Michael is very passionate about a few things and seems to truly enjoy being who he is, which makes my mommy heart so happy. He is loving second grade which is such a blessing to us since first grade knocked the wind out of our sails with their behavior app at school and made us (mainly me) feel like a failure as a parent. This year, however, he's doing so great behavior-wise and is making new friends and is actually excited about going to school each weekday! He's always done well academically, and this year is no different. He enjoys participating in school events (like wearing blue on Friday for spirit day and bringing a dollar to buy a special snack on certain days).
He is very much into Pokemon and Super Mario still. He knows boundless facts about the two things and will eagerly tell you all about them if you lend a listening ear. His imaginative play has really soared during this last year and he spends about as much time acting like he's a Pokemon or a Pokemon trainer or Mario as he does playing any games involving them.
He loves to read and will frequently ask if we can keep the hallway light on at his bedtime so he can lay at the foot of his bed and read stories. His favorite series right now are the Captain Underpants series and the Dog Man series. I'm hoping to get him into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and to further his enjoyment of some of the Magic Treehouse books he already has. These are all books he'll read by himself. My grandparents purchased the Rush Revere series for him last year and we've really dug into those books together. We'll take turns reading those aloud in the evening and he always begs for us to keep reading after we've hit our set number of pages.
He is still quite tall for his age. He recently went through (or is still going through) a growth spurt, so he's thinning out and I'm sure I'll find that I don't have to roll his pants up this winter! He currently wears size 8 in clothing. This is a medium in kid sizes and we have some large things in his drawer that we can rotate through and give us a little buffer if he suddenly has another growth spurt.
He sleeps very well through the night, although getting to sleep is sometimes an issue. He and Noah start heading to bed at 7:00 pm and sometimes it takes Michael almost two hours to go to sleep. He'll read for a bit and then he goes through the cycle of wanting to give us one more hug, get one more drink of water, tell us one more interesting Pokemon fact, ask us what the craziest animal is because he "just really needs to know!", etc.
Michael is still our best eater and even the nurses at school know his eating patterns and alert us right away if his appetite suddenly drops because that most likely means a sickness is on the way. He isn't a fan of bbq or lasagna but eats most other things with gusto. His favorite dinner is supreme pizza-- brand doesn't even matter. So for his birthday dinner this week, we had frozen supreme pizza and he was as happy as a clam.
For his birthday evening cake, he chose "funfetti cake in two circles stacked on top of each other with chocolate frosting in the middle and on top but not on the sides." So that's exactly what we had! Some grandparents came over that evening to eat some cake with us, and we'll have his actual party next week so his school friends, church friends, and other grandparents can come.
He received a few packs of Pokemon cards (to include some new Detective Pikachu packs related to the movie, which is one of his favorites now), a couple of books, some long sleeve shirts (Mario and Pokemon of course), a Detective Pikachu game for his Nintendo DS system, and some birthday cash. He already has in mind what he's going to spend his money on in November when two new video games come out. We'll see if he can hold out until November to spend it. I'm guessing he'll be able to do it. :)
He is the best big brother to Noah and Avery. He's really helped Noah transition well into the routine of going to school. Noah frequently gets sad in the mornings as it's time to go, and Michael helps cheer him up and sometimes even holds his hand as they walk into school. Michael loves spending time with Avery and will play pretend with her and watch shows with her.
We're truly blessed that God brought Michael to us and has allowed us to be his parents! He's such a joy and is growing up so well, albeit so quickly.
I love you Michael boy! You are so so special and sweet. We love you forever!
Love, Mom
Until Next Time,
Much Love, Reba