Happy Birthday to my Jakey!

So, Jake's birthday was Wednesday and I realized I still hadn't written a blog commemorating it as I had done with my other two kids on their most recent birthdays. I told my husband that my brain has already entered summer mode as we are in the last month of school and I am ready to have a more relaxed routine. I'm going to blame my late post on my summer brain.

Jake turned six this year and I have to say that it feels a little weird for him to be that old already. I guess it was okay for Riley to get up to these ages, what with her being my first born and all. It's expected that she will get older, be in school, and take on new chores and responsibilities. I guess I feel old knowing that now not only is my first child doing those things, my second child is too. And my third one isn't all that far behind! But feeling old isn't a huge deal as long as it means I have a new little slave--uh, I mean helper to do things like empty the trash cans around the house on trash day and pick up the play room on a regular basis. I sometimes feel a little guilty about the things I have my kids do since I'm home all day and technically have plenty of time to do those things, but I remind myself that the responsibilities are good for them and are building life lessons and habits that will make them into better, more responsible adults. And then I go back to playing games on facebook...

Anyway, my little boy is growing up! And I sometimes have the opposite problem with Jake that I have with Riley. If you read my blog about Riley's birthday, you will know that she is very tall for her age, which sometimes tempts me to treat her like she is older in age than she actually is, simply because she is the size of an average 11 year old. Jake isn't tiny for his age by any means, but he is a little below average and has been for basically all his life. It's not a huge amount below, he looks about the same size as a large number of his little kindergarten friends and he is wearing the appropriate sizes for his age but he isn't tall like his sister so I have had a tendency to not make him do things when I really should be just because he isn't a super tall kid. But I have been fighting that and it really helps that while he isn't a huge kid, he is super smart so that helps to remind me that he isn't a tiny little boy anymore.

Now, I want to do how I did with the other two kids and just give an update on all the things Jake is doing right now.

-As I said, he is super smart, and is doing awesome in kindergarten. He started having homework when they went back to school after Christmas break and he does a great job with everything he is given to do. He seems to be especially good with math, although he reads and writes great too. I suspected early on that he would do well with math since he recognized the difference between shapes like a rectangle and a square and knew what an oval and a octagon were when he was just two years old. Now that he is working with numbers too, he is proving that his brain is going to work well with that sort of thing in general. I knew he was learning some basic addition and subtraction so I asked him a fairly simple math problem the other day. I can't remember what it was or even if it was addition or subtraction, I just know that he thought about it for possibly two seconds and then gave me the answer, no counting on his fingers or even visible counting in his head. I do remember I was pretty impressed

-This kid is bound for some kind of engineering or math degree or something to do with building because he is just good at that kind of thing. Maybe I'm wrong since he's mine and I don't know what other boys his age or older are capable of with things like this, but it seems advanced to me when you can give him a pile of legos and related pieces like wheels for legos and he can put a car together, with no instructions of any kind and no model he was working from. He just built a car, complete with little bars that really open and closed for doors. He has made lego cars from the instructions before too and I know what those look like and this car was completely different but still very much a car. I was impressed, but what do I know? I'm just his mom.

-He may hate me when he is older if he ever reads this, but he is Mr. Sensitive. That can go a couple of ways too. He is sensitive in that if you even act like you might be upset with him about something, he gets upset. Or if you don't let him do what he has his heart set on, he will turn on the puppy dog eyes and poochy lip. (That never works on me, but the mom of one of his little friends has said that he is a pro at the sad eyes and she is very right about that.) But he is also very sensitive to the emotions of others and what goes on around him. As an example, I have an elderly great aunt who never married and lived with her parents until they passed away, and ever since then has lived by herself out in the country with few neighbors. One day on the way to visit my aunt, Jake asked me who she had married. I told him she never did get married. I thought that would be the end of it and that it was just 5 year old boy curiosity. But his final response to that was, "That's sad!" He recognized the fact that she had lived a long time by herself and to him that seemed like it must be sad. I know my aunt hasn't been sad all these years, but I have to say, I have felt sad for her in the same way I think Jake was feeling. She is old and sick now with no children or grandchildren to help her and I imagine that that must feel lonely sometimes, even with nieces and nephews who visit and help as much as they can.

-While Jake is no giant in his size, he is already showing signs of being athletic and appears to already have a love for baseball. He loves having his dad play catch with him or to play an actual "game" with a bat and bases (he uses books).

-As his father before him, he is already a Star Wars buff. He can name the various planets that are mentioned in the movie and he knows a bunch of the characters' names, including the more obscure Jedis. Part of that comes from playing the Lego Star Wars video games, but he loves watching the movies too.

We are so proud of Jake and how he is growing and maturing. I've loved watching him enjoy school this year and he is already so excited for first grade, where he'll finally go all day (he has been in half day kindergarten) and get to eat lunch and have recess. I can't believe he is already six years old! It just blows my mind. Jake, Momma loves you very much and I am so proud of you, little man!