Jaycoby at 5 years old

* His favorite color is yellow.
* He is a fabulous big brother. He is always helpful with Ella and makes sure that she has her bottle, pacifier and hours of older brother entertainment. She is the first thing he wants to see when he gets home from his dad's house. And he loves using baby talk with her. She is a very lucky little sister.
* He is a great eater, but takes FOREVER at dinner time. He will scarf down his veggies or fruit and then just talk, talk, talk and ignore the main course. We are constantly saying "eat your food" and making threats about his Wii time or an early bedtime in order to make him eat. Breakfast and lunch are not a problem. This is when he will inhale his food. He doesn't say a word until he is finished if we are eating at one of his favorite places, like Panda Express (orange chicken and chow mein is what he will order EVERY time). He is also a messy eater. Mike recently told him that he eats like a squirrel, because he will chomp on his food with these tiny little bites and there are crumbs everywhere when he is done. Telling him to eat "like a big boy" has not worked yet. There is usually a mess when he is done. But he is great about asking to be excused from the table and will go to the bathroom and wash his face and hands when he is done (because he still cannot stand for them to be "sticky" or "messy"- an issue I created at a young age by always making sure his hands were wiped and clean).
* He is all about the Wii. He can be deep in thought, while we are cruising around town, and I guarantee you the first words out of his mouth will be something about one of his favorite Wii games or something he learned on Nintendo Week. Wii is always on his mind and he loves to play it. We always spend some part of our evening playing Wii with him and he thinks it is the greatest thing ever when he passes another level. (And to anyone who says that video games are for the lazy kid, they have not seen our son play. His legs move a mile a minute and it is impossible for him to sit still. It is hilarious watching him wiggle all over the place.) His favorite games are: Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong (he repeatedly tells us "It's on like Donkey Kong"), Super Mario Bros. Wii and Epic Mickey.
* He is our little "nork" (a nickname that somehow came to be, but really means dork). He does dorky laughs, loves to tell jokes and make silly faces. He also thinks it is cool to act like a robot. We think this is extra "norky".
* He gives great kisses. Often times, when he is talking to me, I will pucker my lips and he will stop mid-sentence to give me a kiss and then carry on with what he was saying. He will do it without a flinch, as if nothing ever happened. Sometimes I like to see how many times he will do it before he says something. He will tuck his chin, raise his eyebrows and say "Mom, I'm trying to tell you somefeen (something)".
* He can be a staller at bed time. He constantly uses the need to go potty for a reason to get out of bed. For a while, it worked when he was potty training, but we are far beyond that now. He still thinks it will work and uses it every single night. Okay. Sometimes it does work. But usually we tell him he has to wait until the morning. Aren't we mean? He will also say these two things at bed time: 1) Is it a special night? and 2) Call me if you need me.
1) A "special night" refers to the random nights where Mike and I will decide that we will go and get him out of bed so he can watch a show with us. We often watch shows like "Cake Boss" right after Jaycoby goes to bed and he can hear the show, or hear us laughing, because he sleeps with the door open. He will shout out "what's so funny?" (which only makes us laugh more) and try to be a part of what is going on out in the living room. He likes these shows, and knows we watch them after he is in bed, so he is constantly checking to see if this will be the "special night" when he gets to stay up late and watch them with us. We only do this once in a great while, but he asks us daily.
2) "Call me if you need me"- I honestly can't remember when this started, but he will say this to us as we are walking out of his room after hugs and kisses. We also use this as a special treat on those nights when he is having a hard time going to sleep. We will tell him that we need him and have him come out of his room, give us quick cuddles and kisses and then send him back to bed. If we say "we need you", he will literally sprint down the hall and be by our side faster than you can blink.
* He is a Beaver fan. He loves wearing OSU jerseys, shirts, hats...you name it! He still makes sure that everyone knows he likes both Oregon teams, since the Reed's are faithful Duck fans (not me, I could care less), but is learning to be more loyal to his Beavs.
* He does this weird thing where he will say, "I'm an old man that doesn't know what is". For example, if I tell him that it is time to eat, he will wrinkle his nose, squint his eyes and say "I'm an old man that doesn't know what dinner is". It is usually to be funny, and not a way of being defiant, but sometimes it can be a mix. He will definitely use it as a stalling tactic.
* He still takes naps every day. Hallelujah! Obviously, he can survive without one, but not two days in a row. That results in lots of tears and whining, or he will fall asleep in the car if we drive somewhere. And if he goes without a nap, he has a lot of crazy energy in the evening time. We usually put him to bed a half hour earlier those nights, if we can. So YAY for napping at five-years old. Keep it up, buddy!
* He is making a lot of friends and is very proud of this. His best friends at school are Cade, Tyler, Zach and Mason. There have also been some new milestones in the friend department recently: first playdate with a school friend (someone we didn't know outside of school) and going with friends to the Portland zoo without mom. He is getting to be too old too fast :-(.
* He wants toys all of the time, but when we are home he doesn't want to play with them.
* He has a new love for wrestling and is learning how to fight tough. He is still more sensitive and gentle than the average 5-year old boy....and girl (something I love about my sweet boy), but he has come a long ways. He frequently asks Mike to wrestle with him.
* He still needs his cartoon time to wake up in the morning and after nap. He knows which shows I do not want him to watch (we call them the "big kid shows") and will come and tell me that I need to change the channel, even though he knows how. His current favorites are Johnny Test, Scooby Doo, Super Why, Sid the Science Kid.
He just came out from nap and said: "Mom, can you see if there is a Scooby for me to watch? I don't know why there's not much Scooby Doos every day? Can you check Cartoon Network for one?......There it is! Thank you so much for recording it, mom."
* He is technologically savvy. He can operate the remote, Wii and computer without any assistance. It is amazing (and scary) how fast he picks up this stuff.
* He tattles on himself. Recently, after he went to the zoo with his friends, I asked him if he was good while he was gone. He said, "I didn't do anything naughty". I asked him if he would tell me if he had been naughty and he said that he would. I totally believe him. He always tells me when he breaks something or says something he shouldn't. It's great!
* He says the darndest things. I try to keep track of some of the things he says, but if I don't write them down immediately they are forgotten. I promise he is hilarious though. We are constantly asking him where he comes up with this stuff.
* He has made a "No teasing" rule at our house. This is actually a really good rule and he is really strict about enforcing it. If we joke around, he will say "ah, ah, ah, we aren't supposed to tease". Who are the parents here? Hmmm.
* He is a lot of fun to scare. If we scare him, he will scream, then growl and hold up his fist. It is hilarious! I try to resist scaring him too much, out of fear that I will permanently damage my child (plus, I am easily scared and HATE when it happens to me), but it is fun to do every now and then. I know....we are mean!
* He will come up to me and moan, say "Ohhhhhhh mom" and get this pouty look on his face, when he wants me to pick him up and cuddle. He will do this if he is really tired or doesn't want to leave me. The second I hear "Ohhhhhhhh" I know what is coming. It happens a lot on those days he doesn't get a nap or when we are going to dad's house. I LOVE these moments even though he is trying really hard to be sad.

Jaycoby with his stuffed friends: Luigi, Cookie Dough, Oinkie & Jack. He has a strange attachment to these four stuffed animals. He comes up with adorable and hilarious ways of keeping them involved in his every day activities.

We love you, Bobers! You are such a sweet little man.