Another Year Flies By: Eli Turns Six!

My Eli is six years old today. Six! And I swear it was only yesterday that he was born, was a nursing infant, was a fractious toddler, was a sunny "class ambassador" at his preschool. Now he's a worldly kindergartner, who has learned to swim, lost his first teeth, and has cracked the code on written language and started to read on his own (I can't tell you how happy that makes his bookworm mama). But he is still so, so sweet, still willing to hold my hand or hug me or sit on my lap (when I let him...he's also darn heavy these days).

Today the sweet birthday boy got to have his favorite breakfast (an Egyptian Eye--a fried egg in the middle of toast) with Daddy and Isaac while I went out for Torah on the Trails and walk with Dri (it was an absolutely perfect spring day today, despite it still being only mid-February: green green hills and wildflowers blooming, 70 degrees with just a tiny fresh breeze). Then I came back and took him to a neighbor's birthday party (where they had a pretty funny magician), but he didn't want to stay long because...wait for it...he wanted to get home to play with his birthday present: a Dungeons & Dragons board game that Daddy had bought for him. Then after a round of that, it was time for the long awaited trip to Toys 'R Us for birthday loot--we had promised him a "whatever you want" trip there since we'd convinced him that his official birthday party should be a "no presents" party (more on this tomorrow after the party itself). Josh stayed home with Isaac so it was just me and Eli...and you know what? It's pretty fun to go to a huge toy store with your kid when you've got plenty of time and a big chunk of money to blow and no agenda beyond "get whatever you want (as long as it doesn't have a zillion little pieces)". We got a medium-sized Star Wars lego set (I wouldn't let him get the enormous, 500 piece ones...that's just a recipe for all kinds of disasters, only some of which involve actual choking hazards to one's brother), two micro-machine pirate ships from Pirates of the Caribbean, a Bionicle, and a small-sized Lego Aqua Raiders set. Clearly it is all about the heavily merchandised/licensed things with lots of tiny plastic pieces when you're six.

After our triumphant return from TRU, we had dinner with Josh's parents (Eli got to choose what he wanted for dinner and unsurprisingly, had macaroni and cheese), and put together the Bionicle before bedtime. Tomorrow morning, before the official birthday party commences, promises to involve lots of building with little plastic bricks. Should be fun.

Happy birthday, my dear eldest boy! I can't wait to see what this next year of life will bring for you...many firsts, perhaps a few lasts, and as always, vast and unconditional love from your mama.