Well, as I sit down to write this post, it’s actually fall of 2022. So I’m very late in putting this together and I’m finding that a lot of my memories from the spring are already gone! I think I need to write much shorter, but more frequent, posts!
Here’s what I still remember:
Tru enjoyed and thrived during his Kinderhaus year. His teacher focused a lot on reading, and Tru is an excellent beginner reader now. He can sit down with an early/beginner reader and read it himself, cover to cover. He showed an especially strong interest in math work at school. He also loved the engineering “special” at school. But he remained consistent throughout the year in stating that gym class and recess were his absolute favorite parts of school! His teacher mentioned that Trevor has been “competitive with himself” throughout the year. Chris and I notice this theme arising all of the time. He has a very strong and intense drive towards everything he cares about. He’s very naturally determined to succeed, and he feels strong emotion when he’s not able to meet his own expectations. He still has full meltdowns at the mini golf course when he doesn’t get the hole-in-one that he wants.
Tru continues to be an early riser. He’s up at 6am every day, and he’s ready to go! He likes to cuddle with me for a few minutes, and then he’s off to the playroom to shoot hoops. He actually was waking even before 6am some days, so I purchased a little clock for his room. I set the rule that he isn’t allowed to get out of bed until the clock shows 6:00. I’m not naturally an early bird, and 6am wake-ups are already a stretch for me!
Covid vaccines became available for school-aged kids, and so they lifted the mask requirement at school! Tru had been wearing a mask all day every day for so long. And they invited parents into the classroom for an end-of-the-year presentation! We had been locked out of the school buildings for so long. So progress moving out of the pandemic was such a huge relief.
Since Trevor continues to have an intense passion for golf, we made the decision to join a local golf club. Chris’s plan was to take Trevor out a lot over the summer so he could improve his game as well.
Tru started noticing that some kids in his class had Fitbits. So he started begging for one of his own. He became pretty obsessed with it right from the start, which was no surprise at all due to his competitive nature. He was determined – every single day – to get a huge number of steps. He averages about 13,000 steps per day (and 20,000 on non-school days, he’d like you to know!) He refuses to take it off when he showers or goes to bed. His Fitbit is basically a part of him now.
A big milestone happened on April 24th: Tru lost his first tooth! His eyes truly lit up when he saw that the Tooth Fairy had come! She left golden glitter “fairy dust” near his windowsill and bed, and he absolutely loved it! Chris wanted to get right to work vacuuming it up and Tru wouldn’t let him. Trevor also got a special little pillow to put his future lost teeth in, as well as a miniature note from the Tooth Fairy and a book about her. I rarely see Trevor light up with the pure awe and wonder that he had the morning he discovered the Tooth Fairy had come. It was one of my most joyful moments as a parent, to have been able to create that magic for Tru!
Tru was obsessed with the Celtics, and they reached the play-offs! Chris took Trevor to several games. Tru got to stay up way past his bedtime for a few of the games – once he got to the stadium, he refused to leave.
I love the age of 6 so very much. Trevor is young enough to still want to hold my hand when we walk. And yet he is old enough to come up to me and give me a hug and say, “I love you Mama with all of my heart and you mean everything to me.” He says those things because I say them to him. Now they’re coming back to me, and it’s the most wonderful thing! Trevor still has the most innocent heart. He lights up when he sees me on the playground after school and comes running toward me. His hair still smells like sugar and he still loves to cuddle. And yet he’s also able to have fairly complex conversations and make intelligent observations. I love that I can still sit on his bed with him curled up in my lap to read bedtime stories. And yet now he can also read many of the words to me! I sometimes feel an almost desperate desire to freeze time here. I feel like this age is my reward for the screaming and crying and waking-through-the-night, and tantrums phases. The rapid passage of time is one of the most difficult aspects of parenting. How I wish I could keep him this little forever, and how I must confront the fact that I can’t at all!
