Well, my darling, you have hit the “big 5!”  Today after school we will take you to Toys r Us to pick something out and we are going to have a cake, a small celebration, just the three of us, plus Lizzie and Scotty!  What would a birthday be like without the kitties, right?  You absolutely adore Lizzie and the feeling is mutual!  You enjoy playing hide and seek with her and chasing her around the house, and she loves it too!  You are keeping her young and I thank you for that.

We are counting down the days to your birthday party with Spider-Man and all of your friends.  Five more days!  I made a calendar for you to show you what your important days were for September. Not only was it your birthday but you started kindergarten!  You are in big-boy school!  What a month for you!  Today begins your second week of school.  You tell me you like it but that it is a long day!  You claim that your girlfriend is in your school, but we don’t know if we believe you.

You grew up a lot this year.  You are no longer afraid of dogs.  You are no longer afraid of the flush in a public restroom.  These things that Mommy worried about are no more.

Right now, dear son, I am worried about how you will do in school.  How or if your Tourette’s Syndrome or OCD and other issues will affect you.  I am worried that once you get comfortable with school you might start acting out.  You are still acting out at home, and our 90-day checks for good behavior chart to get a prize takes a long time to fill out.

You are finally moving out of my bed, realizing that this isn’t the right place for you.  You often sleep on our love seat, you are still not ready yet to sleep in your own room, but I know that it will be soon and I better start looking for some new furniture for you and quickly!  You still cannot be left alone. Mommy cannot get the mail without you, or the newspaper, and if we walk what you consider to be too far away from you in a store, you start screaming for us, fearing that we will leave you behind.  I think it is normal for what you have been through, and I know you will grow out of all of these things with time.

You love girls.  Every girl you meet you want to be her boyfriend.  You are so handsome, it is not just me who says so, so I know it to be true!  You are going to break a lot of hearts and maybe soon!

Your favorite shows are The Mickey Mouse Club House, Phineas and Ferb, and so many of the Cartoon Network shows.  You love watching the Batman cartoon and all of the Spider-Man Movies, and two Spider-Man t.v. series that we have on DVD.

Spider-Man is still your favorite toy, favorite everything.  For the third year in a row, you are going as Spider-Man for Halloween!  This time you will be going back to the “Red” Spider-Man.

You love your Batman toys too, everything that is superhero.  You love Legos and have created some amazing things with them.  You are starting to collect the Lego Ninjago series and Mommy is loving doing them with you.

You started karate this summer and you love it!  You look so cute in your uniform!  So small!  I really hope you keep up with it because I know that it will help you with your concentration and behavior issues.  It will help you not be the victim of a bully.  It will let you know that if you ever needed to, you can defend yourself, but I hope you never need to.

You saw your first movie this year! You saw Cars 2 this summer and so far you have seen Winnie the Pooh and The Smurfs.  Daddy and I enjoyed seeing them with you too.  You weigh too little for the chair and you hate the booster seat so you sort of lean through the whole movie.  Soon enough you will be big enough to sit in the comfy movie chairs.

You are so smart, you honestly scare me.  You quote from movies and television programs, I am amazed at your memory.  You cannot read yet but you memorize the books and are able to “read” them to the therapy dog I took you to, to get over your fear of dogs, and the other children.  You “get” things that you are too young to be getting.  You see the two different levels of the Looney Tunes cartoons.  I worry that you will “out-brain” me soon, if you haven’t already.  You love to play practical jokes, make up scenes and plays with your superhero characters; you have an amazing imagination.

I didn’t know that you would be pulling away from me already, my baby.  It is already hard to get a “real” hug or cuddle.  I sneak them while we are gently rough-housing, if that can be a phrase.  You know how easy it is to hurt Mommy.  You have accepted me for who I am, how I look, the bandages I need to wear.  People right in front of you are always asking what is wrong with me, because they think I broke both of my wrists.  I bet you wonder why they do that.

On your 5th birthday, yes, you do have some real issues that we are going to have to deal with, but for the most part you are a delight to be around.  Know that no matter how tough things may get, that I will always love you.  When you, Daddy, and I are watching the new Looney Tunes show on Tuesday nights, there is no where else I would rather be in the whole world, and I cannot imagine being any more content.

Happy Birthday, my darling boy, from the person who I think loves you more than any other person does, or will ever will.  I am looking forward to seeing what five-year-old you will bring.

Always on the go! Taken the weekend before his fifth birthday.