FIVE is fun!

We celebrated Jaxon's 5th birthday last night.
Lots of family and friends really delivered on a fun party for him.
We had a BBQ and his favorite cupcakes (grasshopper!) and ice cream.

Every present he got was a favorite:
Bakugan which he recently discovered through his next door neighbor friend, Jacob, who he thinks is pretty much the coolest kid ever. Next to Caydance.
KungZhu pets were a big hit. He says that they think he is their Mama. LOL
A cool transformer costume that doubled as pajamas last night.
He got a very cool trainset from Nana, Steve and Verna.
So many other fun things too!

Kenzie had to work yesterday so she took him on a special birthday date earlier. They saw Cars 2 and had lunch together. She also bought him a car from the new movie. He barely put it down for the rest of the day.

After he had opened all his presents we sent everyone outside for his big birthday surprise...

Just like Dad's real truck!!! He was so excited that he lay across the hood for a minute or two.
And then took the other kids for short rides.

It was a great party and he was a very happy boy. He's loved by lots of really great people.
Last week we went to the doctor for his kindergarten check up.
Despite appearances...

everything checked out perfectly. He got the last of his immunizations and he's all ready for Kindergarten in the Fall.
So hard to believe that we are already at that point.
He's a sweet, tender hearted boy.
Caydance is his favorite person (Shhh! Don't tell his other neices!)and he says that they have to get married some day because they love each other. That's against the law in most states so we'll have to work on that.
I suspect that Kindergarten will open his eyes to more possibilities.
He does have a bit of anxiety about being alone.
We're currently working on getting to sleep by himself. After stories and snuggles I inch my way further and further from him. Slowly over the course of weeks, months, I am now sitting in the hall, halfway between his room and ours, until he falls asleep. Which happens quickly as long as he knows that I'm there. This can be exhausting at the end of a day when I just want to become one with my own bed. But I know all too well that these days will soon be gone. So I sit there on the floor, my head against the wall, sometimes dozing off myself and waking up a half hour later with a kink in my neck.
He's my shadow all day long which can be a bit draining on me at times. But most of the time, he's a fun little sidekick.
But then, if we're outside and other kids are around, he's all too happy to break free and do some exploring.
Every kid he sees is "my friend".
His favorite food is chicken nuggets, much to my dismay.
His favorite color is "all the colors in the rainbow".
He loves to pretend. Anything he might be holding in his hands at any given time can become a car or a robot or a plane. And he'll happily spend an hour giving these imaginary things their own voices and personalities.
He's smarter than we can take credit for. Almost daily he surprises me with the things he knows.
He's incredibly observant. When we are driving in the car he always notices the tiniest things around us. The car we just passed with it's gas tank lid open, a tree with some item caught up in it's branches, recognizing places that we've driven past only once or twice before. So observant.
He concentrates deeply. I often have to call his name 2 or 3 times to pull him away from whatever is holding his attention.
He's cautious/wary of new things. He takes his time to check people, places and things out before he will warm up to them and explore. But he does warm up and then he's a charmer.
He's five.
Incredible!