Orion's 5th Birthday

Holy moly, we have a five year old.

Our first baby turned FIVE yesterday!! Can you believe it has been five years since:

Honestly, it feels like Orion has been with us forever. It is certainly weird to me that I have a five year old child, but weirder to try to imagine my life without him. Orion has been a HUGE part of my life these past five (or honestly, closer to six) years. I can't describe how much I love him.

Orion is my analytical child. He is extremely literal, and until very recently would get super frustrated/mad when people imagined things were something else (NO! THAT BOOK IS NOT A CAKE!!!). We're so thankful Desy is soooo opposite him in most ways and that they are so close together in age, because Des has truly taught Orion the art of make-believe. Now the two of them are constantly pretending to be superheroes/ninja turtles/doctors/what-have-you.

Orion often comes across as serious, and doesn't always show on his face what's going on in his head. I posted on facebook yesterday that I live for his blunt, stoic "I love you"s. Then again, he can make the BEST facial expressions and without a doubt loves to have fun and be crazy with his friends!

Orion's favorite kinds of play are generally more active, like tag, chasing, kicking a ball, wrestling, jumping/tumbling, etc. He also likes some board games and building toys. His dearest love is definitely digital media, and he is a total whiz with technology. He can play NES, Playstation 3, X-Box 360, gameboy, any tablet or phone, or anything else he can get his hands on. We really limit his game time (he generally plays something once or twice a week these days) because it's all he would ever do if he had a choice and it can negatively affect his attitude, but he just loves it. Same goes with TV. If it's a screen, he loves it. I'm really OK with that... I love that he totally understands tech and can figure out how to do anything. I'm also glad we've figured out the media/attitude link and can adjust consumption as needed :)

Orion loves music! Above you can see him (behind the manger) singing in the kids' Christmas musical at church. He did great with the motions and sang every word (loudly.). He likes to listen to Switchfoot and Sanctus Real in the car, and Disney music on Spotify at home. He also sings a lot on his own :)

We knew Orion liked babies before Cecelia was born, but we weren't sure how he would react to having a baby at home. The first week or two he watched from afar, but since then he has been a huge help and SO sweet with her. Like... really, really sweet. Is it too much to hope that they'll be this loving when they're older??

Orion is an amazing reader. He can read pretty much anything now. Sometimes he'll just grab a pile of books and look at/read them for a long time. When we go to the library, Desy plays with his friends and Orion reads. Sometimes I forget that his reading ability is unusual, but then he'll read some complicated word in front of someone who doesn't know him well and they get this look of shock... haha! Obviously he is challenged by other skills/subjects, but I love that he's a great reader :)

I wonder what the future holds for this smart, bossy, sweet, bullheaded, loving, loud, precocious, clever, tenacious, talkative, intense, fun little boy. I'm so very glad he's mine.

Here's the yearly interview! Some things are accurate, others I don't know what he was thinking. It does NOT seem like a year since his last interview. I got "coolest person" and "makes me happy" this year, so I call it a success :)

What's your name? Orion
What day is your birthday? November 19th
How old are you? 5 years
What's your favorite color? Red and blue
Favorite number?100
Favorite letter? Q
Favorite shape? Triangle
Favorite food? Birthday cakes, peanut butter and jelly
Favorite candy? Jolly Rancher (he had probably his first one today)
Favorite game? Kinect Adventures
Favorite movie? League of Incredible Vegetables
Favorite TV show? Team Umizoomie
Favorite book: The Sleep Book (I can't even remember the last time we read this)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A firefighter
What is your Daddy's job? Working in church
What is Mama's job? Taking care of Cecelia
Favorite place to go? The park
Favorite restaurant? McDonald's
Favorite animal? Zebra
Do have brothers or sisters? Desy and Cecelia
Any pets? Bill, mouses
Favorite song? Everything is Awesome
Favorite ice cream flavor? Vanilla
Who is your best friend? Waverlynn
Favorite cereal? Reece's Puffs
Favorite thing to do outside? Slide on my slide
Favorite drink? Chocolate milk
What toys do you like to take to bed with you? Scout my doll
What's your favorite holiday? Halloween
What are you good at? Doing tricks
Who is the coolest person ever? Mama!
Favorite toy? My bear (tells the Christmas story)
What makes you happy? Mama
What makes you sad? Getting booboos with bleeding
What are you scared of? Ghosts
What's your super power? Running