6 Years Old

Ben is six!!!  

A little recap of the last year:

• Ben lost 2 teeth while he was 5.  One came out a month after his birthday last year and the other last December.  As of his 6th birthday, he had two VERY wiggly teeth (that came out the Thursday and Friday following his birthday). Loosing teeth was something he was terrified of last year on his birthday, but now he seems to be okay with the idea. (He got to see that he does, in fact, grow new ones to replace them)!
• Ben traveled to Hawaii like a champ and we had a blast on our family vacation.  Looking forward to planning something fun for next year.  I think this is the first time I haven't planned something well in advance.  To be honest, it will be difficult to top our last destination (Aulani).
• He is very much motivated by treats and using his iPad.  We threaten to take both away (and on occasion, do) when he has bad behavior.  Truly nothing will get him back on track than the thought of not having a treat after dinner.
• Ben is still very Type A in so many ways.  He still likes a schedule and to put things in order.  He likes to "rank" things (food, treats, sports teams, activities, and sometimes even friends - which mortifies me of course, but it's a phase I think).  He always wants to know when things will happen and what the plan is.
• Going along with this, EVERYTHING is a game. Everything (walking to the bus stop, which of us "gets" to play with him, who finishes eating something first) has a winner or a loser.
• He is less into toys than he used to be.  He still likes them of course, but we recently did a big toy purge and he had no problem letting many things go.  He LOVES games (board games, card games, video games, math games, you name it) and sports and would do them constantly if he could.
• Ben continued to participate in so many activities this past year!  He always looks forward to them, and now we do, too!  After another struggle of a season with swim (literally tears and complaining every morning on the day of swim and I would have to hear about it constantly until it was over), I decided I was over it and enrolled him into his Hip Hop class instead!  He LOVED that, and recently started back up again at a class closer to home!  He also did T-Ball, Basketball, and Soccer and lots of golf outings with Greg.

We celebrated his birthday this year with the same bouncy house from last year.  I've officially declared this the last "big" birthday party because it was overwhelming - not just for me, but for Ben!  Having so many friends from his different worlds there was hard for him to spend quality time with any of them, and at times he just shut down.  Plus he was fighting a cold. 

So far, six has been fun and challenging!  Being a month or so into a new school, with a new teacher, new expectations, a new routine, new friends, and a new soccer team has brought out new attitudes, new challenges and new parenting techniques to try!  It's a little hard to navigate at times, I must admit.  BUT, with all of the change, he is still our sweet, caring boy who we love so so much!  This should be a fun year :)