This week was a BIG week here at our house. As I sit here typing this my eyes well up just thinking about it. This week we registered our little guy for Kindergarten.
Sniff. Sniff.
Where did the time go?
This little guy of mine came into my life 5 years ago and I honestly can say I was not thrilled about having a boy after a little girl. Don't get me wrong....every child is a gift, but no one to dress up, no one to play tea party with, no one to go shopping with? My little girl was at the time, 5 years old herself and soon off to Kindergarten and I was going to miss all of those things. Boy was I wrong.
Don't I look enthusiastic...lol This was the day before I was induced! They thought he was going to be close to 9 lbs. based on how I was carrying. Boy were they wrong.
My 6 lb. 12 oz. angel was born the following morning!
He was so sweet from the moment he entered this world and has been that way ever since. Not a day goes by where he doesn't tell each of us how much he loves us and why he loves us.
His 1st year was a VERY rough one to put it lightly. He had severe reflux and a terrible skin rash that landed him in the hospital for 2 days with a staph infection on his face at only 13 weeks old. He was poked and prodded from every angle from some of the best doctors at Children's Hospital in Philly until finally our angel doctor diagnosed him with a milk protein allergy.
Here he is at Halloween (1 month old) and his skin had just started to show signs. His reflux was already OUT OF CONTROL.
By 2 months, he was really getting worse and his color was off, but it was diagnosed as baby acne.
By Christmas, he was a very unhappy baby at times with a belly ache and itching. (If you look closely you can see the left side of his cheek is starting to get very red).
And by January, he was VERY, VERY sick and landed us in the hospital. I was scared to death and my poor little baby was so sick without any idea of what it was. Until we went to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philly).
I know this picture is disturbing and it happens to be only one I have between January and April of him because I didn't want to revisit this time of his life or ever show him. But...if you know someone with a sick baby, this may shed some light. We got looks and stares and "Oh my god"'s from people constantly.
By 6 months, we began to see huge improvements but he had lost precious time and missed important developmental milestones due to his requirements to sit upright in his bouncy seat for 30 mins after every bottle (and remember the little ones eat every 4 hrs) and he had to have socks over his hands so he couldn't scratch his fragile and now healing skin.
Here is one where he actually got to "have" his fingers for awhile. He had started to grow hair now that his rash had cleared and believe it or not, this was his healing skin. And, that smile was so great to see. He hasn't stopped since!
By his 1st birthday, our little guy was totally healed and starting to gain weight and starting to crawl. Yes, he didn't crawl until almost a year because the poor thing was stuck in a chair after eating. He had started some solids, but was really on restrictions until everything was tested first.
Here he is at his 1st birthday. What a happy, happy day!
While most one year olds are well into different foods and eating more like a little kid than a baby, we were testing EVERYTHING via blood tests before trying and figured out his main allergies at the time were milk, egg and soy. But, he was healthy!
As the years passed, this little boy really came into his own and started developing the funny little personality I love so much about him. He finds joy in EVERYTHING.
And he was into EVERYTHING.
Trouble became his middle name as he gained the ability to get into trouble.
He loved to play and dress up.
By his 2nd birthday, he was a full blown toddler and still causing tons of trouble, but happy as can be.
As he got older, he started to express his unique sense of style.
He started to travel outside of his safe little world...
He started to ride a bike...hooray!
And we discovered that his food allergies were NOT going to get the best of us.
And that smile...oh how I loved that smile.
Here he is at his 3rd birthday...it was going WAY TOO FAST!
That was his 1st chocolate cupcake. It was free of all of his allergens and he LOVED it!
And we had vanilla that day too.
And he LOVED that one too!
By 3 years old, he had deteremined, he LOVED dress up.
In anything, even if his sister did it to him...lol
And because of his extreme drooling and speech delays, he started school.
He went on his 1st class trip!
And of course, his unique sense of style continued.
As Spring approached, he started to become more of a little boy and less of a baby.
By summer, a full fledge little boy. It was all changing so fast! He was becoming
Mr. Independent.
And Mr. Personality...
He smiled and found delight in everything and I love that about him.
He turned FOUR! How could it be? He was just a teeny little baby.
By the time he reached 4 years old, he was no longer my baby and now was someone's friend. He had himself a group of friends from preschool and talked about them all the time.
He even had a little girl he became smitten with.
But in my eyes, he was still my little guy with the big infectious smile.
He was still very happy and still LOVED cupcakes and parties.
His 4th year flew by for me. Here's a few snapshots of the year.
He played soccer for the first time.
He drove a boat.
And he met his first true love (besides his momma of course)
And he was smitten!
For his 5th birthday we celebrated his love of dress up and all things superhero with a Super Hero Party with his favorite little buddies!
We also switched schools and started going only half day to PreK. This left us time to do things we never got to do...like jump in puddles in our PJs.
And we made new friends at our new school. We even held hands on our class trips. LOL
Basically....my little boy grew up just like that.
Don't get me wrong, he still loved the same things...
Dressing up...
Being super silly...
And smiling....oh that smile!
As we walked into the school to register this past week hand in hand, his hand trembled. We both looked at one another with a big smile on our faces and we registered for the next chapter in his life. I was smiling on the outside, but crying just a little on the inside. Oh how I'll miss my little buddy!
What I admire most about this little boy is how he can appreciate what he has and NEVER complains about what he can't have. With such limitations in his food choices, one would think it would be hard to go to parties and see his friends enjoying so many things he cannot have, but he never complains. During that first year of his life I asked so many times, "why?". Five short year later I am so thankful for the little boy that God blessed us with and now I understand more than ever why!
Poshed Up
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