Happy (Late) Birthday, Ethan!

My son, Ethan Michael, turned his milestone 5 on May 15th.....so of course this birthday tribute is late on the blog, but this was actually written on his birthday in his journal. :)
Ethan, 5 years ago you were born into this world. God gave us another wonderful gift, you. You came into the world as my "miracle" and you continue to you uphold that name. The last 5 years with you have been so amazing...I've watched you grow from a baby to a boy and my heart bursts with pride. I wanted to share with you some of my favorite memories:
1. When you were 15 months old, we'd put you to bed and we'd hear you singing on the monitor, "mommy and daddy, daddy and mommy" over and over until you sang yourself to sleep. If we had friends over, you'd sing their names, too...."mon and steph, steph and mon."
2. That brings me to another cute memory....you would call our friend Ron, "Mon" and when you'd greet him you'd say, "hey, mon"!
3. One of your first words, when you were 12 months, was "nigh-night"...you named your blue blanket that because we would give it to you and say, "nigh-night time". So, to this day, you still sleep with your "nigh-night." And luckily, we've never lost it!
4. When you were 3, you had surgery....I was so nervous! When we got to the hospital for your admission, they gave you a little stuffed panda bear, which you named, "pandy". When you came out from the operation, we went in post-op and you were having a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, so I just cuddled you....they gave you a popsicle to calm you down and you said you wanted 2....then you ended up eating 4 more! 6 popsicles! Poor thing...you couldn't eat or drink anything before surgery and were soooo hungry and thirsty! :) In this same story was the comfort you found in "Pandy"....who you still sleep with! :)
5. last fall you picked up the phrase, "What the heck" from a friend at school, so I encouraged you to say, "what on earth" instead. One day, you got the 2 confused and said, "What the planet?" That has to be my all time favorite phrase that came from your mouth! :)
I LOVE you Ethan...you are more than I have ever asked for in a son. I am so proud of who you are and who you are becoming. You bring me so much joy!