Benjamin - 5 years old

Our boy is getting so big (45", 47lbs - both 90%) and fast!! We've had a busy year with him: he learned to ride with no training wheels on his bike and now he speeds off everywhere on it, he has developed a real love for soccer and is 1 of the hardest kickers on his team, he has learned how to swing with no help from anyone and go WAY too high for his mom's stress level, he has learned to write his letters (although we definitely still struggle with flipping them), and he has learned to read simple/beginner books where he can sound out the words or read 1 of his 30 sight words. We just had a parent/teacher conference with his preschool teacher and she made me laugh as school-wise he is very like his father and not his mother :) He is smart and will do as directed but he will only do as much as he's asked for (he's not an extra credit student!) and as soon as 1 child is finished and playing he hurries through the rest of his work to go and join in. The teacher agreed with us that he definitely needs a very structured environment for school so that made us very happy with our choice of Kindergarten - which is good since he is already signed up to start in August!!

He also has an awesome imagination. I think we spent most of his 4th year in 1 dress up costume or another. And we'll hear him all the time playing out different things in his room during 'quiet time' (we gave up naps about a year ago). But he definitely prefers to play with others and just loves having Mae around for that. He doesn't like it when her nap runs longer than his quiet time as he wants her in the backyard playing with him.

He is also developing a very strong love of video games (also like his father). For good behavior he gets a 20 min reward in the evening. Benjamin always chooses the video games. He then chooses his partner (Sam or myself) and when he chooses me he has to explain to me what I am to do since his skills greatly exceed mine! Sam and I were just discussing today that we don't really recall the last time Ben watched tv at home.

Unfortunately he still is severely allergic to all tree nuts and egg whites. He is also at the age that he is questioning why he's not allowed to eat some food, but other kids can. Luckily we have discovered soy butter which tastes almost like peanut butter so he's been able to use that in sandwiches, on celery, on apples, etc. We have kept his asthma completely under control with 2 daily steroid puffs from his inhaler (and daily zyrtec). His asthma/allergist specialist says that if we have another good year we will be reducing that. With his lungs improving, his eyes have now decided to act up and we are still working on keeping his left eye from crossing in. Glasses helped but didn't correct completely so currently Benjamin has to wear a patch on his good eye about 6 hours a day. Luckily he is an extremely confident and happy child and does not mind wearing it at all. He decorates it every morning before school and then wears it until the afternoon. When kids ask if he hurts his eye he just calmly tells them he's doing it so he doesn't go cross-eyed and then keeps playing :)