6 things you didn’t know about my favorite 6 year old

Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
— Dr. Seuss, The Birthday Book

And now, 6 things you may or may not know about this boy turning 6 today.

1. You see teeth, he sees dollar signs. He is DESPERATE to lose his teeth. According to him, “everyone” is losing “all” their teeth already and he’s so woefully behind the curve. No loose teeth yet, though he works pretty hard on one of those poor little bottom ones every day. Keeping up with the other kids is not his only motivation either — he is aware that the Tooth Fairy brings money and he considers this an alternative to chores when it comes to his personal income. So far, I’ve decided to leverage this by informing him the Tooth Fairy pays more money for cleaner teeth. Brush brush brush!

2. He’s a softie. Despite the tool-wielding, mess-making exterior — this boy has a tender heart.  A few months ago, we took him to see Despicable Me 2 at the theater. Movies have been hit and miss from the beginning with the loud noises, the dark theater, and the generally overwhelming sensorial experience — but he was really enjoying it. Until the minions turned purple. In the movie, the minions are yellow and funny and harmless, but the bad guy is injecting them with evil potion that turns them purple and mean – to be used for his bad guy purposes. This was INSTANTLY. NOT OK. But not because he was scared of the bad guy. Or of the mean purple minions. He was in tears, you guys. Sad because what the bad guy was doing was HURTING the yellow minions. That darn bad guy was hurting their little feelings. And it was all too much for his sweet little heart. I talked him down from the ledge, and we made it through the end of the movie, but he still brings it up from time to time.

3. Naming things is not his gift. For all his creativity when it comes to storytelling and make believe play, he is unbelievably terrible at naming his stuffed animals. We have a (black) dog named Black Puppy, a dolphin named Dolphy, an Orca named Orcky, and a bear named Barry.  All that plus an Elf on the Shelf named Tyler Wilson…

4. He inherited a CRAZY good memory from his Daddy. Like, CRAZY. I have a terrible memory. Short-term, long-term, you name it. I can’t remember anything. But these two? D-E-T-A-I-L-S. Colt remembers things we’ve done, people we’ve met, places we’ve been — from way too early in his little life. We had to learn early that we can’t try to pull one over on him and hope that he’s forgotten something we’ve told him or committed to doing — he WILL remember.

5. This kid cannot tell a joke. It turns out, there are some things you just can’t learn from a book. Trust me, we’ve tried. We’ve exhausted the library’s joke section, and word must have gotten out because he’s already received one joke book for his birthday this year. It’s bad. He has exactly one joke.

What do you call a cow with no legs?
Ground beef.

I can’t even guarantee he knows WHY it’s funny, but it kills.

6. He’s a reading fool. We worried a little that his little-boyness and short attention span and tendency to do ANYTHING but listen would mean he would fight us on reading. We couldn’t have been more wrong. His good memory made sight words easy for him and gave him a nice boost when it came to the beginner stages of reading. Now he begs to go to the library, he devours books at home, and though I thought he might be too young, I’ve started reading to him from chapter books each night before bed. He reads signs and billboards when we’re in the car, the lyrics projected onto the screen at church, and really anything he can get his hands on. It makes my heart smile.

This past year has been filled to the brim with memories and moments. I’m proud, I’m humbled, I’m entertained, and I’m in love. Happy birthday, Buddy. You’re my favorite.

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