Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

20 Birthday Interview Questions for a 5 Year Old | FREE DOWNLOAD

The Countdown

What a day it was yesterday. Busy and full of celebrating you. This birthday actually started back in the summer when you realized that your birthday was on the horizon “in just a couple of months!” Days would pass and you would suddenly remember, then blurt out “HEY MOM WHEN IS IT MY BIRTHDAY AGAIN?!” I would remind you, “your birthday is November 13th and we still have a couple months to pass before then.” So the birthday questions changed to “Mom, what month is it?’ and “Mom, how many more days left of August?” After September came, it was a reminder to you “after Halloween, then it will be November and THEN it will be your birthday.” We have been counting down for so long for this day to come.

Water bottle Halloween DIY costume

Halloween

This year for Halloween you were a water bottle. What started off as you wanting to be an “excitement mark” suddenly turned to you wanting to be a water bottle over night. NO CLUE where this idea came from at all. It was just your creative curious mind at work. The people that stopped during trick or treating to admire your fancy DIY water bottle costume Mom and Dad made for you was… classic. You litterally stopped people in their tracks. I’ll never forget that.

 

Read more: AN EASY & STRESS-FREE WAY TO GET YOUR TODDLER READY FOR KINDERGARTEN

 

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

November Conversations

So you understood the next day after Halloween was your beloved November 1st which is when you really started getting hyped up for this birthday.

Ever since you were itty bitty, you have always been two things – ACTIVE and FRIENDLY. You never met someone that wasn’t your friend. Strangers can’t get by you without getting either a hello, a high five or a hug. It makes Mom quite nervous a lot of times but I never want that friendliness to go away. It is what makes you, you.

Now that it was November, your hellos to strangers suddenly became a full on orchestrated conversation that usually went like this:

“HI MY NAME IS GENTRY HUDSON GEIGER AND ITS ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY.”

“oh hi Gentry nice to meet you…”

“YEAH AND ITS ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY.” (does a little jump kick)

“oh it is? Thats nice! Happy early birthday.”

“YEAH AND I’M GOING TO BE FIVE, A WHOLE HAND!”

“oh yeah? That’s a lot of fingers!”

“YEAH AND ITS ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY.”

At this point I am usually trying to skirt you along to let the poor unsuspecting stranger go on with their daily lives and it is so difficult to pry you away. You will literally tell this to everyone you would meet. My sweet boy.

 

Read more: GENTRY’S 2ND BIRTHDAY -EASY STRESS-FREE TODDLER BIRTHDAY PICTURES

 

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - Reno Mom Blogger - Her Hashtag Life

Your 5th birthday

We went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Northern California for your birthday the week prior to it. We really thought you would love this amusement park because you had SO much fun at Sea World two years ago and Disneyland last year. But alas, you weren’t very thrilled with the “thrilling” or “scary” rides you said. Still, it was a fun road trip with many memories made. We hiked up a HUGE hill to see a well known famous street: Lombard Street that had the most picturesque views of the city. We even took a drive on the Golden Gate bridge too. You are an amazing road tripper!

Even though we took that trip for your birthday, I still wanted to make the day of your birthday a memorable one.

On the night before your birthday, it was so hard to get you to go to sleep. YOU WERE SO EXCITED. You asked me “Mom is there going to be a cake for me in the morning?” I told you no and that cake isn’t really breakfast but you may get some cake after school though! We said bedtime prayers before I started to read because I had a feeling you would pass out before I finished reading.  I read to you your obligatory 4 books that we do every night. The books were: Does a Cow Say Boo? Pig the Star, Exclamation Mark and How to Raise a Mom (affiliate links) You passed out after book 3 and didn’t make it to that 4th book. Mom was right.

I stayed up until midnight to wake you up and say happy birthday but it was an absolute MOM FAIL. I whispered into your ear, “happy birthday baby boy” and you moved around a little and then BAM slammed your head into my nose. I heard a crack. It hurt.  You were completely asleep so I felt bad about my nose but then worse that I was trying to selfishly wake you up.

Around 5am I THEN woke up and put up some streamers and balloons at your door so when you opened the door, all of the balloons would fall on you. You woke up on the wrong side of the bed and I tried to convince you to open your door. You weren’t having any of it. You remembered that Mom didn’t read to you that last 4th book at night so you were in hysterics because of that. I finally was able to talk you into opening the door and your birthday began.

You had swim class then I took you to have donuts for breakfast. Remember what I said above about you talking to strangers about your birthday? WELL, Mom got in line at the donut shop which apparently queued Gentry up to go mingle with the other unsuspecting folks in line. You struck up your usual birthday conversation with this gentleman who surprised you by buying you your donut and milk. He paid attention when Mom asked you what donut you wanted because he bought you just the one you asked for. It was kind and I made sure you said your thank yous and chatted with you a bit about being kind to others like that man was kind to you. Its a usual conversation with us (mom’s trying really hard to raise you as a “kind human”) but today was different since someone went above and beyond for you. I hope you remember this little bit of your birthday.

We ate our donuts and I took you to school. Afterwards, we headed over to your favorite restaurant Red Robin. We ate and the servers sung happy birthday to you… something you were very excited to participate in. Back at home, presents and your favorite ice cream cake awaited. Wrapping paper ripped off the presents so fast I hardly had time to film you saying thank you to your family for sending them. “Christmas this year is going to be special for you” I thought to myself.

The Birthday Boy didn’t go to sleep until around 10:30pm last night. You would of rather stayed up late playing with all of your new toys. Mom read you your new books The Book with No Pictures (which sent you into fits of belly laughter) The Dot, The Most Magnificent Thing, Chicken Wants a Nap, and Pete The Cat and the Missing Cupcakes (affiliate links) You stayed up for each one and passed out quickly thereafter. My sweet boy is 5.

 

Read More: TWO BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

This past year

This past year was a big year for you… You started at a preschool that has been working with and supporting you. You’ve also attended some sensory therapy and have been noted in your file as “gifted.” My curious boy is smart and sometimes a little too smart for his own good. You thrive in social settings and are a wiz when it comes to anything technology. You love to play fight with your Dad and curl up for story time with Mom. We started to have date days on Sunday were its just me and you doing something fun that YOU like to do, together. Its become one of my favorite days of the week. We have lived in Reno now for a whole year now. You love to crunch the leaves during fall, play in water during summer (and dig up holes where grass should be growing…….) and play in the snow during winter. You absolutely love driving up to Tahoe, in fact you absolutely love road trips! We drove to Las Vegas and SoCal this past year, just you and me! I can see many more road trips in our future, GG!

 

Read more: RELOCATING OUR FAMILY TO ANOTHER STATE

 

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

20 questions

(some filled in by Mom)
  1. How old are you? FIVE! A whole hand!
  2. What is your favorite color? Red
  3. What is your favorite animal? Koala (since he is a Koala in his swim class)
  4. What do you like to eat for lunch? Chicken (Chicken nuggets)
  5. What is your favorite snack? Clif ZBars (and “little birds” aka Little Bites muffins AND string cheese)
  6. What is your favorite drink? Bubly (and water – he’s pretty much a camel)
  7. What’s your favorite ice cream? Chocolate (vanilla, mint and chip, Oreo and chocolate chip are usually in his rotation)
  8. What do you love to do? Play on my tablet
  9. What do you like to do when you’re outside: Play Frisbee or go to the park
  10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A dog helper and I don’t want to be an astronaut because its too scary.
  11. What are you really good at? Being nice and kind
  12. What is your favorite toy? Magnets
  13. What is your favorite song? Baby Shark – although he does sing songs a lot from school and requests “rock songs” on Alexa all the time
  14. What is your favorite movie? He doesn’t requests this but if I turn it on, he is glued to it: Lilo and Stitch
  15. What is your favorite book? The book he requests a lot and always laughs at is I Yam a Donkey or The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors (affiliate links)
  16. What is your favorite TV Show? He doesn’t really have a favorite either but I would say put on some Odd Squad and he will be glued to the TV
  17. What is your favorite thing to do at school? Recess and sensory bin
  18. Who is your best friend? Mustafa (a little boy from school that are like two peas in a pod)
  19. What do you like to take to bed with you? My BB’s (his blankets)
  20. What’s your favorite holiday? My birthday



Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

Gentry is 5 years old! An open letter to my son on his 5th birthday - via Her Hashtag Life

 

CREDITS: Photography by Her Hashtag Life // Shirt: Loveful Beings // Location: Reno, NV

Bre. Geiger