Today my first boy turns five. It’s been one heck of a ride with our Doodle from his unexpectedly large size to his troubles with speech, eczema and food intolerance. And he has, by far, given us most of our biggest parenting challenges to date.
But he is also as sweet as they come and we’ve loved watching him become all that he is over the past five years together. And while he’s certainly grown and changed, it’s amazing how much has remained the same.
Here are five things about Doodle from the past five years:
He loves planes, trains, and trucks
If it has wheels, Doodle’s a fan. From plane watching with daddy to excitement every time a police car or ambulance goes by, Doodle can’t get enough. He would rather watch construction trucks work than explore or play wherever we are and he can’t say seated at the dinner table if he hears a siren outside or the garbage truck coming by. He knows the proper name of every type of truck (“digger truck” is no longer good enough!) and spends hours playing with his collection of Hess trucks and other cars.
He’s fallen in love with gymnastics
I started Doodle in gymnastics classes two summers ago as a way to pass the time while we waited at the gym during Sugarplum’s classes. I knew he’d like the running around and climbing and flipping but what I didn’t expect was for him to like it so much that he’d start asking about competing and talking about going to the Olympics (with his sister, of course).
When we moved last month, the gym recommended doing an evaluation for class placement since he’d done classes before and he was immediately placed in their “boys stars” group which is an advanced pre-pre-team for young boys (I’ve learned that boys progress much slower through the levels than girls do). And in just the few weeks that he’s been in class here, he’s already progressed so much and gotten so much stronger. He asks every morning if it’s his class day and can’t wait to go when it is.
He likes to do school
He’s always loved to read and unlike his big sisters who give me non-stop trouble about doing their schoolwork, Doodle begs constantly to do his work. And even though he isn’t school-aged yet (we’ll officially start kindergarten sometime in the fall), he loves practicing his writing and doing his workbooks with me and is an eager learner. Let’s just hope it continues through the years!
He wants to be a firefighter
His love for trucks runs even deeper when it comes to firetrucks. He is mesmerized any time a firetruck goes by, has to point out every fire station we pass and can’t help but stare anytime we encounter a firefighter when we’re out. He proclaimed long ago, back when he barely had words at all, that he wanted to be a firefighter and that has never wavered over the years. Only time will tell where he actually ends up in life, but I don’t see his passion for all things firefighting going away any time soon (and he’s only got 11 more years until he can become a local volunteer!) 
He’s our wildcard
Doodle has been to the hospital a total of four times in his five short years, which is more than all of his siblings combined (and equal to the number of times I’ve ever been myself, including the births of my children!) And that count doesn’t even count when he was born (since he was born at home) but does count the two times he threw up, became lethargic and spiked a high fever as well as the now two times he’s busted his lip and earned stitches (the first time about a year and a half ago and the second just a few weeks ago.) I can always hope that our ER visits are done with, but I have a feeling that between his knack for high fevers, his random accident proneness and his food sensitivities, there’s a good chance we’ll be back.
