Vanya turns 6!

We my baby is now 6 years old. It really made me reflect on how time flies. It is so hard to believe that the boys have now been home for almost 3 years now. For Vanya, that means in July he will have been here longer than in Ukraine. Amazing!
From a meager beginning of 5 1/2 pounds, 18 1/2 inches long at birth to his 26lbs, 2' 11" at 3yrs old, my little man now stands tall at 42 1/2 inches, 39.5 lbs and still thinks he owns the world!
He had done a countdown to his birthday for the last week and the day finally arrived! Of course he woke up at the crack of dawn and wanted to announce that today was his birthday. Mama didn't mind though because he came into our room and in a loud whisper voice said,"Mama, did you know it is my birthday today? Can I come snuggle with you?" (thus ensuring that mama wouldn't send him back bed as it was still dark outside) So he climbed in bed and wiggled himself right up to me with a big grin asked,"What time will it be when I open presents? I wish if it were that time right now but I know we need to snuggle a little more till its light out, right mama? You're so beautiful." Yep he is a charmer. I remember when he was first home and would come in in the middle of the night and climb in bed with us and go right back to sleep. He would put his head right under my chin and curl up so that not even his feet would reach my lap! Well he still fits pretty well but has some long lanky legs now and talks from the minute he wakes up till after I close the door to his room at night. Babushka and he get along very nicely that way!

It was present opening, picture taking (with the funny glasses of course) and pancakes and off to school. His kindergarten teacher is just great and allowed us to have his party at recess which she helped me with. We had a beach ball race and jump rope fun before we went in for cake and ice cream. I have gotten smart over the years and got the individual cups of ice cream and individually packed drinks to make it easier as well as the disposable table cloth that can just be picked up off the tables and thrown away. No fuss no mess. He wanted a superman/batman cake but mama evidently didn't hear right and got a spiderman cake with a batman candle. He was just as happy with that and didn't complain at all. He was just happy to be the birthday boy. I stayed to have lunch with him (brought him chic fil a, his favorite) and his class in the cafeteria. I will have to make sure to say nice things to those lunch ladies. Boy, what a job! You couldn't pay me enough to be in charge of a cafeteria full of kindergartners. Aggghhh!
He asked if he could come home with me when I was leaving and since his teacher said they only had choice time and one other thing left I said OK. He really just wanted some alone time with mama to jump on the trampoline, eat a popsicle in the tree fort, and be pulled on his new skateboard. I think I enjoyed it as much as he did! We both miss that time we used to have when he was in preschool and would get home about 2 hours before the other boys.
Once brothers got home we all packed up and went to the park (the big slide as they call it) for some play time while we waited for papa to get home. Our daughter Mayra had come over that morning to give Vanya his present and was coming over that evening to watch Yuri and Veecha while we took Vanya out for his special birthday dinner. She had her wisdom teeth pulled on Monday so even though she has been a little sore and such it has been really nice to have her around almost daily this week. She is such a blessing to us too and we are going to miss her very much when she moves to DC soon.

Vanya want to go to Great Wolf Lodge for his birthday dinner so he could eat and then play at the arcade there. There is a new restaurant there called Jungle Jim's and while some of the food is not so great, the atmosphere is really cool. It has a big round floor to ceiling fish tank and all the kids meals come with a treasure they can pick from a big treasure box at the door. Outside you can put your face in one of those cut out things (he was a little too short but got on his tiptoes). He was so tired and didn't eat that much but had a great time at the arcade afterwards. He really enjoyed being able to lead mama and papa around and pick his favorite things to do.
When we ran out of coins we went upstairs to leave and got there just in time for a little show they do in the lobby. He sat on mamas lap on the floor and cuddled up and watched quietly.
We put his superhero movie on in the car on the way home thinking he would fall asleep but no such luck. After getting him home and in bed he wanted me to lay down in his bed with him while he fell asleep. Usually I don't get all the way in the bed and lay down. I sit by the bed (which is on the floor) and just rub their head or cheek but he wanted the full snuggle for his birthday. I'm glad I did because what came out of his mouth shortly after that brought tears to my eyes. He said with his tired little raspy voice," Mama, thanks for giving me a life with a papa and mama and grandparents and brothers. I love my brothers and all my family. Good night mama, thank you for my birthday." Wow! Such a profound thought for such a little boy. I didn't even think he thought about things like that. Shows how much I know!

A very blessed mama mama mama

ps I will have to add the pictures later after I figure out how to download from my new camera.