My little boy is 6! I cannot believe he is no longer a baby. Sometimes I feel like he is still so small and fragile and other times (when he is running around the house screaming like a pirate) I wonder at how he has become so big.
This year my son was able to celebrate with friends at school. This meant he got two birthday celebrations. First, with his classmates who are also in special education and then with the general kindergarten class that he is a part of. He really really enjoyed getting sung to twice and getting to eat birthday cupcakes twice! My son is kind of funny. The only time he will eat cake (in any form) is for his own birthday or at a birthday party. Otherwise, if you offer him cake he will decline. He really does not like sweets and would prefer a bag of potato chips or veggie straws anytime over something sweet. He also got a special birthday pencil and note from the school principal, which he also was very excited to show me.
After my son celebrated his birthday at school, we had planned to have a birthday party for him. This did not happen because this year, just like last year, my son got sick after his birthday. Literally the next day he was running a fever and coughing. He ended up with an ear infection and croup! So he ended spending the rest of his birthday being sick.
In the end, we were able to celebrate his birthday a few weeks later. He really enjoyed himself and again ate a piece of cake (which he refused to touch after we brought the leftovers home). He definitely knew it was his birthday and relished every second of it. He had a big smile the entire day of his birthday party.
Because my son got sick, we also had to delay his well check visit (again) this year. I think we managed to make it into the pediatrician's office about a month later. We got really good news: my son continues to grow on the pace the pediatrician would like. In fact, my son grew 2 inches and gained 4 pounds - all in the normal range for boys his age! Yay! We were very happy with this news because that meant that we would not have to talk to an endocrinologist about growth hormones since he is growing at a normal pace. We pray that my son will continue to grow and there will be no need to see a specialist.
Of course, we had to deal with the yearly blood draw. I hate this. It is so painful for him to endure - this year they had to draw blood from both arms because the first arm they could not get enough blood to fill the vials. My son is so exhausted from crying after these appointments. The bad news is that we have to repeat this procedure again, not in a year like normal but in 6 months because one of the readings for his thyroid is 1/100th off or something like that. The pediatrician believes the difference is because of the trauma of the blood draw but wants to be cautious and make sure there is really not an issue with his thyroid. I am really hoping this is the case, otherwise we will have to see a specialist. But, at least for another 6 months I do not have to worry about this! Hopefully, we can get into a facility that does more pediatric blood draws so the procedure will not be as traumatic for my son. Otherwise, everything else looks good and we can enjoy how my son is improving in his pencil grip at school which is leading to him actually making clearer letters of the alphabet and watching him interact with his new friends at school and just learning more each and every day.
