15 January 2007

Monday Miscellany: A Little Bit Taller

My eldest son turned six last week. He hopped out of bed on his birthday and asked, "Am I any taller today?"


His party went well. The temperature was in the low seventies so we strung up a Superman piƱata in the back yard. Superman got pummeled, and no one got hurt. The bigger kids wanted to whack his head off, but his head was still attached even after he had given up his sugarcoated entrails (who knew that the source of his power was not the yellow light of Sol but Whoppers, Twizzlers, and Bottlecaps?). I must admit that it felt a little odd stringing up a human figure (or Kryptonian figure) from a tree in my back yard. Next year I shall insist on an inanimate object.


Super Pinata Awaiting His Day of Doom


One can never predict what present will be a six-year-old's new favorite. He has certainly enjoyed his new light saber (Mace Windu's purple light-up one). It joins his red, spring loaded, light-up one and his battery-less blue and green ones. It is becoming quite the armory over here. But his favorite toy seems to be a single Lego brick. It is a red light-up brick that projects a beam of red light that has spent the past twenty-four hours vaporizing all manner of bad guys.


My wife already wrote a nice appreciation of our now six-year-old boy at her blog here. I will just add a few of my own thoughts to hers. I appreciate any boy that can create an Episode 7 of Star Wars in which the evil Dark Robot's head explodes at the end. I have seen it recreated in Lego numerous times; it is quite dramatic.

He had to go for his six-year-old check-up on his birthday. The last time he was there he had gotten a painful flushot and was not looking forward to the event. As soon as he entered the exam room, he saw the finger prick kit causing his anxiety level to rise appreciably. One can tell he is nervous when he starts playing with his fingers in his lap (the proverbial wringing of the hands). The anticipation was much worse than the actual pinprick. He is not fearless, but he is growing brave.

He is also having to learn discernment. He came home and showed us the birdie. He said a kid at school said that it meant that you didn't love Jesus. About the same time he started saying sarcastically, "Oh my God!" He has not repeated either since (at least in our view). He got in trouble on the bus for the first time last week.

He measured in at the doctors at 46 pounds and 46 inches. Both are average for his age. By objective standards he is just your average six-year-old kid, and I am just a typical parent who wants to freeze the passage of time so that an imaginative, bright, mystical boy won't grow up too fast.

Man of Steel, Meet Mr. Bat

Peace

2 comments:

EHT said...

I tried the link to your wife's site but couldn't make it work....I hope you both continue to make a record of your son's growth. This is an easy format and you can do it while you are thinking about it. It will be a record that his grandkids and beyond can access.

My son is now 21 with big man feet and he towers over me. He still looks sweet as he sleeps but now his body hangs off the sides of the bed, he wakes up with a very deep voice, and the whiskers he has.....Enjoy this time with your baby boy. They become men very fast.

Splitcat Chintzibobs said...

Providing a family record was one of the main reasons I started writing a blog. I only wish I had started sooner. The time does go by so fast. I think I fixed the link.

Thanks for dropping by.