Our littlest guy is SIX!
Niall is still pretty tiny-- smaller than most of the kids in his Kindergarten class. He's about 3 ft. 6 inches and about 35 lbs, but we'll officially take him in for a well visit in a couple of weeks (wanting to make sure his petite height is not a medical concern). He's in mostly 4T clothing, and size 9 shoes. He still likes skinny pants and joggers, usually rotating his favorite camouflage pants from Target. He still loves zip-up hoodies and his dino onesie pajamas to be cozy. He is thriving in his first year at Spanish immersion elementary school, where he comes home singing Spanish songs, with "arte" creations made out of recyclable boxes/supplies. He gets along well with the other kids and teachers and has made some good new friends.
He still is our little "vegetarian that doesn't love vegetables." He recently discovered that beef comes from cows ("They just take the cow and chop it up?!"), but is not vegetarian for ethical reasons. He will eat processed meats like bacon, sometimes chicken (mostly in nugget form), and pho meatballs but for protein, he favors the whites of hard-boiled eggs and tofu. He likes cucumbers, peas, carrots, and sometimes olives, but it's hard to get fiber in him. Strawberries are his favorite fruit but also likes blueberries, mango, nectarines, and kiwis. He likes noodles and soups, as well as rice and cheese. He likes chocolate treats. With recent events, we have to watch his cheese and milk consumption, and it's hard to sneak in powdered fiber or Miralax as he doesn't really like juice or smoothies. Sigh. We hope the pickiness gets better with time.
He still remains a good sleeper, sometimes making it past 7 a.m. on weekends, and often going to bed on his own when he feels tired, which is very unlike our fear-of-missing-out kiddo, Iver! He sleeps in a full bed next to Iver's bed in a shared room, but sometimes wanders out into our room when he's "scared" (or maybe cold), really loving to snuggle with adults. He's very attached to a small "blue blanky" and has a larger "blue blanky" he got as Christmas gift from Santa.
He still loves being read to, but is starting to sound out words (he can recognize all his classmates' names by sight) and we've done some of the early reading "Bob Books". He has great vocabulary and says things like, "Don't retaliate!" or "That malfunctioned!" He can do simple math. He is very curious about writing all things (thankfully not swear words these days, as he got in trouble at preK once for teaching some other kids how to write the F-word). He likes to sing in the car and has good pitch! He likes to watch cartoons on the weekends, including "How to Train Your Dragon" and still is into Superheroes and Power Rangers.
He recently figured out how to ride a two-wheeler bike, and, while he is still working on starting the motion on his own, we're thrilled he's gotten this down, as he's not as sports-motivated as his brother and it's been a challenge! He did participate in fall cross country (and I watched him run a mile on his own!) and seems to want to do spring track, but still is not the most energetic on weekend walks or hikes. He's enrolled in group swim lessons now, and has moved up a couple of levels over the last couple of months.
He loves making crafts with papers (including origami, cards, and folded creations) and boxes, as well as building. He put together a ~1400 lego set recently with hardly any assistance and seems to have a great spatial brain (something which I do NOT share!). He enjoys doing Little Passports kits with me and playing board games (while we're working on playing by the *real* rules and not rage-quitting). He's generally a very even-tempered, sweet and happy kid.
We hosted a birthday party for him on Saturday, where he invited a handful of friends over for a Power Rangers-themed bash.
Kelvin inflated some helium balloons which got beat down pretty quickly!
