The SNAC Pack: Zoom and Hot Wheels!

And just like that, birthday season is upon us again. (Well, technically we're 2/3 of the way through birthday season, but 2020 has thrown us for a loop so I'll count it a victory I'm remembering to do this at all).

On May 24, our goofy, athletic, finally coming out of his shell, food-loving Oliver turned 6! I can hardly believe it. Because of the Covid19 pandemic that has had us in qurantine since March 18, we had to get a little creative to celebrate birthdays this year. We decided to have a Zoom birthday party for Oliver! He picked the theme of Hot Wheels and we spent the morning of his party (we celebrated on the 23rd) delivering goodie bags to the houses of all his little friends in town. We all wore masks, and just I hopped out of the car to hand off the bags and a cupcake, but he sure did love seeing his friends for the first time in a couple months! The bags had popcorn and candy, a party hat, a racecar craft, and a quiz about Oliver to be completed before the party.

At 5:30, we gathered on Zoom with his friends and they were able to show off their car crafts, test their Oliver knowledge as we went over the answers to the quiz, have a scavenger hunt, and finally sing happy birthday. After the party, we had a family movie night and ordered supper from none other than....McDonald's! (They opened for delivery that week and we knew our foodie would love that for a birthday treat).

The following day, we celebrated Oliver's actual birthday with chocolate chip and dinosaur sprinkle pancakes, the Incredibles movie, presents and family play time, naps and his requested birthday dinner of black beans and rice and cornbread. We ended the evening with a Zoom church service (it feels like our entire lives are on Zoom these days).

This past year, Oliver has grown a lot. Not just physically (although his jump in height has turned our little chunk into a lanky big boy), but emotionally and academically. Our once super shy little guy (who cried when he was dropped off at school and would never respond to others), has become the life of the party at his school. He's so social and has to say goodbye to all of his friends before he leaves. And he LOVES going to school and participating in class! He's still timid, as it takes him a little while to open up in a new situation or to a new person, and he doesn't necessarily like to be put on the spot, but he has come such a long way. He is also learning so much in school! I'm very impressed with how easily math comes to him and he is getting close to reading on his own. I'm one proud mama :) He began speech therapy via Skype recently, and hopefully this will help with his English language development (although he's come a long ways in that as well). He is definitely a little athlete and was enjoying soccer practice and judo at his school before the pandemic. He loves to play rough and tumble with his brother but also loves to play 'Mommy and Daddy' with his little sister. We sure do love our 6 year old!