Five Years!

Micaiah turned 5 on Monday. I can't believe it. I can't believe it's been 5 years since I gave birth! Sort of sad. :( But Micaiah was anything but sad. He's been so looking forward to turning 5! We had planned a big day Sunday but couldn't do it since the poor guy got sick. He ended up sleeping all afternoon. But we watched a couple of movies and just hung out together. We're planning to surprise him by taking him and two little friends to see Cars 2 when it FINALLY comes out in Thailand at the end of this month. I can't wait!

A couple of things about Micaiah as he turns 5:

- He goes to preschool 2 to 3 days per week and absolutely LOVES it.

- He finished "Hooked On Phonics Kindergarten" and can read well for that level. He loves reading and I still love listening to him sound out words.

- I think he's finally settled in to living in Thailand. His biggest adjustment issues came out in stubbornness and tantrums. He had finally begun getting over the "terrible two's"before we moved (yes, his terrible twos lasted for about 3 years!) but he regressed some for the first 6-9 months we were here. But he has really made progress the past 5 months and I think he's FINALLY realized that tantrums don't get him ANYTHING. Boy, he's a slow learner. Five was like a magic number for Orin and I have a feeling it will be like this for him too.

- Thai people LOVE him. He gets spoken to and touched a million times per day. He has the cutest Wai I've ever seen.

- He loves his family. Has a sweet heart. The other night Orin was worried that it would rain the next day and ruin a field trip. Micaiah was so cute and when we prayed that night he prayed that it wouldn't rain because he wanted Orin to have a nice time.

- He really enjoys school but I love how he smiles when he asks if he's going to school the next day and I tell him "no. " He gets all cute and says, "I get to stay home with you tomorrow."

- He can count to 20 in Thai, knows most of the colors, request Chicken or a bottle of water, say excuse me and thank you. But his favorite phrase is "Where is the bathroom?"

- He and Sora fight the most. He and Orin are best buds and I think he and Sora both feel a little threatened by each other...you know, for mom's attention.

- He is great at building Lego's. He can follow basically the instructions for any Lego set.

- He not picky. Although compared to Orin any kid would seem this way. He loves his veggies (raw or cooked). He doesn't like mushrooms. He's not big on what he calls "stuff" in food (small pieces of onions or pepper). He likes most Thai food although he's a big wimp when it comes to spicy food.

- When he's being cute he likes to add "t" to the last syllable of a word. "Where is Miss Melatie?" "I want some Canty," "Dad is going to be gone for Eteven days!"

- His two favorite things seem to be Cars and Star Wars. But I'm pretty sure he mostly likes Star Wars because Orin does.

- If you ask him what he wants or likes best he'll often say "What do you want Orin?" Or if you ask him is favorite color or food he'll ask Orin what is his before he'll answer. It works out well because usually if you ask Micaiah something Orin will interrupt and tell you what he likes anyway. :)

- The child is a music lover. He loves to "play" the guitar (he pretends, usually using a hockey stick or a toy light saber). He loves worship music especially Chris Tomlin although thankfully his taste is expanding. He also makes up the cutest praise songs!

- He gives the best kisses and hugs. He's pretty sensitive and loves to be affectionate.

- The child loves desserts. You might say, "What child doesn't?" but since Orin doesn't Micaiah seems sort of unusual. I think his favorite are all of the pies I make.

- He has some cute little words that he uses for certain things. He calls a pillow a "Pito," the sink the "wash can," and the fun desserts we have here called Roti's, he calls them "rodeos." When he's getting dressed he says, "I'm going to get my dress on."

We love our Micaiah and are feel SOOOO blessed to have him in our lives. Here are a few (well, a bunch) pictures of his birthday.

Even though he was sick and we couldn't do a lot of the fun things we had planned he really wanted to open his gifts. But he was SO tired and feeling so yucky that he could barely keep his eyes open to do it. He tried to smile...but it was so obvious he was miserable.




He opened his presents from Mimie on Skype. It was pretty funny how "blah" he was.

And then he was out...for like 3 hours!

We had a quiet afternoon playing Chess and Monopoly while Sora and Micaiah napped.

Later we got on with Pops to open the gifts from him and my mom. Micaiah was literally yawning the entire time. Open one gift - yawn - open another - yawn.

Finally the Tylenol kicked in and was able to get excited about his gifts.

We even got a "yes!" out of him.


And he even had enough energy to put together one of the Lego sets.
The next day on his actual birthday he missed school, but that night we brought him to one of the very few American restaurants in the city. They even put a candle in our desert when I asked. We sang happy birthday to him. He had one "false alarm" trip to the bathroom where he thought he might be sick but overall it was a nice dinner for him.

He was back at preschool on Wednesday and brought cupcakes to share with the class. He was so excited and spend the next 3 days wearing the crown he made at school because he was the birthday boy.