This (5 year old) Kid.

This kid. I mean... THIS KID. He turned 5 this year, on 5-5-15. He is reading easily at a first grade level, although he says it's boring. He's doing 1st grade level math. He has a memory that saves me more often than I care to admit. From where my keys are to where the birthday candles are that I stuffed in the back of the pantry a year ago. Seriously, he got his cupcake and said, the birthday candles? I asked where, and he pointed to the cabinet. I dug, and dug, and dug, and found them, and looked at him in amazement. He just smiled and waited for me to light them. And then didn't mind when Colin refused to eat his cupcake until he got a lit candle too.

He is beyond kind, compassionate, empathetic, and engaging. I don't just love him, I like being with him and hearing what he has to say.

For his birthday this year he got a set of golf clubs so he could go golfing with Daddy, a Spiderman sleeping bag so he could go camping, a new Superman costume, and his cousin gave him a tackle box so they could go fishing together, one of his new favorite things.

And he is totally Superman, and not just to me. He is so super-kind and self-sacrificing... he'll take the blame for a mess that he didn't make, offer to do something when Claire is refusing to clean up her own mess, and one time, when Claire had decided to have a midnight binge-and-color session in Shannon and I's bed in the middle of one night, I woke up to Claire, sprawled out in our bed, covered in marker, marker all over the sheets, in her hair, in her face, with strawberries staining her hair and face (and and empty strawberry container in the bed too). When I was talking to her about how I was unhappy, Adam interrupted me:

"Mommy, No... It was my fault. I did it. Don't be mad at Claire, I made this mess."

Claire just grinned at me, looking so hopeful and proud with her marker stained face. Adam is absolutely her Superman.

 At the doctor for his check up, he answered all of her questions and we talked about his SPD. She and I agree that he is growing to adjust so well that a little OT will probably help, but that it's not affecting his growth, and his ability to be safe is not causing harm. He has really started to be able to control his impulses by being so uber-aware of how to keep Claire and Colin safe, because they want to do everything he does... and he has no desire to scare me.

He is in the 90th percentile for weight (rock-hard muscle), and the 75th percentile for height. She asked if we had changed anything this last year to help him grow at such a rate and the only thing I could think of was that he is on a probiotic that has completely changed his pickiness. He's still picky, but chooses well. He would say his favorite foods are hot dogs, cupcakes, carrots, broccoli, and apples. At the bottom of the list are pizza, chocolate, and peanut butter. Plus, he never sits still. I mean, if he's awake, he's moving. That's burning some serious muscle and helping him grow too.

He has been begging to be 5 since the day he turned 3... and the day after he turned 5, he asked when he'd be 6. Slow down, little guy... I'm soaking it all in.

This next year he will start Kindergarten in the fall at his private Montessori, and continue to be in a small classroom with access to the materials he needs. His strengths are math, science, and of course, the sensory area, which, in his stressed out days he could spend all day there. He is starting to like to write and is writing short stories and turning them into books. Here are a few...

some of his art...

"I play with Claire. I play with Colin. After I play I eat lunch. After I eat I like to sleep."

It's fictional, apparently, because naps happen on a 0% basis around here. After he turned 5 he asked if he could quit napping at school, because it's a law in Texas that they at least lie down for 30 minutes. He's ready to keep working.

I like to play at school. I work at school I drew a picture of a house. It has a rainbow and poison ivy. I like it!

Adam has career ambitions when he is 5... he plans to play golf, play soccer, play baseball, and become a model. He has serious opinions about black and white pictures though, and prefers the ones with "all the colors." It's so fitting to his personality, and now, even though I love his black and whites, am very aware that he wants to see ALL THE COLORS.

Still love this one though.

If you talk to this kid on the street it's probably because he stopped you to ask how you were doing, what your name is, what your dog's name is, and to tell you he likes your shirt/shoes/hair. And then he'll wave buy, and say "nice to meet you." It's not a 100% chance that this will happen, but when he's on his game he is the most charming kid I've met, although I'm extra biased, I couldn't be prouder. I was never that way as a kid, and I just see all this warmth and intelligence radiate out of him.

Many might see a wound up ball of energy or a kid who can't stop moving... I see one of the kindest, most observant people on the planet, adult or child.

Adam is super sensitive though, and a perfectionist, and he sometimes get frustrated that he can't read perfectly or that he can't write exactly how he wants, so to help, we work at home too. He is one of those people who is smart but would never claim to be... who doesn't see his own worth all the time, and gets very frustrated if he's not the "perfect" person... and sometimes he thinks perfect means that you just walk in and are able to do it, because frankly, it's new for him to have to work at things to really master them. So we are spending a lot of time lately talking about how much EVERYONE has to practice to be good at things, and that some things just come more naturally for some people.

...like smiling naturally for the camera...

When he got his last hair cut we had to compromise. He wanted it super, super short, or as he put it, "straight," as in, "straight across my forehead." The style right now is to have the little faux hawk, which he used to have, but he likes it this way. His regular hair cut stylist, Ranae, compromised with me. We went as short as possible without being so short that his hair would stand up, and when she styled it she did it the "straight" style she was thinking of... think Zac Morris from Saved By the Bell, and Adam re-styled it for her. It looks awesome this way. He knows what he's doing.

There is absolutely NOTHING I wouldn't do for my kids, and especially this one. He lights up my whole life, has made me realize more about myself and has supported me to the ends of the earth and back, with a thousand hugs a day and a hundred "I love yous." I am a writer, but there would never be enough words to express how much I adore this little face and all of the light and power he breathes into me every day, pushing me to do things I never thought I could and making me feel more proud than ever that he chose me to be his Mommy.