FIVE!

Avery turns 5-years-old today at 11:52 PM. Five. Hard to believe. I am not the parent who wants to slow down time and hold onto the younger ages. I find I enjoy each year more and more. As I look back at the years, I wish I could pop briefly back and visit Avery at each age to give her a big squeeze, but I absolutely love watching her grow. I love watching her become more independent and more confident. I love hearing her observations of the world and her surroundings and her feelings. I love how ENTHUSIASTIC she is about absolutely everything, even if that enthusiasm often exhausts me. It's an energy I can't match. I don't think I was ever able to match it. I am so in awe and grateful for her energy (not always, of course, but this is about the 90% good, rather than the 10% challenging).

As I was watching my almost-five-year-old behind the stage at her dance performance this past week, I put this on FB:

I find that many of my most intense moments of love for Avery come at times when she's doing something that is so not me. Maybe because it's evidence that she is her own person and seems to know just who she is.

She was decked out in full makeup for the stage (ahhhhhh - so not my desire for a 5-year-old, but the boys had to wear it, too, so that made it more tolerable for me), she was bouncing around the room so girly and graceful, she was talking all about fairies and princesses and all things girly and I loved it all. None of it is me. All of it is her. And I love that she is so different from me. I love that she knows what she likes and seems to know herself better than most adults know themselves. Maybe all kids are this way at this age and then we lose that as life gets more complicated. Whatever it is, it's a very pure thing to watch.

Avery had four birthday celebrations this year.

#1 - family celebration
A couple of weeks ago, we had family over to celebrate Avery's BD. Attendees:

• Nikki - birthmom
• Garrett - brother
• Ashley - Nikki's best friend
• Grandma J - Nikki's mom
• Grandpa Paul - Nikki's stepdad
• Grammie Tina - Mike's (birthfather) mom
• Grandpa Ron - Tina's husband
• Nain
• the three of us (of course)

It was a very nice visit. Avery got to do a few dance performances for the crowd and basked in the attention of so many. At one point, Avery spontaneously broke out into singing Feliz Navidad. Avery got the first 'feliz navidad' out of her mouth and Garrett, not missing a beat, did the clapping part. It was as if they'd planned it and worked on the timing of it. 

Garrett grinning with excitement while Avery opens her gifts. Ashely and Grandpa Paul in the background.

Avery and Garrett danced together and played together and sang together. While I don't regret/feel guilty about the lack of a live-in sibling for Avery, I do have a hard time seeing her and Garrett together. Realizing that she is losing out on a close sibling relationship with Garrett in particular. Seeing them together is amazing. I grieve her loss of that special relationship and hope we can maintain as close of a relationship as is possible given the differences in their lifestyles and the busyness of their separate lives. 

And while this should be a bragging post all about Avery, I do have to mention Garrett's reading. He's in kindergarten now. We gave him his xmas and BD presents during this visit. He opened them up and started to play with one of them. It required he read the directions. Not only could he read all words (among them 'illustration', read with difficulty and perfect pronunciation), he could also read with the right inflections and with a smooth flow. His reading is so advanced that he was able to read the directions for a game meant for a 8+ kid and understand them while reading at the same time. I was truly impressed. 

#2 - school celebration

This was just a minor celebration at school. I brought brownie bites and left them, with candles, with her teacher. Avery enjoyed, again, being the center of attention (which was evident when I picked her up - I didn't stay for the party). 

#3 - friend celebration (the big one)

Avery's party this year was at Playdate PDX at the request of Avery. There were 16 total attendees, including Avery. Everyone seemed to love the castle (duh). Rounding the kids up from the castle was a lot easier than I expected since we had a hostess to help us. Thank goodness I brought a clipboard to write all the attendees names down so I knew who we were missing at various points. 

Avery picked out a fluorescent pink Hello Kitty cake from Safeway. When I ate gluten, I liked the Safeway brand cakes best out of the grocery-store-level cakes, so I always go with them. The cake looked exactly like the picture in the catalog, so I guess that was a good thing. It was for Avery! 

The main thing to note about Avery's party was the present opening portion of the event. Avery had that thing running smoothly and exactly as she wanted. At the beginning, one of the girls asked Avery to open her present first. Avery responded, in a very teacher-like tone, that she would be opening the present of the quietest person first. She told them all to sit criss-cross applesauce, and they did. She hammed it up as she opened the presents, soaking up all the attention and loving it when she made her friends laugh. I was, to tell the truth, at bit taken aback at her bossiness/leadership/assertiveness surrounding the whole thing. We do have most of it on video, so perhaps I'll get to editing it so everyone can see what I mean. It was interesting for me, because watching this, I was both extremely proud of her maturity and leadership skills (I'm not sure it's fair to label it as that, but bossiness doesn't sound right either because she was more calm about it than a typical bossy kid), while at the same time I was cringing a bit because of her domination/bossing of the other kids. I can't really explain the combination. In the end, I'm proud and feel that, when molded and guided, this personality trait will serve her well in life. 

#4 - mom & dad & nain celebration

This morning we woke up and came downstairs. Nain was waiting for us. Avery proceeded to sit on the table and open all her gifts. My favorite part was when she opened the butterfly tea set from Nain. Avery has been asking for a specific butterfly tea set that we've bought for two of her friend's recently. Mom found a china one versus the plastic one we've been giving; she bought the china one. Avery opened it and said something like, "This isn't the one that I've been wanting, but that's OK, I think I will love it!" However she said it, it was really sweet because she told the truth, but then decided it was OK that she didn't get the exact item she'd be asking for.

As I type this, Avery and Elise are in the living room dancing to Feliz Navidad. I guess there are worse Christmas songs to play over and over again. Like the Jingle Bells version done by Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters. That one is so annoying, yet Avery loves it so.