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August 26, 2008
6 years old
Forgive me, for it's been a million years since my last post.
So much has happened! Most recently, my baby boy turned 6. In honor of the occasion, he lost a second tooth, so now he has a big space on the bottom where his two teeth used to be. The tooth fairy saw fit to bring him dollar coins both times, a precedent she might not be able to keep up. For a while Ethan wasn't much interested in eating anything but noodles, because biting with a wiggly tooth hurts.
We had a weaning ceremony on his birthday, in keeping with the birthday ceremonies his old school does. It involved him walking around a candle ringed with the twelve months of the year - six times - and we talked about each of his six years. At the end I gave him a special necklace I'd made that morning, one for him and one for me. It has six beads, including his birthstone, and then five beads in his various favorite colors: orange, indigo, turquoise, black, and red. We've passed a big milestone, one I don't talk about all that much because a lot of people think nursing even a two-year-old is weird. I offer just one fact: research suggests that the natural weaning age for humans is somewhere between two and seven years old.
But back to Ethan. Since Mika's return to Portland, he's gotten very interested in Totoro again, so that was the theme of his party, in a very minor way. I drew a big Totoro and we played tape-the-nose-on-the-totoro, which was a big hit. I also put Totoro on his cake. The day before the party, we made double chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips (his choice), and then the cake was chocolate cake with chocolate buttermilk frosting. It was good, but Ethan's conclusion, surprisingly enough, was "too much chocolate." So it is possible!
The party... my goodness. There were about 9 five- and six-year-olds, plus 4 two-year-olds. Yes, we're insane. Within about five minutes, the big kids were tearing through the house, screaming. We moved them outside, where we have a handy running circuit the dog likes to use, too. Craziness. Still, everyone had a good time and nobody cried, so that has to count for something.
School starts in another week. Ethan's had a few tutoring sessions in Japanese, to get used to hearing it, and that's been fun. We're going to visit his classroom this week so it's more familiar. He confessed that he's excited, but only sort of. Then we talked about the three camps he did this summer (with the first two, he threw up the night before each started, which I now believe was sheer nervousness), and he admitted that he was most nervous with those first two because they were completely new, whereas the third one, at OMSI, was a place he knew so he wasn't as nervous. Aha.
So, wish us luck. To be honest, I'M nervous too. What do I know about first grade?
Posted by ktingey at August 26, 2008 10:38 AM