Ryan: 5 Years, 6 Months

Ryan is officially 5 and a half! At times he acts like he should be in elementary school, like when he is making up (and solving) math story problems or explaining the main points to a long story I've just told. At other times, he is using his toe to "brush" his teeth or is hiding from us somewhere in our massive church after specifically being told to stay by us. *sigh*

We've had just enough of a taste of nice weather to look forward to what summer could bring. We had some great long walks where he either rode his bike or walked Nika. He is NOT interested in riding his bike without training wheels, or having help getting his little bike over the 4 feet of rutted dirt  the city left between the sidewalk next to our house and the lovely new road (juries out on when this will ever be connected).  In fact, I believe his quote was,"This is MY problem, and *I* need to solve it, NOT YOU!" Probably advice we could all use.

Ryan and Cohen have already spent hours in the sandbox and Ryan is just waiting until the bugs come back so he can hunt them down and starve them to death in his bug box. Despite his lack of empathy for crickets and other unfortunate captives, he has been very concerned lately with animals becoming extinct. We read a lot of wildlife books and we've seen some cool nature shows on Netflix, and he keeps asking what we can do to help the elephants or save the sharks, etc. I can tell he's really be wrestling with it because he posed the question, "Is it more important to make sure people have enough food to eat and things they need or more important to make sure animals habitats are protected so they don't become extinct?" Delicate balance, dude.

Inside, Ryan likes building things like forts, slides, obstacle courses, marble runs, elevators (bucket on a string hanging over the stairwell), etc.  I feel like he would enjoy a class like Physics, but never having taken any Science beyond 11th grade Chem, I really can't be sure. I feel like inclined planes are his jam, though.  He had a great time making up his own Lego creations too instead of following the directions which was a big step for this classic first-born.

Ryan really enjoys being the oldest at home, I think, and he is also one of the oldest kids in his preschool class and the oldest at daycare. As great as those experiences are, we've really noticed that he could probably benefit from playing with some older kids. We invited 2 of his friends from his old daycare over one Saturday and they had the best time. He'll also be playing soccer this Spring and tee-ball this summer with 5 & 6 year olds. He is really looking forward to Kindergarten and will have his screening and round-up day soon. Already he has informed us that he is most looking forward to recess and gym time, so I'm hoping the screeners are impressed by that fine academic ambition.