Joshua at 5 and 6

Another Halloween photo this one is just before he turned 5. He was an autocross driver and wanted to color his hair red. So I bought the red hair spray they sell around halloween and both of the boys got red hair. Joshua of course with his super blonde hair to begin with was very red! Just before he turned 5 we put him in preschool hoping that it would be good for him to be around other children his age and get used to the idea of school before starting Kindergarten. He had an awesome teacher who did really well with him and was able to keep him on task most of the time because she had a son who was just like him who was now a teenager. He absolutely loved her! So did I. She kept the boy going during school days enough he was tired when he got home.

We did his fifth birthday at home and invited a few of his friends from class plus my friends 2 kids who have always gone to each others birthdays. Conner who is to the right of Joshua was 2 years younger then him and they still consider each other best friends and miss each other now that we've moved. Acelin was 7 here and always liked to carry and mother Madison who she is holding in this picture. Joshua was very into construction equipment and cars this year if you can't tell by everything on the table!

At the end of the year for preschool they had a preschool olympics which Joshua totally loved and got to show off his athletic talent. They had some of the grade school kids come in to help with the activities. Joshuas favorite event was the long jump and the hurdles. The picture to the right is him doing t he hurdles which he cleared with no problem and all the big kids cheered him on since the boxes came up to his hips and most of the other kids except for the taller preschoolers couldn't make it over. Joshua on the other hand made it look easy. It was really cute and he was so proud of himself. Same with the long jump he actually cleared the area they expected the kids to jump to but a couple of feet. He jumped longer then the length of him just over 3 foot body! One thing I can surely say about my little fireball is he has always been an exceptional athlete! He can do just about any athletic thing he puts his mind to and do it very well. Just try to tell him he's to short for basketball! He'll prove you wrong, he can jump very high you know. I swear the kids got springs in his feet! Of
course he also liked the obstical course with the tunnels just as much. Can you tell by the silly look on his face!

Of course turning 5 also meant he started Kindergarten that year which he totally loved. Doesn't he look like a sweet Kindergartener here? He did a half day Kindergarten which was really good

for him. We did the afternoon Kindergarten which worked well for him. Since he has always been a difficult sleeper, meaning he can take forever to get to sleep at night he could be cranky in the mornings. This gave him the chance to really wake up and eat both breakfast and lunch before school. He always does best on a full stomach. Although this kid by 5 could put away food like nothing. We have always joked with him that he must have a hallow leg because he can eat and eat and still he is just skin and muscle. He has always been very muscular! Kid has some super strong leg muscles.

When he turned 6 he really wanted a Chuck E Cheese party. Honestly he is the only kid I've had who wasn't afraid of Chuck E. Izzak stood near him on his birthday hear but not close enough to touch and Joshua got right up close to him no problem! The girls still terrified of him to this day!

This kid really has very little fear. Although 6 did bring on the fear of small dogs. I never did figure out the small dog thing. He had no problem with bigger dogs but bring out a small one and he was flying away! He wasn't a big fan of cats either but we had those so he didn't run from them just chose to ignore the ones we had.

When he was 6 was also the year he had meningitis. Fortunatly it was the viral kind and he actually did pretty well. I got into a huge thing with the doctor at the hospital though because she was acting like the only reason we kept bringing him in was because I didn't want to take care of him. Well first off I was there with him all the time at the hospital everyday and the times we brought him back after he was initially released was because he was getting fevers of 105! My son is a very strong person. He doesn't let anything get him down. When he was sick he was not himself at all and I could tell something was wrong. The thing was he wasn't quite as lethargic as they would have expected him to be. But the kid is hyperactive to us the way he was acting was way against his character. I told his regular pediatritian about what she said and he got upset and spoke to her himself. When he saw Joshua he knew he still wasn't himself either.

He did get over that though without incident. I know we were lucky with him. He has actually gotten through some really tough times.

I know I sometimes sound matter of fact when talking about Joshua. I'm not sure really why I do that. When talking about their historys I tend to do that at least a little with all of them. Not sure why. It's kind of a defense mechanism for me I guess. I've been told a lot of times that I am very calm when faced with things regarding my kids. I have to be otherwise I am no good to them. Although my children know that I will go to the ends of the earth for them and do everything I can to protect them. They will all tell you stories about "momma bear" as they will call me.