7.75
It's official. Henry is big. Last month at the cabin, I was tucking him into bed after the other kids were all asleep. There we were, cuddled up in bed in the dark after a sunny day filled with water sports, and he drops the bomb on me: "Mom, tell me the truth. Santa isn't real, is he?"
Of course, I tried to equivocate and asked whether he thought Santa was real, but Henry finally just said, "Come on, just tell me." So I had to cop to it. I knew it was coming; six months ago he noted how remarkable it was that the Easter Bunny knew exactly what he wanted when he had only told me he wanted it. We had a very sweet talk about how Santa is an idea that captures the spirit of magic and giving to others at the holidays, and how fun it is to be Santa, and how he gets to be Santa for his siblings and cousins now and he'll be awesome at it. I went downstairs, a little weepy, and told Karl and his parents that the baby boy just grew up. Henry came out of the room with a huge smile on his face, pointed at us and laughed maniacally, like he just totally busted all of us.
So he's a real Big Kid. Most of the time he's a really sweet kid. Roughly once a day, he freaks out about something trivial, but it passes in a couple of minutes and he rallies to be a friendly, capable human. Indeed, he is significantly more pleasant and even-keel than his sisters. He had to save us all a couple of times in August when I might have otherwise killed them both.
He loves fireworks, jumping, climbing, leaping, flying, hurtling, pummeling his friends and cousin, and all other sorts of rowdiness. For all that, I don't worry about him out in the world too much. He is very aware of his surroundings and calculated about his craziness. We let him walk and bike around the neighborhood alone because he's very conscientious about cars, bike traffic rules, etc.
Fueling this all this activity requires like 10,000 calories a day. Grownup menu all the way.
He cranked through all of the Magic Treehouse, Captain Underpants, Dog Man, and Wimpy Kid books in the spring and early summer. He stopped reading toward the end of the summer because there were just so many Nerf guns to shoot at Jackson.
Of course, I tried to equivocate and asked whether he thought Santa was real, but Henry finally just said, "Come on, just tell me." So I had to cop to it. I knew it was coming; six months ago he noted how remarkable it was that the Easter Bunny knew exactly what he wanted when he had only told me he wanted it. We had a very sweet talk about how Santa is an idea that captures the spirit of magic and giving to others at the holidays, and how fun it is to be Santa, and how he gets to be Santa for his siblings and cousins now and he'll be awesome at it. I went downstairs, a little weepy, and told Karl and his parents that the baby boy just grew up. Henry came out of the room with a huge smile on his face, pointed at us and laughed maniacally, like he just totally busted all of us.
So he's a real Big Kid. Most of the time he's a really sweet kid. Roughly once a day, he freaks out about something trivial, but it passes in a couple of minutes and he rallies to be a friendly, capable human. Indeed, he is significantly more pleasant and even-keel than his sisters. He had to save us all a couple of times in August when I might have otherwise killed them both.
He wears scrubby athletic shorts and Edina t-shirts all the time, except when I make him dress up for weddings, and then he looks SO CUTE.
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| Do NOT watch the kissing. |
Weddings mean dancing . . . which means an opportunity to floss. At an incredible rate. Sometimes for 2+ hours.
He loves fireworks, jumping, climbing, leaping, flying, hurtling, pummeling his friends and cousin, and all other sorts of rowdiness. For all that, I don't worry about him out in the world too much. He is very aware of his surroundings and calculated about his craziness. We let him walk and bike around the neighborhood alone because he's very conscientious about cars, bike traffic rules, etc.
Fueling this all this activity requires like 10,000 calories a day. Grownup menu all the way.
He cranked through all of the Magic Treehouse, Captain Underpants, Dog Man, and Wimpy Kid books in the spring and early summer. He stopped reading toward the end of the summer because there were just so many Nerf guns to shoot at Jackson.
This summer's big milestone was mastering the water skis! He got up last summer but never really got going. This July, he nailed it! He popped right up and after just a couple tries worked out the balance and cruised all the way around the lake. I love his face here so much.
Second grade is off to a good start. He has a male teacher and most of his friends ended up in his class again. After the first day, he told us it was going to be the Best Year Ever.
After two weeks, the new two-hours-earlier schedule is really catching up to him. He doesn't do mornings so well. He came home with a Good Behavior Certificate on Friday and he was very proud. Apparently he was focusing extra hard on his essay about Fortnite.
Karl caved and got Fortnite for him last week. I was moderately annoyed. The last thing he needs is another video game sucking him into a vortex. But Karl pointed out that he already wastes time playing far crappier and less strategic games on his phone, which is fair. Also, I have discovered that much of Fortnite consists of buying skins and Vbucks. So I make Henry to extra chores to earn said Vbucks. In the last week, he has folded an entire week's worth of boy laundry, cleaned the inside of my kitchen drawers, vacuumed the main floor, Windexed the big patio door, and walked the dog nearly every day. So now I'm a fan.
I'm looking forward to expanding his Fortnite dance repertoire.
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