Noah's 6th Birthday & Kindergarten Awards Day

At the end of April, NOAH TURNED 6 YEARS OLD! That's right, my tiny, sweet firstborn baby boy is a big 6 year old (who also just finished his first year of school!)



The actual day of Noah's birthday, April 30th, was the day that I was in Birmingham for my whole body scan (which you can read about in my previous post). It was hard to plan a party since my RAI treatment was scheduled the week before his birthday and I wasn't sure how I would feel or how long it would take me to begin feeling better, so we just planned to have cake and dinner at my parents' house the night of his birthday and then planned a small, family party the following week at Chuck E. Cheese.  Noah had a great time at both of his celebrations and we are so blessed to have had our sweet boy in our lives for the past 6 years.  Wow, it takes some getting used to saying that he's now SIX!

 

 





The night after his birthday, Noah and I went shopping together to buy him a new pair of shoes and some clothes.  Most boys wouldn't exactly love a clothes shopping trip, but Noah is just thrilled anytime he gets one on one time with me or Jamie.  Sweet boy :) He wore his new shoes and picked out this hat... although it was a little too big and made him resemble the man in the yellow hat from Curious George.. needless to say, we passed on it.  Although we did find some him a few new bathing suits since they had a fun water day planned for the next day at school. (Although it ended up getting cancelled due to rain).



We had a bit of a cake catastrophe the day of his Chuck E. Cheese party.  I tried to keep it no-stress and simple so I ordered a dinosaur cake at Publix.  When I went to pick it up, I realized the cake was way too small so I decided to get cupcakes as well.  Well, EVERY single cupcake in the Publix bakery was pink and 'Mother's Day' themed and I didn't have enough time to make my own.  In addition, on our way out of Publix my dinosaur cake began splitting down the center! The lady helping me with my buggie (gotta love that Publix customer service!) told me to bring it back in and they would fix it but I was out of time and needed to pick Noah up from school.  I had to later make a run to Walmart where I found baseball cupcakes. I'm not going to lie, the pinterest, theme-loving part of me was bothered that our Dino cake and Baseball cupcakes had absolutely nothing to do with one another but it was just for family and there was no other option at that point.  I was able to gently put the cake together and thankfully, it held up until the party.

 

 

 



In addition to his big birthday, the school year was quickly coming to an end.  Noah had a great Kindergarten year and I can't believe his 1st year is already over.  He learned SO MUCH this past year and I'm so thankful for his wonderful teacher, aides, and therapists ... it's amazing to have people in his life that really, truly care and want to see him grow and learn and do whatever to help him get to that point.  He has learned the colors: red, yellow, blue and green consistently and will point to the appropriate color when asked.  He has learned the different types of weather: sun, clouds, rain, etc. however he isn't yet recognizing what the weather is doing outside, but when asked which one is the sun (or clouds, etc) he'll ID the correct card.  He knows and is pointing to picture cards to identify the other 4 students in his class, as well as his teacher, aide and "PaPaw" (the volunteer elderly man in his class).  He can now sign "boy" and will answer when asked if he's a boy or girl.  His fine motor skills have made some improvement and he is doing better at feeding himself.  His walking has gotten much better and his is 100% an independent walker.  In fact sometimes he walks so fast, it's borderline running (or at least speed walking!)  He can ascend and descend the stairs independently, as long as he has a hand rail to hold on to.  I'm excited that his teacher (and hopefully his aide) will be the same next year so he won't have to adjust to someone new.  Noah was honored at Awards Day and was one of 25 out of the entire kindergarten class who received the Bucket Filler Award. The award is based off the book, "How Full Is Your Bucket" and means that the honored students are known for being kind and sweet-spirited kids that help 'fill the buckets' of their peers.  Basically it's an anti-bullying program that focuses on being kind to others.  I was a happy momma to see my sweet boy receive such an important award.  He may not communicate, read, write, do simple math or any of the other things that you learn in kindergarten but it filled my heart to know that his sweet smile is a daily blessing to others... because it is MOST DEFINITELY a blessing to me!