6 Years Old!

Last week we celebrated with Forrest as he turned six.  Wow! 

Forrest has grown so much the past year.  Right now I'm struggling with what to say about our smart, thoughtful, goofy, stubborn, not-so-little-anymore boy!  We love so much about him!  We love that he knows nearly every country name, location, and flag in this world.  We love that he can give us accurate directions to nearly any spot in Peoria.  Yes, Forrest's visual-spatial skills and organization are amazing and astound us often.  He's also turned into quite the reader over the past several months.  His passion right now is Berenstain Bears books.  He loves them!  Yes, Forrest's mind makes us so proud. 

We're also so proud of the kind and compassionate boy he is.  He is so sweet to Jonathan, trying to teach him new skills and cheering him on as he learns.  He often translates for Charlotte if I'm not understanding her.  He thinks about his friends and enjoys his time with them.  He still gives me a big hug before bed and usually wants me to lay by him for a few minutes.  Then it's bittersweet to remember little toddler Forrest and little baby Forrest. 

Yes, my Forrest is growing so quickly, beginning his Kindergarten year in his Montessori classroom.  We're so excited for all he will do during the upcoming year. 

Party with friends at Glen Oak Park.  His cake had a Robin Hood decoration on top.  It has been his favorite movie for a long time now!

Five Years Old!

The past couple of days have been spent celebrating Forrest's fifth birthday.  Yes, my first little baby is growing all the time!

In past years, we have always had family parties, which have been great (especially since Mom has done most of the work for them!).  Since beginning school, Forrest has attended a few friend parties, so I gave him the option of having one of his own.  Yes, I really was thinking he would still choose a family party.  Nope.  So, Saturday morning we hosted about eight friends for a donut-themed gathering, including donuts to eat and a donut pinata.  Side note, if $40 seems like too much to pay for a pinata, it's not.  Just go ahead and buy it because paper mache and hours spent decorating one of these things is no joke!  While the party was a little willy-nilly for me, the kids did seem to have fun.  

Yesterday, Mom and Dad made the drive down to deliver some gifts and spend time.  They're always welcome guests.  Then today, Joshua and Forrest drove south of St. Louis for the much-anticipated birthday eclipse.  They had great weather and a fun time.  I'm waiting for them to return home now; traffic back north following the event seems to be rough.

Yes, we have certainly celebrated our favorite five-year-old!  We love you Forrest!

Happy Halloween!

Forrest was ready for Halloween this year.  He vowed to "make it all the way to Northmoor!"  He would have, too, if it wasn't bedtime.  Yes, he trick-or-treated for a long time and was so excited to see all the candy.  This year, he decided to be the alphabet.  Love that little boy!

Four Years and Eight Months

Yesterday was a big day for our family.  Forrest Edward turned four years old!  Doesn't that sound like a big step?  It felt like a big step.  As is the tradition, we had a family party at Poppy and Gigi's.  Four year olds like traditions it seems.  A party in Peoria would not do.  The theme this year was letters, numbers, and snakes.  Oh, this little boy is passionate about his interests!

While Forrest turned four, Charlotte turned eight months.  She's a growing girl!  During the past weeks, she has learned to scoot around (not crawling, but getting where she wants!), has started eating so many things (muffins, yogurt, and ice cream are favorites), enjoys screaming for pleasure, and wants to do whatever Forrest is doing (if only Forrest wanted the company).  

What a happy family we are.  We love our children and look forward to seeing them grow and learn!

Forrest Update

It's probably just me, but it seems that it's been awhile since we just had a nice Forrest post.  (Yeah, it's just me...)

Forrest continues to grow and learn in ways that make us smile daily.  He's been at the Montessori School since the end of August, and though he would still rather stay home, he's comfortable there.  I had the opportunity to observe him at work a few weeks ago, which was so nice.  I miss seeing him at school after being his toddler classroom assistant in Monticello.

Here he is working on matching sandpaper letters, his current passion.  After over two years of kitchen appliance love, he has moved on to letters and numbers.  He's consumed!

 

Besides becoming quite the scholar, Forrest's speech skills are finally beginning to clear up.  My goodness, he's kept me waiting such a long time!  Within the last two months I've had his hearing tested and his speech and language screened.  His hearing is normal, and besides a couple of remaining odd-ball speech errors, he's doing so well.  So, here's to being patient and trusting of the development he is doing. 

Happy Halloween!

This year marked Forrest's first trick-or-treating experience.  We've been preparing for a few weeks. After campaigning for a costume of "Cuisinart ice cream maker with cat and rabbit spinning around," we finally settled on yellow m&m.  I just wasn't sure my creative skill could handle an operational appliance costume.

Despite the few raindrops, we had a very nice 15 minutes of trick-or-treating.  Forrest was ready to go home and enjoy his candy.  Yes, he did choose the one full-size bar that he was given.  Very exciting!

While we were busy trick-or-treating, Dad was working on installing a new swing in our garage.  It's called a Super Spinner (sort of a cross between a regular swing and a tire swing); it's a hit.  I haven't managed a good action shot yet, but we love it!  I'm looking forward to using it through the winter, given it's place in the garage rather than outside.  

We're a happy little family these days.  

Happy Birthday Forrest!

We've been celebrating Forrest's third birthday since last weekend, and what a fun time it's been!  Between a party in Monticello and Orion and a celebration at home, this little boy knows what a birthday is about.

So much growing and learning this past year!  Right now, Forrest still loves all kitchen gadgets.  (I keep waiting for this to pass...)  One of his favorite activities is going to Goodwill to shop with Gigi; he always comes home with a new appliance.  Between our house and Poppy and Gigi's, Forrest has five coffee makers, five ice cream makers, two blenders, two food processors, two mini choppers, four stand mixers, and I could go on.  It really is funny.  For his birthday, Grandpa Butch and Grandma Janet passed along a vintage play kitchen, which Forrest is very excited about.  He also still enjoys puzzles, Legos, and reading books.  Pinwheels are another fascination the past few months.  We enjoy going on walks with his balance bike and finding pinwheels in people's yards.  Our own collection of pinwheels has grown to five.  They are fun to look at...

Forrest is an intelligent and curious little boy who wants to know how things work.  He has many ideas that he enjoys sharing and is quite the conversationalist for those of us who understand him!  (We're planning to pursue a speech evaluation this fall through the school district.)  He is loving and enjoys snuggling up to read a book or watch a Youtube video on appliance use or repair.  I can't believe three years have passed, and Forrest's growing independence and sense of his own identity is such a source of pride and joy.  

We love you, Forrest!  Happy birthday!

Christmas Update

Despite Forrest being sick, we had a lovely Christmas celebration at Dad and Mom's.  (They finished their family room 20 years after beginning the project, spurred on by the need to host due to Forrest's dog allergy at Shaun and Bill's).  Here are a few pictures!

Yes, I did approve of a bounce house.  Being a parent makes you so gullible... 

Can it be?  A new, blue mixer?  Yes, this is what he has been asking for for months.  All other presents were disappointing until this one was opened.

Christmas suspenders?  Yes, indeed.

The grandparents came over for a beautiful, and delicious lunch.

Hope everyone else had as nice a holiday as we did!

Merry Christmas!

Look how timely I am - a Christmas post before Christmas!

I just finished looking at some pictures of Forrest that I took to showcase his Christmas outfit for this year, and I'm having trouble deciding which one deserves the place of honor on the mantle for all time.  Lucky for me, I can post them all here :0)

And just for fun, the last two years:

More Christmas pictures to come!