Hugs!

Although I've been hoping to get a picture of how they hug each morning, this was still pretty cute.  

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.