5 is big boy stuff

Today Austin received his monthly book selection from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Program. For the past several years, Austin has been a beneficiary of this wonderful program that gives away millions of books to kids around the country.

I opened the book entitled, "Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!" with Austin nestled next to me, and paused to read a message pasted inside before the title page. It began, "Dear Imagination Library Graduate, My how time flies...This may be your last book from my Imagination Library..." And that's as far as I got, because I immediately started crying. Austin was unfazed.

Austin turned 5 on the 21st while we had a dream vacation in St. Lucia. By the time the day rolled around, we were all sort of over it. We had a lovely birthday party for him with Professor Fizzwiffle, the Magician and cupcakes with his class at school. We were well into our daily beach routine during his actual birthday. He played for hours and hours on the beautiful picturesque beach in Marigot Bay and the stunning white sands and brilliant (and I mean brilliant) blue waters of Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay. We had daily cocktails: Dirty Bananas for Hayden and me and (virgin) Pina Coladas for Austin. Hayden attempted to have a cake delivered on his birthday by our hotel, which came at 10pm on the day after we had all gone to bed. Austin did not miss it, however, because his day had been filled with beach and pool time and cocktails.

St. Lucia, with its warm winds and winding roads was a birthday present to us all.

This birthday season did seem significant, however. It is a nice divisible number, sure, but more importantly it felt like the official passage from baby to boy. We kept saying things like, "now that you're a big boy, you will...read, swim, stop with the pacifier, dress yourself, stop tantrums, etc etc..."

To Austin's credit, he gets it. The kid is sharp as a tack and is rising to the occasion of big boy status in most ways (except for his "baby"). We're currently reading Harry Potter, which is way above his attention span, and yet he follows the intricate plot and lack of pictures with relative ease. He likes to use big words, like "predict" and phrases like, "mommy, I'm embarrassed on you" How is a 5 year old already embarrassed of his parents??

For Hayden's sake, I should also mention that the kid knows and can demonstrate every tennis swing, from volleys to slices to serves .

I got it back together and we finally read the last story from Dolly. It was ok. Austin liked it. But more importantly, Austin expects to be read to and soon to read as part of his daily ritual. This service and many others offered in DC to families are so critical. We are lucky and privileged to have had this and so many opportunities. But as I often say living in DC, this is a no-brainer: all young children deserve these same opportunities. Ok, St. Lucia is a bit on the ridiculous end of the scale, but thanks to Dolly, many children will have one of the most enriching opportunities of Austin's life: books.