Next time I'm overwhelmed by Noah, remind me to come back here and read this.

It crossed my mind last night that I haven't written a post about Noah recently that wasn't mostly full of worry and complaining.  I know this is my place to vent, but it is also important to take time to focus on the positive too, and there really are plenty of positives when it comes to Noah.  Besides the fact that he's so darn cute!

I never intended this blog to be a "my kids are awesome" type of blog, and I'm pretty sure its safe to say I haven't done that. I think I'm pretty good at balancing the good stories with the funny and the down right "ughh" type. But bear with me here, because I really do need to do some bragging about Noah!

Like how well Noah is doing in soccer! Noah is a powerhouse when it comes to most sports, and I know I've said before that we think sports is going to be one of the things that will help focus him and give him some purpose as he gets older.

Yesterday Noah scored two of the four goals his team had during the game, and that was with him playing defense. He's a very good defense player! I have to say it surprises me because I assumed he would want to be in the middle of the "action" and be the one fighting for the ball. And that is the part of soccer that makes us nervous, because when he is that close to the other kids is when we worry about his aggression. But he actually seems to prefer to hang back a bit and play defense.  And his kicks are massively powerful for a six year old.

It is so awesome to see him able to focus during the games! And finally, be at a point where most of the time the other parents aren't looking at him, or us, with those "looks."

Probably the best thing about Noah is what a great big brother he is. He is very protective of Kiel. And he clearly adores him.

He's very tolerant of Kiel and loves nothing more than to play with him, which often ends up with Kiel on top of Noah, or wrestling Noah to the ground. He loves playing chase with Kiel and they have so much fun running around after each other.  They are very physical with each other, yet despite Noah's tendency towards aggression, he's usually very careful with Kiel.

Noah loves nothing more than making Kiel laugh and he has an awesome ability to do just that.

He's willing to sit with Kiel and watch Barney or Sesame Street and often suggests that over watching one of his older kid shows.

I really couldn't have imagined a better bond between the two of them if I had tried. It's amazing to me that they are almost five years apart in age but are still very close.

If Noah doesn't make it in sports I think he has a good chance at making it on the stage. He has quite the dramatic streak to him and a great memory. 

Noah is a smart kid too. Despite his behavior struggles he loves school and he loves learning. He's doing great in both math and reading. He has inclusion time every day in a regular first grade class for their science and social studies unit and he's doing great according to the teacher.

He's also a pretty darn good artist when he has someone helping him focus and giving him some direction. I framed a few of his pieces from his school art class and my boss actually asked if she could hang them up in our conference room. You can see them below. The piece just above I had made into note cards using Uprinting.com.

Noah is also very generous, and loves to give us things, like pencil erasers, lip balm, pencils, etc. All the things he obsessively collects. Sometimes I have to remind myself to not get frustrated by his "generosity."

And he's very empathetic, especially with Kiel. In fact, Noah will do almost anything so Kiel doesn't cry. And if Kiel hurts himself and Noah thinks he has something to do with it he gets extremely upset.

Noah can be so much fun to be with when he has control of his energy. His imagination is very entertaining. I love when he's playing with his animals or his cars and pretending to be the different characters. It's not only entertaining but gives me some insight into what he is thinking.

He's a pretty awesome apple picker and tree climber too!