How is my baby 5?? Halfway to 10 already just doesn't feel right! ;) I know, I know, she's not the baby of the family, but let me explain. I still call her baby even though she is the most middle of middle children. I called Flynn the baby some, but mostly I called him Flynnie, Piper gets called Piper baby mostly, not just baby. So yeah Xan was my only one I called baby more than any other name, so I still call her baby. I think she would have loved be the last born, so I could have treated her like a baby longer. (She is a great big sister though) She's always been my most cuddly kid. She wants me to hold her all the time and loved the carrier more than any other baby in the family too. So to see her growing out of the toddler years and becoming part of the older kid crew it’s a little surreal.
Since she's five now her conversational skills are becoming more normal for her age. If you sit down and talk to her she still might surprise you with her vocabulary! She seems to pay the most attention to our vocabulary lessons during breakfast than any of the other kids because she will often surprise me and make a connection to the word later on in the week. She makes everyone smile with the way she genuinely cares for others. She's always making my day with her sweet words.
This girl has been asking to do school almost since she could talk. I told her she could do some work pages or draw and listen in while we did school, but I wasn't ready to do anything super structured until she was 5. Well she's finally 5 so we started with some basics and she loves it! (most days) She says she likes her explode the code the best. Since she's still not technically in Kindergarten until the fall, I kept it super simple and if she wasn't really in the mood for some reason I would let her skip. I think she's going to enjoy finally getting to truly be apart of the school day with us this year. :)
I wouldn't call Alexandria a social butterfly, but her heart is to connect with others and understand them. She's been like that since birth! She has a few special friends she connects with more, but she doesn't exclude anyone! She is always telling me she met a new friend. If someone smiles at her she notices and says "They must like me! They are nice!" So sweet. Although she won't warm up to an older kid or adult she doesn't know without me right there. So that's comforting! She has two besties! Olivia and Everett. Both of them are super important to her and she is always asking when she'll see them again. I am so glad they are both consistent park families!
Alexandria loves her siblings!! Piper coming into the picture has changed the sibling dynamic a bit! Alexandria is as middle a child as you can get! Two older siblings and two younger siblings and both one boy and one girl on each side. She's apart of almost every sibling group, the big three, the little three and the middle three! Atlas and Xan have the closest relationship. They still like most of the same shows and video games and the way they play pretend is similar too. They were the middle two for a while and they stuck together in their middleness. With 5 kids though Atlas is more apart of the "oldest" group, so it's changing the way they relate a little. They're still close! Jane and Atlas will sometimes fight over who Xan is going to play with since they usually want to play different things. It used to be Atlas most of the time, but now she almost equally picks Jane and sometimes they get over their differences and all play together pretty well. Jane and Xan do have a girl bond that is growing and I'm so glad! I hope it continues to grow. Xan and Flynn continue to have the most up and down relationship of all the siblings. It's hard for their ages to play together well all the time. But more and more they are having a great time together once Xan gets over the "but he's too little to play with us." mindset she is used to. Flynn loves Alexandria and asks about her if he doesn't know where she is. Piper and Xan have such a sweet relationship. Xan loves Piper soooo much! She sometimes over does it with her affection but I know it's coming from good intentions. Piper has laughed the most at Xan for sure!! I love to see them all together. We're working on that family team mentality! <3
Weight
Birth: 9lbs 2oz
1 Year: 23lbs 9oz
2 Years: 29lbs
3 Years: 32lbs
4 Years: 37lbs
5 Years: 42lbs
She had always been my chunky one and chunky in a super adorable way in my opinion! She has finally lengthened out and has mostly grown out of her toddler look. The only thing still hanging on are those full cheeks and I just love them! She is near middle of all the percentiles now.
Height
Birth: 22 1/4 Inches
1 Year: 30 1/4 Inches
2 Years: 33 3/4 Inches
3 Years: 36 1/4 Inches
4 Years: 40 Inches, 3' 4"
5 Years Old: 3’ 6”
I feel like Xan has been in 3t and 4t clothes for so long!! Her height chart shows she has been growing steadily, but I guess it's less noticeable in her clothes because she's thinning and lengthening at the same time. She is finally outgrowing her 4t clothes though. I gotta dig out the 5t girl clothes soon!
We are in the middle of some teeth troubles for Xan. She has caps/crowns on her front top 4 teeth and the pediatric dentist told me they might have to be pulled because they are distressed?? The dentist didn't explain it very well and I'm confused, so I'm getting a second opinion. I would hate for her to be without those teeth for a couple of years before her adult teeth come in. She has such a beautiful smile. We also found out on a recent x-ray that she is missing all 4 of her permanent premolars. Thankfully they aren't worried about that and said since she already has a small mouth it was probably because there isn't room for them. I'm a little stressed about it all, but really if baby teeth is the most troublesome thing about her health I think I should be grateful she is so healthy otherwise. <3
Firsts
Yay for firsts! I didn't have to supplement with notable moments but some of them are really a stretch for a first. ;) I just love to look back through the years at them. Even when I don't have time to read the whole blog I can scroll through the firsts section and it makes me so happy. I think I'll saving the pictures I select for the firsts section into a folder so I can make a slideshow of it when their 18 to show them. :D They might not care, but I think it will be therapeutic for me. ;)
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| Birthday Shopping with Marmee - April 2022 |
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Real Slip n slide - May 2022
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| Blood pressure reading - July 2022 |
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| Baby Sister - August 2022 |
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| Perler Bead - September 2022 |
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| Hover boarding - September 2022 |
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| Touching a sting ray - September 2022 |
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| Donut challenge - October 2022 |
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| Big haircut - November 2022 |
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| Decorating Christmas Cookies at home - December 2022 |
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| Staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve! - January 2023 |
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| Public Speaking - February 2023 |
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| Spring Break trip to Brenham - March 2023 .  Pet Snail (Swirl) - April 2023 |
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| Birthday Movie with besties! - April 2023 |
Favorites
Xan remains my cautious child. She doesn't care for big thrills or taking risks. She will sprint from time to time, but her natural pace is to saunter and take in all the details around her. I have to pay close attention to her when we're walking somewhere or she will wander accidentally. She loves all animals and cares for almost all living things. We can't seem to get rid of a few sugar ants inside and she never wants me to kill them. The only things she will let me kill are mosquitos, spiders, flies, wasps and roaches. (good choices in my opinion) Her favorite animals are always the fierce ones! She will like a cutesy one from time to time. She says she wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up. She loves to be outside observing nature and playing imaginary animals with her siblings. She loves water in all it's forms, rain, puddles, pools, creeks, splash pads, water balloons. She's got natural rhythm and likes to dance to BTS, but she also loves a good headbanging song. It almost seems like her mind is a battle ground of sweet and cute vs strong and dangerous and whichever wins the battle for that day is what she focuses on for that one day. Her interests seem to constantly change. She keeps me on my toes picking out gifts for sure!
Alexandria is my most willing to try different foods! At the same time she is the hardest to nail down what are her favorite foods to eat. She’ll say she likes it and then only eat 2 bites of it. I think she is just trying to make me happy. I tell her it’s ok if she doesn’t like it I’m just happy she tried it! I asked her what her favorite foods were and this is what she came up with. Sliced peaches, cheese, salami, ravioli, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, french fries, Queso, lucky charms, and cheesy crust pizza. She also loves gogo squeez pouches, yogurt, raspberries, vanilla milk, cookie ice cream, popsicles and any fruity candy. Los Cuccos is her favorite restaurant because they have a yogurt and fruit kids meal. I think Chick fil a is her favorite fast food place. She doesn’t seem to love almost any fast food that much though. I guess that’s a good thing since it’s not great for you.
Xan’s favorite toy list is forever revolving. When I asked her she just noted all her new ones in this picture. And yes! She does love them! But new toys are always her favorite toys. Squishmallow, Octopus, robot dragon, tiny animals and mat. Kinetic sand and magnatiles are her go to activity toys and Bunny is still her number one bedtime buddy. A fruitito dragon she affectionately named burrito is always the toy she asks to bring with her to the park. She’s always got a different toy or stuffy that we've had for awhile that she decides is her new friend for each day.
I guess by now it’s clear that favorites for Xan are hard to pin down in general. She loves to try out new shows all the time. We did come up with a few she always goes back to. Creature cases, Tiny Creatures (or any show with real animals), Karate Sheep and Bluey. Her favorite movies are pretty solid actually Iron Giant, Monster Trucks, Hotel Transylvania (any) and The Super Mario Bros. movie.
Just like Atlas at this age, she really started liking video games over the past year. She loves to play with me the most. It makes sense because her siblings really take over when they play with her because they are more advanced at playing than she is. She really has grown in her skill this year too though! I love to watch her enjoy some of the games I loved most growing up. Her favs are Kirby’s return to dreamland, Kirby and the epic yarn, Just Dance, Pokemon, Smash Bros for switch and Wii U and her new Hotel Transylvania game.
I noticed after we talked about her favorite books that they have a theme, mostly dragons! ;) Dragon sticker book, She loves to read the details about each dragon even though the sticker book is completed. Dragon post, she enjoys the little letters you can pull out so much, Dragonology, huge book filled with dragon lore. Shine a light dinosaurs, if we had a shine a light dragons I'm sure that would be the favorite. Just Imagine, It has a dragon in it but mostly lots of fantasy elements she enjoys in it.
Xan has lots of activities she loves! The top two seem to be the same for almost all my kiddos. Swimming and jumping on the trampoline. She also enjoys Perler beads, drawing monsters, swinging, playing in sand, all kinds of imagining and dancing. Really, her favorite activity is whatever she can do and have a connection with someone else while she is doing it. She is a great helper and loves to help me with my chores and cooking dinner. Our one on one nights are very important to her.
Her favorite places to go are Interactive aquarium and zoo, the Beach, Zero Gravity, Marmee & Pappaw's house, the Park (if her besties are there), splash pad, the library, the Theater, and Cidercade. So far she is the third kid to get to 5 years old and ask almost every day, "What is today?" and "Where are we going today?" They realize what their favorite activities are and wonder when it's happening again. Home seems a little boring compared to where we can go! But usually in a couple years they realized a restful day at home can be just as good as going out sometimes.
This picture made me realize just how old she is getting. It's also one of those pictures that I call a peek into the future. Like she'll still look close to this a year or two from now. As I mentioned earlier, Xan is the middlest of middle children and because of that she can be pulled in many different directions. She is very protective of what is "her's" and I try to respect that. She can act much older than her age and then much younger than her age depending on the moment or who she is playing with. She is such a mix of interests and feelings. Because she has interests in so many things she can make friends very easily and make people feel comfortable and cared for. Now don't be fooled, she is not the perfect child. Yes, she can be the very kindest person in one moment but can also have the biggest outburst of anger the next, especially against her siblings. I think once we get to a point where she can have more control over those negative feelings and process them in a less destructive way she will be on her way to maintaining that infectious joy that she innately has almost all the time! She is so super sweet, but also just as feisty. Girl's got balance and I think it will take her far.
Happy 5th Birthday Baby girl! We love you so much!
Proverbs 29:11
Fools give full vent to their rage,
but the wise bring calm in the end.
Galatians 5:22-25
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
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