Probably the biggest milestone in his eyes is that he turned 5 in March! You heard me correctly, he's 5! Gosh it makes my heart skip a beat to say that. It seems like just yesterday I was rocking and nursing him - now he can nearly eat a foot long sub.
The biggest milestone in his mama's eyes is that he completed his very first year of Pre-Kindergarten at Black Hills Christian Academy. This too makes my heart skip a beat. During the school year Cayel learned how to write and recognize every letter of the alphabet. He learned the sounds that most of the letters make and even began some basic reading. He can now count to 100 and learned how to count by 2's, 5's and 10's. He can zip, button and even tell time by the hour and the half hour. He was a cow mingled in the manger scene for his very first Christmas program, sang many worship songs during chapel throughout the year and was given an award on the last day of school for having a sensitive heart towards others in need. His favorite Bible verse memorized this year was Galatians 5:22-23 and he prayed and worked very hard to have the fruit of the spirit!
Cayel's been patiently waiting to lose a tooth and was over the moon when at his last dentist check up the hygienist found his first loose tooth. Sure enough it is the first tooth that he got as a 7 month old. I wanted to cry right there in the dentist office.
My days of making him unique Halloween costumes officially came to an end this year when we had tears before heading out trick-or-treating. A handcrafted jack-in-the-box costume did not go over well with a little boy who wanted to be spiderman, batman, superman or any type of super hero. Next year we will be buying a plastic mask at Walmart. Against his mother's wishes of course.
In January Cayel got to see the ocean for the first time and on this trip got to experience lots of other firsts...he went on an airplane ride with his mommy and daddy, aunt and uncle and twin cousins. He fished in the ocean, perfected his casting and reeling, watched his daddy catch a hammerhead shark and collected lots of sea shells. He swam in the ocean, made sand castles, did his first belly flop in the swimming pool and made lots of memories with his 4 boy cousins.
Along with the trip to Sanibel, Florida, Cayel got to take lots of other little trips this year...we traveled back to Minnesota to celebrate Nana's 50th birthday, went back to Minnesota again in November to celebrate Thanksgiving with Papa and Nana, we stayed at a hotel and swam with his cousins in February and we made the long 12 hour drive to visit his aunt and uncle and 2 cousins in Iowa.
Papa and Nana came to visit in March to help Cayel celebrate his 5th birthday! Big Nic, Tara and Weston came to visit in April and lots of turkey hunters kept Cayel entertained and occupied during the month of April.
My baby has gone from riding a trike, to a bike, to participating in his very first bike race in Denver. He learned to ski in the mountains, went goose hunting with daddy, saw mommy shoot a turkey (and also saw mommy miss a turkey), will play t-ball for the first time this summer and is begging daddy to take him golfing.
And finally, what makes me nearly fall into congestive heart failure is when he says, "I love you to heaven and back again mommy." I hope and pray he never ever stops whispering that to me. Never. Ever.
I thank God every single day for this precious 45 pound, 45 inch tall, 5 year old boy that I get the honor of calling my son. He's made his mommy and daddy so proud this year and although he's made my heart skip a few beats, I've loved watching him work towards becoming the boy that God wants him to be.
