A letter to the birthday boy

Well here it is, Will. You are five. You are not a baby or a toddler anymore, you're quickly leaving behind the preschool years and in a few months, you'll be an official kindergartner. Sob. Five years ago this morning, you came busting into the world and you haven't slowed down since. You are beyond delighted to be FIVE. You woke up this morning with a big grin on your face and proudly announced to everyone you saw at school, "I'm five today!"

I'm sure I say this every year but Will, you are growing right before our very eyes. You wear a size 6 and have grown out of most of the pants in your closet in the last few months. If given the option, you'd just wear 'soft' pants (your definition, I haven't quite figured out what you mean yet), your Capt Jack Sparrow shirt, a fleece jacket, pirate hat (naturally), and an assortment of weapons everyday. Today you added your newly acquired spyglass and compass. Oh - and your snowboots. Rain or shine, you insist on clomping around the house in those. It's because Capt Jack Sparrow wears boots, naturally.

You are learning so much, both at school and at home. You write your name with ease and even add a P. after it with a flourish. You draw detailed pictures of nautical battles, complete with cannons, bad-guys and explosions. You drew a picture of our family for your Dad while he was in the hospital. At first glance, I thought maybe we were all waving but I was quickly informed that we all had swords (even Reina) and were battling the two bad guys at the top of card. Clearly. Duh Mom. At home, you soak up information like a sponge. Mostly pirate information, but every once in a while, other topics get through. You and Reina go to Sunday School this year and our drive home from church usually features your delightful interpretation of that day's lesson. When we are driving home from school, you tell me about dinosaurs and George Washington and leprechauns and whatever else caught your attention that day. Your brain is always working.

To say that you are obsessed with pirates right now is perhaps a bit of an understatement. It's not just 'pirates' in general either. It's Captain Jack Sparrow. You insist on using his first name and chastise me if I refer to him simply as "Capt Jack." You balked at getting a haircut last week because you felt you were well on your way to growing out long, black dreadlocks. You also asked me how you could grow a beard, because CJS has three beards, according to your recollection. If given the opportunity, you'd watch Pirates of the Caribbean every night of the week and twice on Sundays. You settle for reenacting as many scenes as you can remember and spinning elaborate story lines with your Lego pirate collection. You fall asleep listening to a cd of sea chanteys and nautical songs, which have permeated your subconscious and I'll hear you singing them to yourself as you work on stuff.

We had your birthday party on Saturday, a pirate theme obviously, and a great time was had by all. I'll put more pictures in the next post, but I wanted include a picture of your great birthday cake this year --- two rice krispie treat pirate ships shooting whoppers as cannonballs at each other and guarding a treasure chest full of gold candy corn. It was a big hit with the 4- and 5-year set.

So Will, you are five. You are a delight. You are still strong-willed and stubborn at times, but you also have a great sense of humor and are very caring. When your dad first came back from the hospital, the only place in the house you'd play was right at his feet. The den was a whirlwind of Lego parts and pirate paraphernalia because you didn't want to be too far away. You love your dog and your sister. The last time you had to stay home from school with an ear infection, you told me by lunchtime that you missed Reina and wanted me to go pick her up. You fight with her like crazy, it's not all sibling adoration, all the time, but you two do like each other an awful lot. It's hard for me to believe that you are getting so big. I can't wait to see what the next year brings. We love you Will-will!