Six and a Half

Nathan is very suddenly six and a half, which is weird because I had barely wrapped my brain around him being six, and it is becoming clear that he is really and truly, for real life (as he likes to say) reneging on his agreement to stay five forever. WHAT THE WHAT, NATHAN.

However, at six and a half, he is still (mostly*) delightful. (*Six is moody. He has bad days. Of course.) He is quite shy until suddenly he feels comfortable and gets chattery (although he glares if I call him either shy or chattery, so).

He is helpful, sweet and playful/bickery/playful with his sisters, and incredibly generous with a kind thought or compliment. He loves showing people love, and he is good at it, in the best ways a child can be. (And I adore this about him, clearly.)

He likes dinosaurs and puzzlies and patterns, and facts/trivia about animals and nature-y things, and he will talk about them to anyone who will listen. Also sometimes when we aren't listening. He likes yogurt and pbj sandwiches and hot chocolate and gummy fruit snacks. He loves to draw and write. He has capital-o Opinions about many of his shirts. He gets excited when he can wear ties, like Daddy. He still likes building with legos, he has an up-past-bedtime reading habit, and he has become a pretty fast little runner for a kid who took a healthy season of forever to decide he could walk.

He likes to send emails and write people notes and cards. They are full (full!) of exclamation marks. He is learning a little more on the computer but is still contentedly clueless (read: Mark and I are content) about phones and other techy stuff. He does know how to turn the TV on and find pbs kids, which our saturday mornings thank him for. He can make his own breakfast and pack his own lunches, mostly. He does his homework happily and quickly, which I know is no small thing and believe me, we do not take it for granted.

He frequently brings us new taped and stapled papers he has turned into books -- about music and math and people he knows, and occasionally* (*HA HA HA HA) a dinosaur or two makes an appearance. He loves to quiz everyone around him (including his sisters) on what plus what equals what. (We all need to perfect Charlotte's raised-eyebrow blank stare in response to these questions.)

He tells terrible jokes which are really just nonsensical questions with no punchlines. Why does YouTube have a face? ...And that's it. No follow up. Just the question, followed by lots of giggles. Ummm that is not a joke, buddy.

Oh and speaking of YouTube, we taught him that he can enter almost anything into the search box there and find a video about it, so he has therefore logged hours and hours of fossil documentaries, slideshows of toy cars with japanese subtitles, dinosaur sketches shown over rock music soundtracks, and every Jurassic Park trailer, twice* (*gross under-exaggeration).

Y'all, it blows my mind how bright he is. He is blowing through chapter books and asking insightful questions about them, and working through math ideas with a creative approach he definitely didn't get from me. (He still has not solved the Rubik's cube. I know someone will ask. At some point he will realize he can ask YouTube how to do it, but he hasn't yet.)

He is ever more clearly an introvert, and ever more clearly a sensitive creature, a being of feeeeeelings. He hates hurting people, but he also hates apologizing. He shuts down in the face of emotional conflict. Like, completely shuts down. He loves snuggling and back scratching, and when words and conversation evade him, he needs to be physically close to feel emotionally close. He has a very clear sense of what is fair (and not fair), and while it doesn't always line up with what we think is fair (or not fair), I like that he cares enough and is observant enough about the world and other people to have his own ideas about it.

He still does his track/walking club before school on Fridays, and taekwondo once a week, and he sings in the children's choir at church (where Another Nathan is finally finally his director, a moment I thiiiiink they have both been waiting for since oh I don't know, 2009-ish). He has started in orchestra at school, where he now knows the proper names for the strings on his cello and is learning to legitimately read music. (He freaking loves that cello. Loves. It. WE HAVE TRIUMPHED AS BAND GEEK PARENTS.)

So yeah, that is Nathan, at six and a half. And we love him so.