5 Years and 2 Months Old

The months just keep flying by, and Rocco continues to make us laugh and smile at his silly little antics. Just a few weeks ago, Rocco told me something that grabbed my attention. "Me and Emily got married." "You did?" I asked, hoping he'd tell me more. "When did this happen?" "During work time. I put a ring on her finger." he said. "Who all knows about this?" I wanted to know. With a little sly grin he said, "Emily." He concluded his little conversation with me by saying, "Well, I'm Emily's wife." How cute is that? I had to explain again to him the difference between a husband and a wife. There have been several times in the past where he has told me, "Mom, you are my wife." I only pray that one day he will have a wife who loves him as much as I do!

Around our house, we drink the no pulp orange juice (per my husband's request). The other day, I decided to buy some with high pulp, just for me. I gave some to Rocco one morning, and I noticed he wasn't drinking it. "Drink your orange juice." I told him. "But, mom," he said with some disgust, "I think it has paper in it."

Recently, there are just three things he wants to play. He's often telling me, "You have three choices: Mario, Sheriff, or Monster trucks." If I tell him I need to fix breakfast right now or that I need to fold clothes, he'll say, "Well, that's not a choice." One game that I did make up with him is "Rocco's Healthy Shack." We cut up pretend fruit, veggies, and bread for our customers. All the food we serve is fresh and healthy. We use this same food when we serve our criminals in jail. I think Sheriff is probably his favorite game that I made up with him. We get our toy guns and go patrolling through the house. When we find a criminal we yell for them to get on the ground. Rocco handcuffs them, and he leads them to his bedroom (our jail). His closet is our office. That's where we sentence them to their time, write out their tickets, and open the mail any inmates get from their families. For meals, they only get bread and water, no "fancy snacks." Sometimes we'll have special appreciation parties for our policemen. We'll bring in popcorn or ice cream and watch a movie. No movies for criminals! If they are caught pillow fighting, lights go off. We don't put up with any nonsense in our town!

We have entirely too many Monster Jam trucks in our house! I know because I have to be Scott Douglas, the announcer for the sport. Rocco expects me to describe each truck and talk about it as he races them around the living room.

After about the 10th truck I'm tired of it...but he has 35 trucks. He will absolutely crack you up acting like Scott himself. "Brought to you by Advance Auto Parts; keep the wheels a turnin' AND by Built Ford Tough Blue Thunder....It's Lupe Soza's Advance Auto Parts Grinder!" He just goes on and on and ....

Rocco had his first time out for breaking a rule. This came at like the second to last week of school. He's such a rule follower, it really surprised me. He was running in the hall with a couple of his buddies. When he was assigned to time out by Mrs. Caldwell, he happily said, "Ok, where do I go?" At least he didn't cry. He was just matter-of-fact about it. He served his time and went on...obeying the No Run rules of the hall.

The other day he put his fist in his hands and said, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" When I asked who taught him that game he told me that JJ did. That's his fourth grade cousin who he hangs out with when school is over sometimes until I'm ready to go home. JJ is also Mrs. Caldwell's daughter. Mrs. Caldwell is Jason's first cousin.

Rocco can finally spit well. That's a big deal because we can use big kid toothpaste now. And speaking of teeth, Rocco insists that he brush his own now. We have a little step stool he uses. After he finishes, he expects me to smell his breath.

He's really getting too big for his britches (I bought him new swim trunks the other day...size 12 months). He informed me the other day that when he gets to be a big kid, he wants a "smokin' hot game phone." That blew me out of the water. I laughed and laughed. He was referring to an IPOD. I think he's watched adults too much lately, because when I ask him to do something he'll grab his pretend phone and say, "I need to check this text message first," or "Somebody's calling me on my phone right now." He's just too growny.

On his end of year test, the one they give for pre-kindergarten readiness, he scored 101 out of 103. The only 2 things he missed were knowing how many syllables 'dinosaur' had and being able to cut a curvy line with scissors. He is so ready for kindergarten. In fact, on Awards Day, he earned the Exceptional Reader Award. Each classroom had a Citizenship Award for a boy and a girl. Rocco earned it for his class. And he also got Most Eager to Learn. We couldn't be more proud! He said that the Citizenship Award was his favorite because it had stars on it. Rocco was so excited and proud about his 3 awards.

Mother's Day

For years I prayed and waited for a baby. Look at him today. He still fits just perfectly in my arms. He was made for us, and I'm so thankful God answered my prayers. Above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined, God gave us the most handsome, loving, witty, intelligent little boy.

For Mother's Day, Jason gave me another year of Maria. She is our maid. When I woke up this morning though, Jason had left some other gifts in a bag on top of the bed. He was already gone to church, but Rocco was there beside me just waiting for me to wake up and open them. What was inside? A beautiful necklace (I have it on in this picture) and....an alarm clock! Pretty funny gift for a mom who is often running late wherever she goes. ;)

5 years and 1 month old

What a personality our Rocco has at 5 years old! He is a big package of confidence (with his arms crossed and a look that says, "I'm the coolest kid you've ever seen.") He's full of spunk and a love for Monster Trucks. He's become quite the announcer. When he plays with his toy trucks I'll often hear him say, "Whoa! What a combo!" or "What a save, Superman!" One of his favorite sayings is, "Oh, that's gotta hurt!"

Beneath all that rough & tough attitude, there's still a sweet, loving boy. At night we'll be lying in the dark and he'll sweetly ask me to "snuggle and cuddle" him. Sometimes he'll still say, "I want to rock." Sometimes during the day, he'll just stop playing, come over to me, and say, "I want to give you some love." Be still my heart!

The morning time is Jason's turn at some loving. Even though Rocco and I are at the same school all day, Jason takes him almost every morning. While I'm getting ready, they wrestle and love on each other. Jason goes through this morning pep talk with him,too. It goes something like this. "Who's daddy's boy? Who's the cutest kid? Who's the smartest? Who has confidence? Who does daddy love?"

Jason is also the one who fixes our son's faux in the morning. I can't seem to do it like daddy does. When Jason brings him into school, Rocco rides on top of his shoulders. Rocco feels like he's the big man on campus!

At age 5 Rocco can really get his praise on. One day coming home from church, he and I were jamming to Chris Tomlin's "Our God Saves". I looked in the back and he was raising his hands in the air. He must have been doing some sort of motions with his hands to the song. He's seen me do this in the car, and he's also done some of this in the kids' choir at church. He loves this song, and he requests it just about every time we get in the car.

Rocco loves music and he can tell you which instruments are in a song or when they join in. He has an ear for drums, guitar, and the strings. Speaking of instruments, he loves to jam with his guitar. When I go to church to practice with the musicians on Sunday morning, he'll grab some pencils and tap out the rhythm as if he's our drummer. One Sunday morning he brought his own guitar and joined in with me.