Six

Six is a very significant birthday. At least, it feels that way to me. In just the short month that Jack has been six, Jared and I have commented to each other on numerous occasions how much we love six year olds.

Here is he capturing the art of multi-tasking: politely listening to birthday wishes from Nona on the phone, while obliging mom with the obligatory birthday picture pose.

This poem seems to capture my sentiments exactly:

Now We Are Six

When I was one
I had just begun
When I was two
I was nearly new
When I was three
I was hardly me
When I was four
I was not much more
When I was five
I was just alive
But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever;
so I think I'll be six now
for ever and ever

-A.A. Milne

He is just so, so… I am grasping for the right word here- interesting?, maybe. Yes, I think that is it, he is interesting. He is fun to talk to- aside from the fact that he knows everything. Most conversations go like this:

Jack: “Daddy, why do we have earthquakes?”

Daddy: “Oh, well, that is because the earth is made of different plates, and as-"

Jack: “-ya- and, of course, when the plates move a little it makes the earth move too.”

Daddy: “Mmmhmm.”

Birthday morning

Jared has been reading with Jack for as long as the kid has let him. But picture books are giving way to chapter books and Greek mythology- and they both just love it- can’t get enough.

Jack is still constantly being distracted by books. Like right now, he was in here looking at video with me, I asked him to go get changed out of his school clothes, and he saw the Greek Mythology book and has been looking at it for the last 15 minutes. It is all wonderful and endearing unless you actually need him to get something done.

Birthday breakfast.

To me this breakfast choice demonstrates his personality. What child when faced with the choice of a powdered doughnut, a coconut-sugar-crusted doughnut or a plain doughnut, chooses plain? Just this one.

For his birthday we invited some friends over, and for the sake of good record keeping they were: Kolby Bradshaw, Spencer Garret, Ethan Doller, Caleb Wood, Parker Brown, Cael Jarvis, Dallin Hutcheon, all from the neighborhood, and Kent Partridge and Katie from his Kindergarten class.

I filled up over 100 water balloons and we played a variety of games adapted to the use of water balloons. Like, water balloon freeze tag, hot potato with a water balloon, and water balloon soccer.

I made a star cake and the kids all brought a present for Jack to open. It was wonderful and fun. He has such great friends here, and has made some really good friends at school.

He has become very imaginative and a true boy loving all things guns and Star Wars and destruction.

We absolutely adore this kid and couldn’t be more proud of him.