My Boy

Whether I like it or not my oldest child is growing up before my eyes. This has brought with it some good things and some challenging things, but isn't that true of all phases our children go through? The last two months I have relied heavily on Mason's help. When I'm tied down feeding Miles and Brynn needs something, Mason will usually step up and get her a drink of water or get down the toy she wants, or just help entertain her while I'm busy. Through all of this, he has become very independent. Unfortunately, with this increased independence he sometimes takes the liberty to do things that I would rather he not. He has a hard time understanding that just because he is capable of doing something on his own doesn't mean he no longer needs permission to do it. This has created quite a few power struggles between us. Mason is an amazing older brother. He is so good to Brynn and includes her in everything he does. She truly is his little sidekick. I'm not sure who loves it more, Brynn or Mason. The other day Mason was mad at me and decided he was going to go live at his friend, Tanner's, house. He disappeared into his room for a while then emerged with not just his backpack, but Brynn's backpack all packed for her because he was taking her with him. I thought it was pretty sweet that he couldn't leave her behind. In case you were wondering he didn't even make it upstairs before he was in my arms telling me he wanted to stay in our family. Phew. Mason is interested in many different things right now, but his reoccuring favorites are crocodiles, star wars legos, octonauts, Cars 2, and Hot Wheels. He seems to wake up each morning thinking about one of these things and his whole day's activities and projects are centered around it. His favorite activity is to print out coloring pictures off the computer of whatever he's focused on that day and color them. He is a coloring maniac. He is very meticulous in his coloring and likes to color things the "right way." We gave him a trapper keeper for Christmas to keep all his pictures in, because he wants to keep them all. We're talking over a hundred pictures, easy. When his trapper keeper is full we help him thin them out, which is a hard and emotional process for our little hoarder. He forms such strong attachments with things. I'm a little bit worried that these tendencies are going to land us on Hoarders, but we're working on it with him. Friends have become a very big part of Mason's life. He has some good friends at preschool and in our neighborhood. When these 4-5 year old boys get together their silliness is often more annoying than cute, but I think we better get used to it because Mason loves to be a silly boy. It's hard for me to no longer have complete control over what Mason is exposed to as he spends more and more time surrounded by peers. He has learned, and I'm sure taught, both good and not so good things from these peers. But he's a good boy and I know that he is capable of making good choices. One thing he has been introduced to is video games. I personally hate video games, but have had to find a small place for them in our life. In my dream world Mason would rather read books than play video games, but right now that is not the case. He is still doing great with his reading and is currently reading on a first grade reading level so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. Once again I guess this is all just part of him growing up and gaining independence. Mason's coordination and interest in sports has tripled since playing soccer last fall. We have had Mason in a couple sessions of swim lessons this winter. It has been so good for Mason to have something that gets him out of the house and lets him expend some energy. I think Mason may have found his nitch with swimming. Not only does he love it, but he's pretty good at it too. He has learned how to do the basic front crawl with side breathing and back stroke along with several tricks like doing back flips under the water. He is already asking when he can be on the swim team. Unfortunately he's not quite old enough yet, but I'm excited for that to be a part of his life in the near future. We think Mason is a pretty neat kid and are glad he's a part of our family.