Happy 6th Birthday Apollo!

Irreverent, rowdy, rambunctious, comedic, happy, funny, obnoxious, and shy. This pretty much sums up Apollo's personality as a 5-year-old. Where has the past 6 years gone? I cannot believe this boy of mine is growing up so quickly. What a blessing and a joy he is to me. He carries so much of my personality, yet he is uniquely Apollo.
  Some of my favorite things about Apollo this past year are as follows;
1) Singing.
2) Ad-libbing to songs that he sings and then laughing hysterically at himself.
3) His sense of humor
4) The things that he finds funny; especially if it is something that I say or do.
5) The moments that he finds it in himself to be nice to Orion
6) His ability to have a real conversation, (even though it has to be coaxed out of him at times)
7) His love and respect for all things living
8) His uncontrollable urge to make faces when a camera is pointed at him.
9) How much he wants to kiss his girlfriends

10) How much he likes us to pack his school lunch because it has all his favorite things in it.

As I hugged Apollo tonight for the last time as a 5-year-old, I felt a bit nostalgic and sad. Tomorrow he turns 6. His last month of kindergarten starts this week, and soon he will be a 1st grader.
  He wants to know when he will lose his first tooth. Worries about what 1st grade will be like. Struggles with uncertainty. Likes sleeping in his own bed in his own room. Wants to understand how things work and what they are for. Wants to be first between him and Orion, as if everything is a competition. Mimics everything that comes out of Orion's mouth because he finds humor in words that are mispronounced. Has strong opinions. Enjoys teasing Orion...constantly.
I love that he thinks so much, but often worry that he thinks too much for his age.

  Happy birthday to the most amazing 6-her-old son that a father could ask for. You always know how to make me laugh, make me smile, and show me new ways to be a better father. I love you for being you and look forward to what this year has in store.
Happy Birthday Apollo.

It all about where you say it

Language alert; If you are offended by foul language, you may want to skip this post. I make no excuse for this because this is a part of parenting.

One of the things we do as parents, is try to instill in our kids, the appropriate time and place to use certain words or phrases. Its bad enough that when they are learning how to speak, words like truck, ship, hill, etc. are enunciated clearly, and with great enthusiasm I might add, in their 4-letter-word counter part. How do you convey to a 2-year-old, that there is no "F" in truck? Of course my biggest downfall is the fact that I cannot help myself from laughing when this happens. This serves only to encourage the child to say that word more, and draws "stink eye" from my sweet wife.
  Apollo latched on to the words infection and affection at 3 1/2. He was banished to the bathroom if he felt inclined blurt those words out at the top of his lungs, which he often did...repeatedly...because yes, I would start laughing. The only way to counter this was to teach him that those were potty words and they should only be used in the 'potty room'. Melanie's idea by the way. He understood perfectly, however, I can tell you, he would get in the bathroom and just let loose with his words. I would have to leave the house just to save face with my wife for laughing so hard. On top of his bathroom outbursts, he would occasionally incorporate a colorful word or phrase into a random conversation. Obviously he heard these things somewhere. I have my suspicions as to where, but the wife and the older boys aren't confessing to anything.
  Now Apollo is nearly 6 and well into kindergarten. We have not had outbursts like that in nearly 1 1/2 years now. Oh how I miss them. And Orion, although he talks non-stop, he just has not had many word malfunctions...yet. I must admit that I can hardy wait for his turn to come up. I don't know why I find it so funny, but I do.
  You can imagine my surprise after a long hiatus from hearing something colorful come out of his mouth, in a random conversation, Apollo tells me, "We shouldn't say 'shit' because its a bad word."
"Excuse me," I say to him, eyebrows raised in surprise.
"You can only say 'shit' in the bathroom," he replied in a very matter-of-fact manner,  "You can also say 'shit' if its really loud and no one else can hear you."
Of course I burst into laughter, "Is it really loud now? Because I can hear you and we are in the kitchen, not the bathroom," I reply.
"No," he says, "It's not loud, I am just telling you so you know."
"Good to know son," I reply, "good to know."

Musical Beds

 

I have confessed before that I am okay with our little boys sleeping with us. I feel like I don't get to spend enough time with them in any given day, so if at the very least, we can lay in bed together, read stories, sing songs, laugh and then they fall asleep in the crooks of my arms, I am pretty content.
  Apollo was more or less evicted from our bed when Orion came along 2 and 1/2 years ago, but has still been in our room. We happen to have a single bed at the foot of our kingsize bed. Apollo has gone back and forth between his own room and our room, sleeping in the single bed, but I gave up on trying to keep him in his own room when he started to feel like Orion took his place.
  So here is the problem; my offspring are wild when they sleep. They toss, turn, kick, flop, flip, kick the covers off, head-butt, and scream out. All to Melanie's dismay I might add. She blames it all on my genetics and I will accept full responsibility for that. Now that Orion is 2 1/2, we have begun a transitional phase. Apollo is back in his own room, and he is really liking it. Orion, although he will sometimes fall asleep in Apollos bed, he does not like to sleep in the other room. That is okay for now, because he is sleeping in the bed at the foot of our bed, at least for part of the night.

  I can almost set my clock by their sleeping patterns. On a typical night, Apollo will arrive at the foot of our bed around 1:30am. He will grab my foot and shake it. This means, wake up and come to my bed. Which I do. I will follow him back to his bed, lie down with him for a couple minutes and if I don't fall asleep, I will come back to our bed as soon as Apollo goes back to sleep. At 2:30am, I will hear a smack at the foot of our bed. This is usually Orion kicking the foot board, or even hitting his head against it. I can hear the blankets being kicked around, and then feel Orion scramble over the foot board and crawl his way up between Melanie and I. Depending on his mood, I can sometimes scoop him up, take him back to his bed and crawl under the covers with him until he falls back to sleep. Sometimes, Orion will demand that I get in bed with him, and other times he will protest; "I want to lay with mama."
  Needless to say, I don't always get enough sleep, however, it is all worth it. In a blink of an eye, these two little boys of mine will be grown, and I know I will miss these nights.
  But I have to say, the best parts of my night, is when both kids are in their own bed, and I can snuggle up against my wife. Even when she tells me I am moving too much, or by moving the covers, I am letting the cold air in. Eventually, she too becomes content or should I say, I will stay motionless long enough that she will fall asleep in my arms.
  As for me; I will relish this fleeting moment of blissful rest in my own bed, before I begin my night of musical beds.