SEVEN!! Atlas is moving into the not so little kid stage now. Where they have a big jump in independence and can be legitimately helpful! I also found this age to be the time when they have significant input and suggestions to help grow our family or solve a pain point we are dealing with. Because I know what they are capable at 7, it can make me want a bang my head against a wall when they choose not to be helpful and instead make things harder by not listening or intentionally irritating their siblings. Atlas is right smack dab in the middle of all this. One moment he is super helpful and doing all the chores without me even asking. The next moment he’s complaining about brushing his teeth and refusing to stop his video game when he knew his time was up a while ago and I’ve already asked him nicely. Then later on he is surprised that he does not get to stay up past the little kid bedtime because his obedience was on par with the little kids and not the big kid level I expect of him. We're still working on the whole negative actions come with negative consequences concept I guess. I think since he's started to get some older kid privileges he hasn't realized that they are exactly that, privileges. Instead of getting time outs for acting out like the little kids you get your big kid benefits revoked for a time. It's sort of a new thing for him to be lumped in with Jane as the two big kids. We give them more responsibility, but also allow them to stay up later and they get to go on errands with Sam from time to time. So yeah we're running into a few bumps in the transition from little to bigger, but overall it's so cool to see him grow in confidence and feel comfortable to be exactly who he is and owning it!
Video games are still very important to Atlas and his favorite free time activity by far! He’s surpassing me in skill and only needs me to help if it’s about how fast you can push a button in a certain time period or maybe to solve a puzzle here or there. For the small amount of time he gets to watch YouTube he’ll always choose to watch game play footage or one of his favorite games that has been edited with mods. He still gets frustrated and can have a melt down over games, but it seems to happen less and less. A work in progress! He says he wants to be a video game maker and tester when he grows up. With his focus, determination and love for video games, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did work in video game design and development. I will certainly support him in his dream! He recently got Game Builder Garage for his birthday and is getting his first experience in video game coding! That game has so much reading and problem solving I could almost call it school! I still make him finish school before he plays. Getting to play video games after finishing school is still a great motivator for Atlas and he speeds through his school most days. He has very little trouble catching on to anything in school but always complains if there is one extra thing to do than we would usually do. He never wants to do an optional science experiment or drawing lesson. In 1st grade I’ll still let it slide and honestly he learns a lot from video games!
Atlas can be a loner at times but his siblings are very important to him. I realize more and more that even though he likes to do his own thing most of the time he still wants company that he trusts around him while he does it. (This is also a Sam thing!) Jane and Atlas are very close. They always want to be together. They definitely get into fights but it doesn’t keep them apart for long. They’re always planning their next adventure or discussing what games they are going to create first. Xan and Atlas have the middle kid bond and enjoy most of the same video games, tv and movies. Again it doesn’t mean they don’t fight. Their fights while fewer between will linger a little longer than Jane and Atlas’s squabbles. If we are trying to do some school that requires them to sit and listen Xan and Atlas cannot sit next to each other, they can’t stop talking to each other. Haha! Atlas and Flynn interact the least just because of their ages at this point. I’m sure they will have the bond of video games once Flynn is old enough to enjoy them but for now they enjoy wrestling and just being rough and tumble boys together. Atlas ADORES Piper!! For months after we found out she was a girl he was in denial. He was sure the baby would be a brother. Probably about 2 months before she was born he finally gave in to the fact that he was getting another little sister. Ever since the moment Piper was born he has been enthralled with her. Always asking to hold her and saying how cute she is, laughing at every gurgle she would make. It is so so sweet. I love what a good big brother he is to her.
It’s no surprise that Atlas’s best friends share his love for video games! Edison is his bestie. They like all the same video games and have the same kind of humor. Elliott and Calvin are right up there too as his favorite people to hang out with. They were the three boys that he asked to come with him to the arcade for his birthday. They had a blast! He’s got great taste in friends in my opinion. It helps that I love their moms too. :)
Sam continues to see himself in Atlas. I do too. We were just talking about the outbursts Atlas will still have while playing video games. While he’s gotten sooo much better over the last couple of years, it will still come out from time to time. It’s the worst when we play video games together on family night. Sam was saying it’s probably because in his brain he should be the best at video games because he plays them the most. Logical throught process. But a lot of party type video games allow for players who are not as experienced to have a chance to win. And when he doesn’t win his brain sort of short circuits since in his mind that is not what is supposed to happen. It looks like an emotional response but Sam tells me it’s because he’s separated from his emotions and doesn’t understand them. Sam remembers feeling this as a kid and we’re trying to figure out how to help him overcome these struggles to connect to his emotions. I know he’ll get there, Sam did. Sam would just like to help him learn how to overcome those struggles faster than he did. Sam and Atlas are probably neurodivergent in the same way. We’ve never pinned it down, but knowing they are different is the first step to helping them feel understood and working through the struggles they go through. I really appreciate their different way of thinking! I learn a lot from both of them.
Weight
Birth: 8lbs 7oz
1 Year Old: 22 lbs
2 Years Old: 27 lbs
3 Years Old: 32 lbs
4 Years Old: 35 1/2 lbs
5 Years Old: 37 3/4 lbs
6 Years Old: 42 lbs
7 Years Old: 47 lbs
Height
Birth: 21 1/2"
1 Year Old: 29"
2 Years Old: 33"
3 Years Old: 36"
4 Years Old: 3' 2.5" (38.5")
5 Years Old: 3' 6.25"
6 Years Old: 3' 8.75"
7 Years Old: 3’ 10”
Atlas still seems to be on the short side but his legs are definitely growing a lot. None of his pants from last year were long enough this winter. He takes after Sam in so many ways I’d be a little surprised if he didn’t end up tall like him too.
Firsts & Notable Moments
The whole time Atlas was 6 I was either pregnant or had an under 6 month old to take care of, not to mention of course there are 5 kids to keep up with all together. My mom broke her foot in October and Sam has not been 100% health wise in over a year. Anyway, for all those reasons, we have understandably taken it easy this past year. That means there were definitely less “firsts” this year for all the kids, not just Atlas. But this section will still have some unconventional first and I’ll fill in the blanks with fun moments.
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| Playing Luigi's Mansion - March '22 |
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| Broken Arm - April '22 |
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| Swimming with a cast! - April '22 |
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| One on One night - May '22 |
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| Getting his cast off!! - May '22 |
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| Bouncy house waterslide in the rain - June '22 |
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| Day trip to the beach - July '22 |
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| Stitches - August '22 |
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| Holding Piper - August '22 |
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| 1st grade! - September '22 |
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| Winning best costume!! - October '22 |
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| Independent book - November '22 |
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| Climbing a rock wall - December '22 |
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| Saucer swing! - January '23 |
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| Public Speaking - February '23 |
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| Being 7!! - February '23 |
Favorites
Even as much as Atlas loves video games he still loves to be outside! He is the only kid that will go outside on his own. He would rather company though. Despite breaking his arm and slicing his head open in two freak accidents on the trampoline. The trampoline is still his favorite. He loves to swing and do monkey bars too. Part of me is glad he is not scared and scarred emotionally from the events. The other part of me is scared he’ll get seriously hurt again. Like just the other night he wanted to go outside after dinner since it’s light outside after dinner now. But I had flashbacks to the 2 backyard after dinner emergencies last year with him and said maybe not tonight. I know I need to let go and I can’t protect him from everything but it’s hard. I am glad it seems the one with more of the lasting trauma from those incidents is me. Young kids are resilient!
Atlas’s favorite food is hamburger helper! Three cheese or double cheeseburger flavors only. More favorites are hamburgers (especially ones grilled by Sam), mini pancakes, strawberries, apples, donuts, waffles, chicken nuggets, toast, ramen, french fries, Pringles, Cool Ranch Doritos, Cheeto Puffs, cookies, ice cream sandwiches, snow cones, cookies and cream ice cream, brownies, Oreos, Cheerios, sausage and grilled hot dogs. His favorite restaurant is Cilantros and his favorite fast food is McDonalds. Whataburger comes in second but truly he likes any place where he can order a burger.
Atlas loves squishy fidget toys! Jane got him these for his birthday and he was so excited!! When we had a homeschool show and tell I figured he’d bring a video game to talk about but instead he wanted to bring his squishy triceratops he got in his stocking. Magnatiles, kinetic sand, playdoh, his Mario toys and remote control cars are also among his favorite toys.
Atlas has so many favorite video games! Usually whatever video game is the newest is his favorite. So Sonic Frontiers is #1 right now. Which I love since Sonic was my favorite game as a kid. Other favorites this year are WarioWare, Boomerang Fu, Super Smash Bros, Kirby’s Forgotten Land, Kirby return to Dreamland, What the Golf, Sonic Forces, Sonic Colors and a few more I can’t think of at the moment. He always goes back to Mario games but they haven’t been at the top this year. I want to note here that recently he really got into Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild but that was inspired by his buddy Edison a couple weeks after his birthday. (I love it!! One of my very favorite video game franchises. I mean I almost named Piper Zelda.) Atlas will watch movies from time to time but he likes things short and sweet for TV usually. Both of the Sonic movies are his fav. He loved the Sonic Prime show too. He still loves zig and sharko and its affiliate Oggy and the Cockroaches. The Mario movie is coming out soon and he can’t wait!! I’m sure it will be a favorite movie!
Atlas loves to peruse books. He is still getting his reading skills down. He’s doing well but it’s not easy yet. So he would rather just look through books on his own so far. But he LOVES to do that. He has had stacks and stacks of books up in his bed to look through. His favorites are still his Mario books but he also enjoys Where Oliver Fits, I’m a hungry dinosaur, I say ooh you say ahh, Usborne’s reusable sucker board books, Nibbles and many others.
Swimming is holding strong at number one for his favorite activity. Jumping on the trampoline coming in second with swinging a close third. Since we switched to a new location for park day this year he really enjoys spinning on the merry go round too. A few other favorite activities are acting out his favorite TV shows, dancing, doing mad libs and drawing, especially coloring Sonic Frontier sketches.
Cidercade is now his favorite place to go! Second fav is the Beach. Other favorites are the fair, the interactive zoo, the library, Urban Air, zero gravity, Marmee and Pappaw’s house, any errand with Sam, the park and friend’s houses. I can't really think of anywhere Atlas doesn't like to go, but if something isn't super interesting to him at that time and the option to stay home is there he will choose to hang out at home still.
He still brings me flowers. <3 Jane and Atlas were gathering yard treasures for a make believe story they were playing and despite Jane’s protest (because apparently they needed as many flowers for their game as possible), he brought these to me and made sure to tell me these were especially for me. So sweet! As logical as his brain is, he has such a tender heart. He really loves his family and close friends. He cares deeply about doing things right. If there is any change to our routine he will always say, "Wait! Why aren't we doing that today?" He likes knowing what to expect and has a hard time when those expectations are broken or when plans change. He's learning a little more on how to go with the flow. I for one love his consistent personality. He helps me stay on track. Like when I forget to do our family handshake at night he'll always make sure to remind me. If you know Atlas well enough, you know he is a goofball. He loves to make people laugh by being super silly and ridiculous. I'm so proud of his continued growth and how he feels confident with his specific strengths and doesn't feel like he needs to be like anyone else. Keep being you bro!
Happy 7th Birthday Atlas! We love you so much!
