Six Going on Seven

I remember seeing *those* kids in public. You know, the ones that you wanted to give parenting advice to even though you weren't a parent yet. You thought teaching and being around different kids for several years gave you the credentials to know better than they did. I take it all back! We were "blessed" with a busy, mind-of-his-own, loud, disobedient one. I was on the other side of those looks and pointing now.

I remember people saying that 4 was the magic years for boys. Ok, just TWO more years. Four came and went. Five came and went. Six, here we go. This has to be the year! Ahhh, yes, I think we have made it.

Awhile back I was looking back at old pictures and one thing I noticed was the huge stinker-ish smile he always seemed to have on his face. He sure was a fun loving kid...if fun meant running away from you in public or making messes, etc. At least there was always a smile on his face! I used to joke that kids were expensive, not because of all the things they needed, but because of all the things they destroyed along the way. There was a lot of destruction along the way, but looking back I realize a lot of it was just his curiosity that got the best of him.

I'm not going to lie- those years were pretty frustrating and sometimes terrifying. For example, the time we were at the grocery store and somehow the 3 yr. old figured out how to get out of the seat belt of the extra long cart and I couldn't catch up with him through a product display because of said cart so I had to make a choice of leaving my cart with a baby in it or getting my son. (Thankfully an older mom saw the whole thing happening and said I'll watch her, you go after him.) After that, I sure did go buy one of those backpack leashes and my view of them forever changed!

I love this kid dearly and our lives would be so empty without him and his antics. I would miss the hilarious things he says on a daily basis. (Case in point: he had me laughing so hard during his math lesson today. Who knew math could be so funny?) He is so smart. I can see the Brown mechanic's brain. He excels in math and reading. He LOVES animals. Wild Kratts is his favorite show. He knows way more animal facts than I do! He is always coming up with ways to do things (which usually involve creating a robot to do some part of the project). He currently wants to play basketball and hockey. And the one thing that has always remained is his sweetness. He is so very sweet to babies and little ones. He always wants to get things for other people. And the sweetest thing for me was when we were at Target last week. While Tim and K headed out, Z insisted on grabbing all the bags and told me on the way out that he wanted to get them all so that I didn't have to carry anything to the car. My heart melted. At that moment, I realized he's nowhere near that rambunctious little toddler. He's a sweet six year old that I am so very blessed to call my son.