Five

Wow Michael, today is your birthday.  How can it be that you are already 5???

At 5 you are really funny. You are full of personality and surprise us daily with the things you come up with.

The other day your dad was outside and when he came back in you were laying on the floor and your brother was crying. When he asked what was going on your response was, "It's a long story." At 5 you LOVE school. You especially love the fact that you get to see your best buddies everyday. We cannot believe how much you have learned this year. You will sit down and write numbers by yourself and you can read! You are so determined to sound out new words by yourself and love to practice reading new stories with me. At 5 you are always "busy." Even after a long day at school, you will come straight home and start "doing your work." At 5 you love Legos. I think your dad secretly loves them too because he keeps on buying the sets that take hours to put together. Your favorites are the people, but you are beginning to follow directions and can put the small sets together on your own. At 5 you want to be just like your dad. When asked what you want to be when you grow up your response is always, "I want to work in an office like dad." You also want a truck just like his and tell him daily that I drive you crazy. At 5 your favorite place on earth is still Mimi and Pa's. I really believe that you feel most at home there. You always have the best adventures with them and are never ready to leave. At 5 you love being outside. You are still really into looking for bugs and creating habitats for them. There isn't anything (nature wise) that scares you. If there is a spider in the house I will ask you to kill it, but you always just pick it up and put it outside. Lately you have been telling us that God wants us to take care of his creatures. At 5 you have a major sweet tooth. If we didn't cut you off, you would eat pastries, cookies, candy and cupcakes all day, everyday.  I would even go as far to say that you are addicted to sugar...  At 5 you are always ready for an adventure. You love being on the go and experiencing new things. At 5 you are getting really independent. You can make toast and sandwiches on your own and are getting pretty handy in the kitchen. At 5 you still love a good project. You actually come up with a lot of them on your own now, and all I have to do is gather the supplies.
At five you are really protective of your brother. I bet you would score high on "protective instincts" like that guy on the Blind Side. I can't tell you how many times you have stopped Colin from touching a hot stove, putting something small in his mouth, or running in the street.
At 5 I am starting to see how life gets easier as kids get older, but if I had a chance to go back 5 years and do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat.

At 5 we are very proud of you.
I think Aibileen from The Help said it best, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important."

Happy Birthday Michael.
We love you very, very much.