Happy 5th Birthday, Alex!

As I look at my little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy I cannot believe he is 5! It hurts to think about the nearly 4 years of his life we missed, but we are joyful that he is here now and that we are here to celebrate this milestone with him. The last year has been an incredible whirlwind, and this little boy has made some tremendous progress.

To describe Alex I would tell you that he is a genius trapped in the body of a developmentally disabled child. I have seen him outsmart typical children, find clever ways around rules, and masterfully find trouble every day. Like most children, he has come to feel most comfortable at home. I know this because his EI teacher once told me that he needed to learn to stand up for himself more. What?!?!?! She asked me if he got bullied a lot at home (apparently there was a little girl in his class who used to knock him down a lot). My response shocked her: "actually, Alex is the bully at home".

Alex is a sneaky bully with his sister and an all out warrior with his brothers. Upon coming home over a year ago, Alex grew fond of taking things right out of Ana's hands. Ana never complained so he only got caught sometimes. Well, once we figured out what he was doing and he realized that he would get in trouble for this his little brain started working. He decided that it would be fine to trade Ana. He would find some other random toy and hand it to Ana while he pried what he wanted from her other hand. Again, he was disciplined for this. So he moved on to an even more sophisticated trick. He will now grab the baby stroller and walk it over to Ana and motion for her to put her toy (usually a baby doll) in the stroller, acting as though he is doing her a favor by taking her baby for a walk. After she complies he saunters off with the stroller and the toy that he wanted. Alex knows he is doing wrong by taking Ana's toys, because as soon as he catches a glimpse of mommy or daddy he runs the toy back to Ana in the hopes that he can save himself from discipline.

With Trey and Luke, however, it is a different story. He knows he can't pull those tricks on them and he knows that his tiny 27lb frame can't out muscle them either. It doesn't stop him from being like a little dog bitting at their heels though. In true little brother fashion he likes to antagonize and see how far he can push them. And over time he has grown less afraid of confrontation with them. I was shocked one day when Trey and Luke were "sword fighting" to see Alex run into the middle of their duel swinging a vacuum hose at them. He was laughing and yelling as he ran straight in. I had to pull him out for fear that he was going to take somebody out. Trey and Luke were only playing and not really trying to hurt each other. Alex was not familiar with those rules, and I think he would have had them both on the ground crying with the way he was intentionally swinging that vacuum hose.

The boy is a born performer and L.O.V.E.S. the spotlight!!! He is never shy and craves attention. I'm not sure he ever met a stranger in his life, which is really frightening as a parent! But he often leaves people smiling. He is a sweetheart who loves to kiss and slobber all over us :)

Making birthday cupcakes

Birthday boy

Blowing out the candle

Opening his homemade cards from Trey

Performing with his new microphone from Nana

Happy 5th Birthday, Alex! 

We love you!