I'm going to have to sound a bit cliche for a moment here, and be yet another parent wondering how in the world their child got so big. Because today my baby turned 6. 6! And I have no idea how he got to be so old. I think I blinked.
Owen,
It has been so amazing over the last year to watch you figure out the world. Sometimes, you'll bring up an experience from months ago and relate it to something that is going on right now. Lately, you've been fascinated with cemetaries ("are the rocks on top of the people, momma? "they're underground because that keeps them warm, right?") and as we drove by one, you asked if my grandma was buried there. I didn't even think you remembered her, she died over 3 years ago and we don't talk about her that much, but yet here you were, pulling out a memory, perfectly in context to what was going on at the moment. It's just so grown up.
You're truly becoming your own person and it's so fun to share the exciting things of life with you. You got just as wrapped up as we did in the Brewers run for the playoffs last September. In fact, you and I were home alone watching the game that clinched a berth for the Brew Crew and we were both jumping around like maniacs after they won. You even created impromptu confetti out of colored paper, and later put up a sign in the front yard.
This year you became obsessed with making art projects. Scissors, staples, tape, colored paper, post-its...these all are part of your creative arsenal to make books, signs, flags, you name it. What you wanted for Christmas was post-its and paper. So I went all out and accumulated a box of Post-its for you to open on Christmas morning. I think you liked it.
You're still into just about anything about space, and lately you've been questioning the exclusion of Pluto from the list of planets. It upsets you greatly and can't understand what has happened to poor Pluto.
This year, you read a whole book to me for the first time. It was about monarch butterflies. By the end, I'm pretty sure I was grinning widely and tearing up a little. Reading was such a big part of my life growing up, to watch you figure out those words and hear the story, it's just amazing. Your teachers say you know all the words you need to know for kindergarten and that you're reading at an early 1st grade level. So I'm hoping that reading soon will become important to you, too. And speaking of school, where in the world do you get your math skills? On your recent report card you were graded as above expectations in math -- you can count to 100 and have even started to do some addition. They also say that you have a "cute sense of humor." I think that means you make funny faces and noises to make your friends laugh.
You helped me raise butterflies this year. You'd done it with your 4-year-old kindergarten class, so I decided to tackle it at home, too. We raised some black swallowtails and some monarchs, and this picture even ended up in the March issue of Birds & Blooms, one of the benefits of having a mom who's an editor.
You also discovered books on tape, er, CD. Every night lately you go to bed listening to either Froggy's Baby Sister or Froggy's Day with Dad. And when we read these books to you, you try to mimic the "ding" turning-page noise from the CD. That, and insisting we read the author and illustrator's name at the start of the book. The writer's guild would be proud.
We decided to do t-ball again last summer and you ended up on a team made up almost entirely of kids from your class. That made it a really fun experience for all of us. You also started trying to hit balls with dad, without the tee. And you'd do pretty well, too. It was fun to take some balls and a bat down to the park after school for a bit.
Your best friend still is Matthew, and though the two of you are in different classrooms this year, we hear that you seek each other out on the playground during recess and we know that you, he, Aidan and Jordann are like the Four Musketeers in the after-school program. Last year for your birthday party, we were just meeting many of your friends for the first time, and now we know who they are, we know their parents, we cluster together at school functions. It's all actually very comfortable. We get you and Matthew together from time to time to play, and it's funny to watch the two of you wrestle and giggle.
Six is an age of changes. One thing we're doing as of today is putting away your baby blankets. We got you a nice fuzzy red blanket that will stay on your bed and the green and blue blankets that you've had since you were born will be going into a box somewhere. Of course, I'm a bit emotional about it, partially because I know you're attached to your blankets, and also because I can remember you being this old when we had this blanket.
You'll also be moving into a real seat belt booster, since at your last checkup, you're officially 1 pound over the limit on your car seat. You've moved into the 90 percentile on height and weight and are clocking in at 56 pounds and 47.75 inches. I know there was a big growth spurt sometime in there because one week it seemed like your pants fit and the next week you were walking around in high waters.
This last year you learned how to whistle and snap your fingers. You started shooting baskets in the adult-sized baskets at school (and making them). You're a really good big brother and you do try to protect and guide your little sister, though she often feels she needs no such guidance. The two of you are either happily playing together or fighting. But at least it's about equal of the two extremes.
I love your spirit. I'm so proud to be your mom. Happy birthday, my Owen.
