And now they're five

Sebastien and Eden turned 5 a few weeks ago. We did their annual birthday interviews and I was blown away when I compared it to last year. They both have truly grown up so much. We had their first "friend" birthday party this year, and we invited their friends from church and their preschool class. It was a lot of fun.

Sebastien is as tender-hearted as ever. These days it shows up a lot in how he interacts with his sisters. He is so sweet and good to them, quick to share and compromise, gives hugs easily and is happy to play together. And when he wants alone time, he happily keeps himself busy. Music is still his favorite thing, though his love of horns seems to have waned somewhat as he has focused his efforts on singing and dancing. He memorizes lyrics very quickly and often listens intently until he has a song memorized. He also loves to play with numbers and letters. He is reading like a champ and he loves it, along with doing workbooks, coloring, drawing and practicing writing his letters. This summer we did a lot of swimming and bike riding. He is getting pretty good at riding his bike, but he is still a little nervous about taking those training wheels off.

Here's his interview:

At 5, Eden is articulate and inquisitive. She likes to know why, how, for how long...the purpose of things and the origin of them. And then she wants to know what everything will be like in the future. She is also pretty literal. She likes to joke but she is quick to correct if someone is exaggerating. One of her favorite things is making friends. When we go to a playground or the library (or anywhere!) she introduces herself: "Excuse me, my name is Eden. What is your name?" "I'm Eden and I'm 4 1/2, how old are you?" She also is doing wonderfully with her reading and writing, practicing her lower case letters often. She can sit and color or draw for a long time, concentrating on staying in the lines, and takes pride in her creations. Eden is a very helpful girl, and she takes any opportunity that she can to be alongside Mom or Dad, but especially Daddy.

Here's Eden's interview:

Eden and Sebastien have always had their own personalities, but we find as they are growing up, they are diverging in their interests more and more. They still play together very nicely and love each other's company, but naturally they are inclined toward different things and it is fun to watch them grow into those interests.

Sebastien and Eden will start Young 5's this year at Grand Haven Christian. They are very excited about going to school 5 (half) days. We have been going back and forth about this all year and I'm still not entirely sure that it's the right choice. We could go either way I think, but in the end we have gotten a lot of advice from a variety of different sources (educators, other parents, family members etc) to let them be older in their class, and we just had to make a decision.

Bash and E are a tremendous blessing to Adam and me, and to Violet as well. There is just never a dull moment around here, and we wouldn't have it any other way.