Little kid Kippy is halfway to age 6! On Friday he turned 5 1/2 and you better believe he let everyone know it! I love how important that half way point is to him and we took the occasion to celebrate.
Kipling 5 1/2 Years
Weight: 45 lbs. (41.8 lbs. lbs at 5 years)
Height: 45 in. (43 inches inches at 5 years)
Personality: Creative and sweet
Since Kip turned five, or rather since he started Kindergarten, he has notably matured and can regulate himself and manage emotions much better than when he was younger.
Last year I said Kip was a stick of dynamite without a fuse. I think this year I'd say he's grown a fuse. It's a pretty short one, but we're getting there! Kip is a real little big kid now!
Milestones of Age 5 1/2
Starting Kindergarten!
Learning to read
Learning how to blow his nose (wow that's been a long time coming)
Starting basketball
Moved-up to Level 3 in swim lessons
For the first five years, I always wrote these progress posts with updates on Sleep-Eat-Play. Now that we've reached a new chapter with the elementary years, I'm going to do updates on School-Social-Interests.
School
Kip LOVES school and I wasn't so sure that would be the case. Kip enjoyed Pre-K but had a lot of stress surrounding all the brand new experiences. Now that he feels like a big man on campus, he has a lot more confidence and far less anxiety when it comes to school.
The last six months have been filled with SO much academic progress. Kip is picking-up the building blocks of reading very quickly and we are all a bit surprised by that because it did NOT come easy to Dan or I when we were little. We are so grateful for this because Kip has always struggled with trying new things and progressing skills. He tends to be very resistant and absolutely refuses to take instructions from Mandy, Dan, or me. This has left us petrified for the school years, worried he will fight us to our limits to do homework or practice skills. Fortunately, Kip's kindergarten teachers are literal angels and both have been teaching for over 30 years. Whatever they are doing is clicking in Kip's brain and he is eager to go to school every day, excited by the activities, and willing to show us what he has learned. He is in the highest reading group in his class and has memorized all the high frequency words for the year. He also loves math (phew) and enjoys adding games even though they haven't learned addition yet in class. At home he likes to sit at his desk in his room and do "worky" that he assigns to himself.
This year Kip gets to go to specials and has art, music, and gym. He loves his art teacher and he is now drawing, coloring, cutting, gluing, and creating like crazy. At age 5 1/2 he finally drew the family unit for the very first time.
Kip's least favorite special is gym because he "doesn't like doing burpees" and the floor is dirty. Ha!
Kip's music teacher is legit. They aren't just singing, they are learning to clap out rhythms and actually learn how to read sheet music.
Social
Kip is a very popular kid. Both boys and girls love to play with him. He likes to do sports and rough housing and running around with other boys. And he also likes playing games with the girls. His teacher told us he is the calmest boy in the class and was put at the "sweet kids" table when a new girl was being integrated into the classroom. But, he hasn't yet found that best school friend. Kip doesn't attach himself to any one person for too long and enjoys being friends with everyone. While that's great, I do want him to find that one pal (or two) that really click with him and I'd love to be in a place where we could invite a friend over to play. I'd say Kip's closest friend right now is Ivy and I am grateful for their sweet bond.
Interests
It pains my heart just a little bit to say that Kip has moved on from "little trains." His deep devotion to wooden trains, train shows, table trains, and all things trains is fading. He still loves trains, he just really doesn't play with them much anymore. It was a literal era while it lasted.
But all is not lost, Kip really enjoyed building the model train with Dan over January and painting it the last couple of weeks.
Kip is now getting into little Legos and delving into crafts and coloring much more. His limitless physical energy pushes him to make-up games where he just runs in a big circle around the house. He likes chasing and racing and being outside.
He really enjoyed the little basketball season he had and will be starting soccer in the spring.
Kip is also getting into playing board games and doing tiny piece puzzles which is a whole new world to explore.
Things I want to remember about Kip at age 5 1/2:
Lightyear
"sun-ly" (suddenly)
Sight words and guess reading
Worky and worky-books and worky shirts
Constructing books
"submarine sandwich"
First bout of covid
Wants to be a super hero when he grows up
Fast at math
Sharing fruit snacks and playing phone games in the car with mom before school
Lining up his friends in his bed and bringing them all downstairs in the morning (7 member crew)
Making 100 Day hearts and Valentines for his classmates
Kip is a goofball. He loves silly antics and slapstick-type comedy. But he also has a tender soul and is eager to please but easy to hurt. He can test your patience in one moment and say the cutest things in the other. He is loved beyond measure and I am so grateful to call him mine.
