5 Years and 3 Months Old

My Rocco is growing up so fast. He's still just 31 pounds, but he keeps getting taller. He's up to 42 inches now. While he can wear shorts 6-12 months (he has the cutest waist), he is in a 4T shirt. And let me tell you he is still particular about what he wears. If the shirt has a collar you can forget it. He'll only wear those to church, and even then he is ready to put a "play" shirt on as soon as we get home.

Although he is just 5, he has a personality sometimes of an adult. I guess this is because I never have really baby talked to him. He thinks he is a grown up at times. For example, while riding in his car seat one day he told me, "When we get home we are going to play Mario. That's the deal. Do you understand me?" Other times he's told me, "Mama you didn't 'listme' to me," or "You didn't obey me," if something didn't go like he wanted it to. I know he's just talking to me the way that I talk to him. He's learning that he is not the boss, and that parents don't obey their kids. It's the other way around.

This month he lost his first baby tooth. A new adult tooth was already showing through and trying to squeeze its way in. Mimi and I were there when the baby one finally came out.

Monster Jam is basically the only toy he is interested in now. I got his train set out the other day and he informed me, "Mama, I don't like trains anymore." A little piece inside of me cried. He's getting too big!

Now he does like little hand held gadgets. He pretends that a small compass is his clock. He also has a play knife that he hunts with. One night we had pretend wild animals in our bedroom, but Rocco took care of them for us. Rocco can turn a slinky into a pretend snake and a play phone into a real one that sends text messages. His imagination works really well.

I bought a new IPOD touch this month. He says that it is his, but he and I share it. The IPOD is his "smoking hot game phone" that he wanted. His two favorite country songs to jam to are Little Bitty by Alan Jackson and Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean. Chris Tomlin's Our God is his favorite Christian song - that and the VBS soundtrack from this year's Big Apple Adventure. He can sing all these songs by heart - he does really well keeping up with the fast ones, too.

As far as food goes, his favorite restaurants are McDonald's, Sonny's BBQ, and Chic Fil A. At home, he loves Cocoa Krispies,toaster strudels, BBQ Pringles, gold fish, and gum (of course not all together).

And as far as what he wants to be when he grows up...one day he told me that he wanted to be a missionary. We talked about them a lot in Bible school, and his daddy went to Mexico on a mission trip. On most days, he'll tell you that he wants to be a Sheriff - he's really good at spotting them on the road, especially if they've pulled someone over. Of course he may be a musician one day - he really wants to be our church drummer. The boy loves music! Someone gave him a long rubber band one afternoon. He put it around his head as if it were an ear piece. He pulled out his guitar and jammed away with his imagination.

Lost Tooth and Last Week with Mimi

At 5 years old, I thought he was a little too young to be losing teeth. So when he kept putting his fingers in his mouth, I would just tell him to stop and go on about our business. Little did I know he was feeling of a little bump. Jason found out that the "bump" was an adult tooth coming in. This explained why he had a new gap forming between two of his baby teeth. There was no room for it.

I worked and worked on that tooth. My mom and I even took him to the dentist hoping he would pull it. He just told us all was well and that it would eventually fall out. The gap would not be a problem later.

On June 16th, Jason, Rocco, my mom, and I were just enjoying our morning on the lake in our boat.

While Jason fished, I decided to work on that tooth some more. I made a lot of progress and felt it really getting loose. That's whenit started bleeding.

We'd tried so many things - days before I'd even read a book to him, Bruce's Loose Tooth, and I tried to pull the tooth out with a string. It worked for the moose in the story, but not for Rocco.

Well, after our boat ride I worked on it some more. Rocco was glad to oblige because his daddy promised him a new Monster Jam truck when it came out. He was also expecting some money from the tooth fairy. I decided to pull one last hard time. It came - but not all the way. Rocco was a little panicked, "It's stuck!" Well, we couldn't have that tooth stuck and big man in a worry - so I pulled it out. This time all the way! He never even cried! Here's his new smile.

I'm so glad my mom came down. She definitely needed some time away to relax. She had to take some time off of work due to sickness, so I told her our home and time with Rocco could be her therapy. It did her a world of good. She spent about 3 nights with us. One day we went swimming. My mom basically watched Rocco and me go down this slide over and over. She wasn't really up for it herself.

But she did have a blast with Rocco in the shallow end.

I guess one of the favorite parts of my trip was riding the golf cart and picking blackberries. Then, we put them in hot pancakes the next morning. That was one delicious breakfast!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 6 21 11

Breakfast with Granddaddy

With nana gone to Florida with Ben, Tonya, Drew, and Sydney, we decided to have Granddaddy over for breakfast this morning. Rocco, Gary, and I had a delicious breakfast in our kitchen. Late last night I picked some fresh blackberries, and I used them this morning in our pancakes. Hot syrup and butter made them even more delicious. Sausage, bacon, eggs, and coffee were also served. What a special morning!

More Fun in the Sun

Rocco and I headed up to Mimi and Papaw's house. My mom had been very sick with a bacterial infection that landed her in the hospital Memorial Day week. Thankfully, she was well enough to come home. Still not feeling well enough to return to work, I figured Rocco and I had some work to do. It was our job to cheer Mimi up. She went outside for a while to watch us have a blast playing on a slip and slide and kiddie pool. Watching your grandkids have fun - now that's therapy!

When my dad saw the grandkids struggling a little to get some speed on the slip and slide, he had a great idea. Papaw's are good like that. He pulled out the extra large tarp and lathered it in bubbles. And after that, well we all had plenty of speed. Daelyn, Rocco, and and I flew down it.

Daelyn had to add her touch.

And here's my dad's version of having fun in the sun. You like his new tractor? It's an antique.

Slip and Slide

You know what I love about summer time? Doing anything you want when you want. Drew was staying at nana's today, so we called to see if he wanted to come slip and slide with us. When he came over, we combined two slides together for double the fun. The warning label said, "For ages 12 and under only." Drew barely made the cut off, and I was way past it. Regardless of the warning though, all 3of us went down it; I don't know who had more fun.

Later we decided to cool off some more in the water...this time in nana and granddaddy's pool. Check out the smile on nana's face. I'd say she loves hanging out with her grandsons!

And check out his latest pool trick. With legs that limber, he's found that he can do the split against the wall. He walks around the pool like this...on the edge! I tried it and fell backwards in the water. I'll leave tricks like this to my 5 year old.

Summer is fun. Yes, Life is Good!

Tee Ball Awards

What a season! Team Triangle Storage was undefeated! (But then again...we never keep score). Our team did a great job this year though. Being his second year to play, Rocco was much improved in his ball skills. He could flat out hit that ball. He ran faster this year, too.

Tonight was the awards ceremony for all of the kids' teams. Rocco's team went forward and Jason, their coach, presented them with their trophies. They were cute with a baseball on top and the words "T Ball". Hot dogs were served that night,

and everyone just enjoyed getting their moment of recognition. Here's a picture of Rocco and his best buddy, Will. The first picture was taken this year. The second one was a year ago when they first played ball.

And as if you didn't already know this, we sure are proud of our son!