Growing Up

This week was a big week for K. On Monday, he had his five-year-old check-up. Did you know they start testing for cholesterol at this age? It was probably more traumatic for me than him when the boy guy cried when his finger was pricked. And D and I had to join forces when he received his shot to distract him. He was a major trooper. (And of course, I can totally sympathize, because today I had my own biometric testing done - but here's too great numbers for both of us!)

Then we had his first soccer practice Monday evening. It was an hour of trying to understand what the objective of this "extra" training was from the area soccer club. The normal coach gives up the reigns to some area high schoolers so they can practice coaching ... it was organized chaos at best.

Tuesday was preschool graduation day. Okay, I'm not a huge fan of unnecessary ceremonial rituals, but I wanted to support my baby. So, I took the day off and made sure I could be there for his celebration. Unfortunately, the normal pomp and circumstance was absent because his teacher was rushed to the hospital the night before with internal bleeding. They did show a video where each kid said their name and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most kids you had to strain to hear ... but of course, not K. He was so confident and project his voice in a way that you would have expected at the end a political statement that this advertisement was sponsored by someone. Of course, while most kids said they wanted to be firemen or princesses ... he responded: "I want to be Ben 10 when I grow up." We had our own celebration in the afternoon when we took the boys to the science museum and saw the King Tut exhibit. O was so well-behaved (thank goodness for the stroller) and I was impressed that K chose to see this exhibit over the Lego exhibit at the children's museum.

Tonight, my little man went to his first birthday party. Yes, I've managed to hold off until now when it came to attending birthday parties. (Because really, does a three-year-old appreciate it?) However, this party was for what I would consider his first "real" friend. It's a neighborhood boy that he has frequent play dates with and they play soccer together. It's a nice family and I can tell K is in love with his little friend - he just gets so excited to play with him. I do worry that my overly extroverted son might be a little dominant (which only makes me worry that O will scare everyone and have friends who will want to be his friend because he can dominate the world.)

I can't believe my babies are growing up. K really showed that he's becoming a little man and O is already such a big boy. I cannot believe he's 17 months old. And now he's actually saying recognizable words. And who would have ever guessed that I would have two men with such amazing personalities. Let's just hope that D and I can provide them the best experiences so that they grow up to be outstanding men.