Happy Birthday Jakub!

Happy Birthday Dear Jakub!  You are FINALLY (in your own words) 5 today.  The big boy number you've been so excited to turn.  You've been asking me "how many days until..." your birthday since I first had to say 62 days.  

 

You woke this morning excitedly and came rushing into the living room in the dark, with your eyes literally half-closed, and saying "it's my birthday!"  You were so excited, but not even fully awake yet.  Daddy and I had decorated your place at the table for breakfast the night before.  We made you birthday sign, and had a cup of cereal waiting with a candle in it.  You opened just 3 of the many (though you don't know about them all yet) gifts we and your family have for you.  You got Superman pajamas, a Curious George book, and a connector-building set that lets you build a tractor.  You loved all of it and said "I thought I would get something with superman, I wanted pajamas.."  It was really sweet and those were from your Grandma and Papa.  I was also really excited about your new book and looked forward all day to reading it with you before bed- which we just did! :) 

You had a great day at school today and seemed really happy when I picked you up this afternoon.  You also had singing class today and you said you did so well in it and listened to the teacher and everything she said.  I was very happy to hear that since you've recently been in some trouble in that class for not listening well and trying to distract the other kids into playing instead of listening and singing.  You said it's because you already know all of the songs well (and you do) and you don't know why you have to keep practicing.  You and I are both working on patience through this process.  You can be so stubborn!!  But you love to sing and you are very talented so I hope Daddy and I can help you find your way through this learning process and you won't give up on the class or the teacher.  You seemed really happy with it today and sang many songs to me this afternoon.  I love to hear you sing!!  Especially in Czech!  God has gifted you so much already in life. 

Your Daddy, little Sister and I love you so much!  Your laugh is infectious, you're full of interesting questions and ideas for having fun, you're also full of a never-ending energy that I can barely keep up with, and you can be so incredibly thoughtful and sweet when you notice someone sad or in need around you.  I'm so thankful to have had 5 years with you already, and I hope for 50+ more together.  We love you to the moon and back (and you say "no, to God and back!") a thousand, million, "fillion" times.

Almost 5!

 

Not the best quality picture I realize,  but one of the most recent I have on my Kindle.  I need to take a few more of this boy!  He had his 5-year old (he will be in another week) health check-up at the doctor today and I'm sincerely thankful and happy to say that everything appears to be good.  He's a healthy boy!  I was also happy to see that our healthcare here is becoming more modern, or at least his pediatrician is, and they did several tests on their own that I was ready to ask for or fight for - and I didn't have to!  Here, they often don't run tests unless a problem presents or there is a concern.  They don't always act in a preventative manner, or at least they don't over-act, which sometimes I'm happy about, and sometimes I'm frustrated and want to know more or do more.  All of that to say that today we had a great visit and I was very pleased.

Jakub did a great job and even followed their directions well in Czech and responded well in Czech.  He weighed 22kg, which is 48lbs.  He measured 121 cm, which is 4 feet tall (88% and 98% according to American percentile charts for 5 year old boys). He passed vision and hearing exams.  His urine tests were without problems.  His blood pressure was 91/48 and his heart rate was 98.  He also received his DTP vaccination and was brave through getting it.   We ordered flu shots for him and Sofia and they will come in 2 weeks.  They don't like to give those to children here, but this year I talked them into it and wanted to try. Jakub has had the flu the past 2 years, and then Josh gets it, and it's been hard on the family.  This year I wanted to try the flu shot and see if it helps protect them better.

Jakub's school is amazing.  I know I've said that before, but I just love it and his teachers.  They are always doing so much to teach the children, to be creative with them, and to involve us parents.  In these pictures you can see Josh and Jakub are making an apple strudel together.  His teachers had an Apple Fall Festival for us and there were lots of different activities and crafts to do and make with real apples.  Making homemade strudel was awesome.  I also especially loved painting with sliced apples.  And one thing I really appreciated at the beginning of the event was the teachers having us all sit around in a circle together and share our names, where we are from, and something about ourselves.  It was good to connect with the other parents and know them better.  God really answered our prayers when we were accepted to this school.  

Here he is with his classmates out on a walk and enjoying the fall leaves.  Jakub is the one in the middle with the black hat and grey/green jacket.  (His teachers are good to take pictures of each event, and random days, and load them on the school website so we can have them).

Jakub is in the white shirt just to the right of the teacher as you look at her.  They had a week full of learning about exercising, why it's important, general health, and learning to do a lot of different exercises and stretches.  And the teachers get in there with the groups and do it all with them.  It's great!  Jakub loves to stretch, run, and do anything active.  I'm glad they want to teach children about this as part of their curriculum.  It's so important!

And lastly, the school's Halloween Party.  A first this year for them.  The children all had to wear black and orange clothes and the teachers made each of them a spider hat and turned them into spiders when they arrived.  One girl's mother ordered that beautiful cake at the top.  The day was full of carving pumpkins, doing various games, exercising, and dancing.  They had so much fun!

That's all for now.  I'll write more about Jake when I post about him turning 5 and the various birthday activities we have planned. ;)  I can't believe it's almost 5 years since he was born!!