetheart." After serving on the board of my MOMS Club for the last two years, I decided to step down this year while our family gets adjusted to having Philip in school and adding a new family member this fall. I will miss my extra Mom's Night Outs...I mean board meetings, but will continue to be part of the Club. That is all the news for now!