Can he really be 5?

Bad mama!  It's been almost a month since Nile turned 5 and I haven't posted a single thing...that's what happens when I get busy with marathon training, work, and life in general.

My little pipsqueak Nile is 5.  It almost hurts me to write that down.  He's going to kindergarten in the fall, and he's SO READY.  In fact, he thought that the week after his birthday he would get to go to kindergarten.  "Mom," he told me. "I won't be at preschool for 'W week.'  I'll be in kindergarten."  He was fine once I explained that kindergarten doesn't start until after summer.  He didn't like it, but he was okay with it.  Now he keeps telling me that he'll be in kindergarten when Novak turns 2.

For Nile's birthday, we let him invite two of his preschool friends for a "party."  I put party in quotes, because it wasn't really a party, more of a playdate.  We invited his friends to meet us at Monkey Joe's for a few hours of playing.  Since we hadn't reserved a room, we were not allowed to bring in cake or presents.  (Grrr...)  But the kids had a blast, and everyone was exhausted after two hours of running, bouncing, and sliding.

After the party, Nile and I returned to my parents' house to pick up Novak and have some birthday cake.  (Isn't this cake amazing?)

Nile's "Royals Baseball Field" cake

The best picture I got of him...

Nile is one of the most amazing kids I've ever met.  I'm a mother, so I'm allowed to say that about all my boys.  And it's true of all of them.  His sense of humor is so much fun.  I love listening to him try and make up jokes.  Today at lunch he told Tom that he had a dachshund in his brain.   

What can I say about Nile?  It's so true that each child has his own personality, and his own individual characteristics.  I suppose I knew that would happen, but you don't really "know" it until you experience it.  Nile definitely takes after my side of the family.  Stubborn.  Bullheaded.  Easily frustrated.  I often hear him echoing sentiments that I know I have heard myself say in the heat of a frustrated moment.  And I've posted on here before about him being the last one at the table at dinner.  Don't feel bad for him.  It's not because he's in trouble, and he's not sad at all about sitting there alone.  He's just refusing to eat until he has to.

But that's not all Nile is.  He's sweet.  Caring.  Funny.  Nile is incredibly loving.  He is so amazing with his baby brother.  Nile takes care of Novak in ways that I would have never imagined.  Every single morning when Novak sees Nile, he asks for a hug.  And every single morning, Nile gives him one.  It's the best hug in the world.  And it's not me or Tom that Novak has to hug to start his day.  It's Nile.

Where Nate is a philosopher, Nile is a technician.  Nate wants to know "why" something is.  Nile, he wants to know "how."  Where Nate generally aims to please, Nile wants to know what's in it for him first.  

Nile has the best "game winning" dances.  And he talks smack!  If it weren't so darn cute...well, I don't know because it's so stinking cute.  

He can sense a camera pointed at him from across the room.  But when the camera is not around, he's in his element.  Usually fighting some invisible villain.  Lately he's been pretending he's a dragon and showing off his dragon fighting moves, thanks to his "How to Train your Dragon" video game.  (It's hilarious when he breathes fire...)

Sure, he has his moments.  Many of them have their roots in the stubborn, bullheaded side I mentioned above.   And he's going to have to learn to control his temper when he gets to school.  But those are all normal 4-5 year old things, and I know he will get them under control.  

I love how, at the age of 5, Nile still wants to snuggle with me in the recliner when we watch shows on PBS.  This is something we couldn't do last year while I was nursing Novak.  Sometimes he asks me to lie with him in bed at night.  I enjoy these little moments, all too soon they will be gone. 

It seems like yesterday he was born.  But at the same time, it feels like he's always been here.  

Love ya, Wiley. 

Thanksgiving Dance Party

This song (Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO) is played at home Hawkeye games.  It's been stuck in my head for a week now, and so Tom finally downloaded it and played it on the home speakers.

Nate has some awesome moves, check them out!  I reduced the quality of the video so it will be easier to stream, so hopefully it's easy to view.  I have it in it's full HD glory at home :)

I have so much to be thankful for this year - today I'm especially grateful for a first grader who can make me smile any time. :)

T-Ball Dancing

This is Nate's first time playing T-ball. Our camera has been on the fritz, so I didn't get any photos, but I did get to try out my new video camera. This moment was more than priceless. Check out what Nate does when he gets to home plate.

a welcome diversion

This afternoon I leave for a (relatively short) trip to Germany. Even though it's only four days, the fact that I'm going alone and overseas is making me nervous and anxious. If any one of those two factors were removed (someone going with me or just traveling domestically), I'd be fine. Add that my last trip to Italy was awful, and combine with the fact that I will miss my boys incredibly, and I just am not looking forward to it.

So today instead of our regular trip to the gym, I decided to take the boys to do something fun.

We went to the Bettendorf Family Museum.

The boys loved playing in all the various exhibits...

But the highlight had to be a free (well, after paying admission) concert by Jim Gill - the boys love his music. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and clapping. Mostly by the parents, though. Nate did join in on several of the songs. I do admit some of the songs are catchy but my ears were done after 25 minutes...or maybe it was my stomach. It was lunch time.

Afterwards we went to Arby's for lunch. It was at lunch I realized I'd forgotten completely about my upcoming trip. And as I realized I needed to get home and finish packing, the butterflies set in again. Oh, well. At least I had three hours that I didn't think about it.

2009 Preschool Christmas Program

The annual preschool Christmas program at First Lutheran was a lot of fun, as usual. Due to a nasty bout of stomach flu, neither Tom or Nile was able to go. But luckily, Nate had already had the bug (see here) and I had yet to get it.

The program was full of the usual elements: singing, dancing, and crying. I think I've managed to have them all on this video - it's rather long but I think it was the one that best captured Nate's fine dancing skills. The crying is someone's younger brother who apparently didn't enjoy the preschooler's rendition of "Jingle Bells" as much as we parents did. (and no, it wasn't Nile - he was at home, sick, remember?)



After the program the kids all got a special gift from their teachers. Nate was beside himself with excitement over the small stuffed penguin. He promptly named it "Pen" and said it could be the "aunt" to Pete, his larger penguin at home. Later he decided that it really was Pete's son.



And then, after patiently waiting (in the photo above you see that he is sitting by Santa's chair. He didn't move from that spot until Santa asked him to come up), it was his turn to talk to the man.

He told "Santa" that he wants a Transformer for Christmas. Apparently Santa didn't know what a Transformer is (come on Santa, this is 2009!) so Nate had to explain that a Transformer is a robot.

I am still amazed that the kid who has to have me explain the details of everything (note) accepts Santa. Flying reindeer, presents for every child in the whole world, magic elves: this is all accepted without question. Oh, well.

Introducing...Brown Bear

Let me introduce Brown Bear. Brown Bear is Nathan's preschool "Indian" name.
(I cringe even to type it, I'd rather say "Native American," but I feel I should stick with what Nate and his teachers were calling it).

Oh, and by the way - that's not red paint on his nose. He hit his nose with the lid of his laptop last week...

Today we attended Nate's preschool Thanksgiving Feast and program. Again this year I continue to be amazed at the improvement Nate is making. At last year's program he stood with the group and, well, just stood there. This year, he participated! Yippee!

Here are a few photos I thought I'd share.

The class singing one of the songs. (Nate is on the right side of the photo)


The boys go to do a little drumming while the girls dance.


The boys then got to dance while the girls played the drums.


After the program the families got to eat a special Thanksgiving meal that the class helped prepare. Vegetable soup, cornbread, applesauce, chocolate chip bars, and apple juice. Nate proudly informed me that he "dumped the corn into the soup!"

It was a good morning.

School days...

So...last year I didn't even think to bring the camera to Nate's first day of preschool. As the only mom who didn't bring a camera, I was not going to make the same mistake again. Here it is, the standard "first-day-of-school" picture: Nate outside church, right before school.



After spending an hour with their teacher while we parents signed a bunch of legal forms...they performed a song for us. ("If You're Happy and you Know It"). Nate is wearing a dark blue shirt on the right side of the class. For those of you who aren't familiar with the stories from last year, this short video marks a HUGE improvement over last year. Last year Nate refused to sing, do any actions, or pretty much anything during their few "performances." So seeing him participate made me so happy!




After the performance each child got a t-shirt. This, to Nate, was the best part of the day: "I won a prize!"


So far we're off to a great school year. Let's hope it continues!

dancing in the sunshine

I wanted to share one of those rare perfect moments in our household, when everything is going right in the world and everyone is happy.

dancining

Nile really loves Raffi...Becky gave him an MP3 player for Christmas and we've loaded it up with tracks from Raffi Live in Concert. Now that he's figured out how to get to his favorite songs, we're free from having to be "DJ Raffi" for him. Although this doesn't totally protect us from his love of repeat playings of "Baby Beluga," at least we are no longer continually being called to the stereo to start the song over. (Honestly, once I really did put that track on "repeat" for about a half hour...)

Tonight he was especially moved by "All I Really Need," so much so that he just had to break out into dancing. Or should I say "dancining?" Enjoy.