Hunter is 5!

I cannot believe that Rob and I have a 5 year old!!! I honestly do not know how our sweet baby boy is going to be starting Kindergarten next year!

Although we were not able to have the birthday party with Hunter’s friends from school, we had such a great time celebrating with family and he loved every minute of it. He was SO excited to turn 5. I loved getting to see the joy, excitement, and anticipation in his eyes in the days and weeks… let’s be honest months, leading up to December 3rd.

Party Details
For his party, Hunter wanted a Star Wars theme (insert eyeroll here from the least loving Star Wars’ mom -haha)- but anything for my sweet boy! So I started buying items that would make both Hunter and myself happy, majority of it is from Etsy! I purchased this downloadable ‘Happy Birthday’ banner, that would be perfect for any black and white theme birthday (just take out the Darth Vader flags). We easily hung this with clear fishing wire, but you could add in a ribbon too! When I found this Darth Vader cake topper I knew Hunter would be obsessed – he did not want me throwing it away after! Ever since he went to his first birthday party with a pinata, Hunter has been asking for a pinata so when I saw this Darth Vader pinata I knew it would be a hit. Then I found these Star Wars Cookies (that were delicious) and Darth Vader chocolate lollipops for our family to take home after the party. Rob and I also did our first attempt at a DIY Balloon Garland that we bought off of Amazon. It wasn’t awful to put together either … after a late night facetime to a girlfriend… and then handing the reins over to my much more creative husband! We also got these Star Wars balloons from Amazon to finish out the decorations. Hunter loved every detail and decoration!

Update on Hunter!
Hunter is always on the go! The moment he wakes up in the morning he has to get dressed (he thinks its “gross” to stay in pajamas) and make his bed so that he is ready to play. He has endless amounts of energy, is super into all sports, LOVES to help out with anything and everything we are doing, and just adores his brothers. Hunter is a total first child: typically always does what we ask/tell him to, big rule follower, pretty cautious until he is comfortable, and does well with structure. We just adore this sweet, happy, energetic boy!

Height & Weight
Hunter has pretty much always been tall and lean. At his 5 year check up, he was 44 inches tall (73rd percentile) and 36 lbs (22nd percentile).

Schedule
Hunter typically wakes up around 6:30 but does not leave his room until his Hatch Light turns red (thank you to the genius who created this light!). Depending on the day, his light changes to red anytime between 7:00-8:00am.
Anytime between 1:00-2:30 we put all the boys down for ‘rest time’. During this time Hunter stays in his room and plays quietly or sleeps. Rest time is about 2 hours.
Depending on the day, we put the older boys down for bed anytime between 8:15-8:45.

Activities
Pre-COVID, and in the summer when we could be outside, we had Hunter signed up for different sports. He has tried hockey, tball, and soccer at this point and has LOVED them all. We are currently in a refresher course with ISR for swimming. But now with outdoor activities being limited with the weather, and indoor activities being canceled with COVID, we do not have him in an activity regularly at this point.
At home, Hunter has recently shown an interest in coloring and putting things (puzzles, legos, etc) together, the first time he choose to sit quietly to do this I was SHOCKED. He is also loving to play board games as of late too! Typically, he is running around and playing Star Wars, Transformers, or Superheros with his brothers. When we do get to go outside, he loves riding his bike and playing soccer, baseball, or hockey.
Hunter is also in school 2 full days per week. It is so sweet to see him starting to get a bit more interested in letters and words. Before this school year he had no interest in letters, drawing, writing his name… anything ‘academic’, but he is now coming around to it, at least a little bit!

Eating
Out of all three boys, Hunter is by far the most adventurous eater. He loves olives (specifically from Pescatore Palace, out family’s favorite restaurant), fish, pickles, and is actually a big veggie lover too! His favorite dinner to have at home is a taco salad or hotdogs wrapped in crescent rolls. For breakfast he likes bagels, oatmeal, pancakes, or hard boiled eggs. He definitely goes through random stages where he loves something one day and the next time he refuses to touch it.