Smart-aleck Six
Dear Rerun,
Happy birthday!!! You have been counting down toward this day for the last two weeks, and it has finally arrived, after much angst, not-so-patient waiting, and impatiently asking “is it my birthday YET???”
The day has finally come, and now you are six.
While you still have a long way to go, you have begun a steady process of social and emotional improvements. You no longer turn your nose up at all food. You will eat your food comparatively uncomplainingly. You made the leap from preschool to kindergarten – and it was a pretty big leap, and it took a lot of adjusting. Fortunately, you were blessed with having a teacher who already knew all your quirks, and she helped make that adjustment easier for you.
You still refuse to be pushed around by anyone – not your brother, not your sister, not other kids – and you are still learning the limits of what is acceptable/appropriate with younger kids. But you are learning.
And speaking of learning, you have blazed through kindergarten academically, and the year isn’t even over. Midway through kindergarten, and you already read at a end-of-first-grade level, are not stumped by simple math equations, and are constantly processing more information than I think any of us are aware of. You’ve also absorbed tons of information about Doctor Who, and are able to identify all twelve Doctors, plus the War Doctor, on sight. Mom is proud of her little nerd.
Sometimes I want to say to you, as Tadashi did to Hiro, “What are you going to do with that big brain of yours?” Depending on the day, I’m sure that the answer would be fascinating and illuminating.
But the one thing you need, desperately and above all things, is self-control. You understand this concept (thank you, Cookie Monster), but putting it into practice is the most difficult part. Sometimes you are totally at the mercy of the strength of your emotions, and I think our goal over this next year is trying to find a way to actively channel and control those emotions. It’s time to apply some Vulcan-like discipline to your personality, in hopes that you can get a grip on yourself.
So yesterday, we officially signed you up for karate.
You were in love with the idea of taking karate (more than playing T-ball), and were still entranced after taking a free trial lesson. So we made it official yesterday, and you are now a “Lil’ Dragon” karate student. Add that into the pool time (and occasional swimming lesson) that you are getting, and we are going to make sure that you get lots of physical activity in sports that require listening, following directions, and discipline.
I can’t imagine where the next year is going to take you, but I can’t wait to go there with you.
Happy 6th birthday, my stubborn, silly, imaginative, wonderful Rerun. I love you so, so very much.
Love,
Mom
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