The Ides of Five

Did anyone notice that Zach turned five? Here he is in class on his actual birthday, in all his over-cupcaked glory.

He is such a perfect little bundle of mischief and maturity. Example: He and his friend Palmer had their first sleepover (OK, mock sleepover - Palmer went home at bedtime). At one point they disappeared into the big closet, a.k.a. "treasure room" and did not want to be discovered. I didn't think much about it until I saw some suspicious candy wrappers in there. Whatever; I decided to let them think they got away with something.

Anyway, the next morning Zach and I picked up Luke from his sleepover, and after Luke finished telling us all about his night, I told Luke, "You know, Zach had his friend Palmer over last night and he had kind of a big night too."

"Yeah," added Zach, "And he ate your Dr. Pepper jelly beans."

[Insert the sound of screaming, wailing, and the 8-year-old version of cursing, along with threats that Palmer is "never allowed in our house again."]

On Friday Zach also spent some time hanging out with his little friend Ava after school (not Ashley - another woman!) and after they finished playing he invited her out for ice cream. And of course the moms agreed, because how cute is that?

And then, the strangest new friendship of all... A few weeks ago Zach went to a kindergarten screening. After the screening, he started playing trains with a little boy who was also at the screening. A few weeks later I got a mysterious note from the boy's grandmother asking if Zach would like to play with him. Turns out this kid, Nicholas, has been heartbroken since his best friend moved away. But when asked if he met anyone else who he might like, he said that he liked Zach from the kindergarten screening...so they tracked us down, albeit not in a stalker-ish way.

Anyway, Nicholas and Zach had a playdate, and it went as well as could possibly be expected. Lots of train talk, giggles, hand-holding, and a big hug at the end. Nicholas has promised to draw Zach a picture of an N-scale Amtrak (per Zach's request). The best part of all is that they are both slated to be in kindergarten at our school next year and (fingers crossed) possibly even the same class, so now he has at least one buddy who will be going to the same school as him.

Last but not least, Zach loves to be of service. Unfortunately, Luke knows this too and has started asking him to do servant-like things for him, which Zach is only too happy to do.

However, having someone in the house like this can come in handy. Our babysitter was sick the other day, so Zach came home and was left to his own devices while Dave worked upstairs. Of all things, he chose to...clean up the driveway in and around the garage. Well, OK then. No complaints here.