Holden at age 5.

Holden turned 5 on May 1st and we had a sweet family celebration with just the four of us. Then his big party was cancelled because both boys ended up getting very sick that weekend. Boo! :( Then mister Abe entered our lives and I am just now getting to post his 5 year update.

What can I share with you about Holden at age 5? He loves all types of Super Heros, Ninja Turtles and any other little boy action type dude. This little boy is full of action and spends a good portion of the day pretending to be a super hero while zooming through the house. A day doesn't ever go buy without Holden having some type of small cars in hands and rolling them all over EVERTHING! He's constantly in the kitchen rolling them on the countertops. He just loves things with wheels and this has been his major interest since he was a tiny toddler. It's amazing to me that this little interest that was so cute to watch develop long before he turned 2, is still his absolute favorite. Another thing he loves is to be read to. On a typical day I normally spend an hour or more with the big boys reading book after book after book. I LOVE this part of our day. I love that they start to memorize library books...even though we check out 10-15 per visit and only keep them for a week. Holden is a bookworm. It's one of his calming activities. He goes full speed most of his waking moments. But I say "let's read" and he is seated, calm and captivated by each story. Jeremy has been going through a book and teaching Holden to read. They are halfway through and he is doing really well with it. I know that once he is able to read independently it will open up a whole new world. I'm hoping he'll still want me to read to him occasionally. It's always a special time for us.

Holden loves being a big brother. He and Pax are best friends and great playmates. And Holden loves little Abe. It has been fun to see him tickling his little brother or making silly faces to get Abe to laugh. He very much enjoys having a baby in the family.

Holden is the early bird in the family. In the past week we have had the boys sleeping in separate rooms. Since doing this, he has been sleeping until about 7:30am. But the rest of this household could and would sleep much longer if he wasn't starving the moment he woke up. He still takes about a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. He can go without the nap if he is busy and moving. But he will quickly fall asleep in the car in the afternoon if we have missed naptime. He doesn't typically fight nap and often tells me he's ready for one soon after lunchtime.

He is a picky eater and vegetables are not his favorite. Some of his favorite foods are: oats (we do lots of different oatmeal variations some raw and some cooked. He loves them all.), pancakes, pizza, eggs, pineapple, grapes, berries, cheeseburgers, pot roast and granola.

My long legged Holden is tall. He's tall and thin. I've yet to meet a kid his age that can match him in height. He is currently 48 inches tall and weighs 47lbs. I'm preparing for him to wear size 7 in jeans this fall. For the past few years he's been 2 sizes up in pants.

He still has a very passionate and strong personality. And I'm still on a learning curve in trying hard to be the mommy to him that God intends for me to be. I do love his passion. The way he retells a story of something he saw. The way he gets so excited about the simplest every day events, like watching the trash truck empty our garbage can.

A few weeks ago Holden learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He sometime gets frustrated when things take practice and hard work and learning to ride a bike had some frustrating moments. But (we think) he is really physically coordinated. He'll be a natural athlete if the desire is there. As a baby he literally went from crawling to running. His first day of walking, he walked the length of our house. See for yourself. (Yes, you should watch that video of my sweet baby boy. Man! How is he 5 now and starting Kindergarten next week!) Anyways, with all his athletic ability, he doesn't have a whole lot of interest in sports yet, except swimming. He is an incredible swimmer. He is now completely independent in the water and I'm able to have full confidence to sit on the side and watch. He will play soccer for second time this fall.

He is a social little boy. An extrovert. The only one in the family so far. He loves to be around people and friends. He loves big gatherings and crowds. The more the merrier. He still acts shy around adults and sometimes doesn't want to speak and answer their questions, but we're working on it.
Holden adores Jeremy. I've probably mentioned that a few times here. I've just never seen anything like it. He wants to dress like him. He wants to look like him. He wants to eat like him. He wants to ride in his truck with him. He wants to mow the lawn with him. He talks about him when he's at work. He idolizes his daddy. No pressure, babe. ;) It's a sweet relationship. And I know there's not a better man for Holden to be looking up to.

I'm very thankful to be this boy's mommy. To spend my days with him is a privilege. I'm constantly learning and growing and stretching because of this one. And I'm grateful.