Ethan is SIX!

Happy 6th birthday, Ethan! 

Ethan's birthday celebrations were spread out over the course of a week. We started on Sunday with cake (a Pokeball), birthday ice cream and presents (a water-safe remote-controlled car).

On Wednesday, his actual birthday, he had a special breakfast - a waffle with icing and sprinkles on top. After a full-day of school, he picked Kraft mac & cheese for dinner followed by soccer practice.

On Saturday, I took his friend Logan and him to Build-a-Bear, where they each got a Pokemon animal. Logan got him some Pokemon cards and a Bakugan ball. Then we went to McDonald's for lunch, and they played on the PlayPlace.

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Ethan is still super friendly. He easily made a good little group of buddies here (Logan, Liam and Layne) when school started. He also has a good friend in his church class (Seth) who rides his bus and lives in our neighborhood, but he's in 1st grade instead of kindergarten.

He is still willing to try just about anything. He is a great little swimmer, played soccer again this fall and is enjoying all the fun of learning to read. He is exhausted each afternoon (6:50 am - 3:30 pm with only one 20-minute recess and one 30-minute lunch break would be a lot for anyone!), but hopefully he'll continue to adjust to that too.

He is still having quite a bit of trouble with potty-ing. As soon as Ryan left to move here in February, he started having accidents, and despite all my best efforts through the summer, I couldn't seem to get him to snap out of it. His teacher was very sweet though, and she has set alarms on her phone for him. When he hears her phone chime, he knows that means he needs to go to the bathroom. He comes home dry most days, but he has accidents if she forgets to turn on the chimes, which has only happened twice on Mondays. Anyway, I really want to gradually hand the responsibility back to him, but I don't think he's quite ready yet.

He is still very impulsive, and he really does just about anything that pops into his cute little head. I am struggling to teach him to think before he acts, and I really worry about him. A boy dared another boy to kiss Ethan on the bus this week (on the lips), and Ethan let him. He is just so scattered and aloof, I get so frustrated trying to keep him on task and out of trouble. I keep thinking he'll grow out of it, but now I'm wondering if it's just his personality. He's just so dang cute though!

We love our Ethan, and our world would be so much more boring without him in it. Keep smiling, my happy boy.

Happy birthday, Ethan!