Seth turns 6!

{A little reflection on this 6 year old’s life to be able to look back and remember this stage…}

Having a six year old is a whole new adventure in parenting.  It is amazing how much he understands and sees and how grown-up he feels!!  Seth is definitely our curious one – wanting to know what everything is, how it works, what it means, etc.  When they say an average 6 year old asks over 300 questions a day, they definitely had Seth in mind.  The boy loves to know about everything!  And his questions aren’t just generic – they are incredibly insightful, intuitive, and thought provoking.  I’m impressed daily with some of the questions or comments he comes up with, knowing that it took reasoning and intelligence to come to his questions/conclusions.  He is able to piece together information and come up with a conclusion to something without any help from us.  He is very much a critical thinker, with his joy coming from figuring things out and learning new ideas.  He constantly has us our on toes, challenging us to think harder and deeper about things! I’m stumped daily by some questions, and with others, we have developed the phrase “I’m a 6 year old boy and I don’t need to know that yet.”  Thankfully, that satisfies his curiosity, for now….

Seth is an EXCELLENT big brother.  Yes, he knows his siblings’ buttons and definitely knows how to push them, usually resulting in a crying fest of the younger sibling, but other than that, he loves to play with them and take care of them.  He is incredibly loving to all his younger siblings, and has a particular sweet spot for the baby in the family.  He is an incredible helper to me as I care for many other young kids.  He is endearing and gentle with Ellie, helping her with the paci if I can’t come or just lending a hand to hold her for a minute.  He manages Luke for me when I can’t – blocking him from things he shouldn’t touch, defending his sisters against a Luke tirade, and helping him when he needs something. I am incredibly impressed by his maturity when he steps up and is a big helper in times of need. He is also incredibly sensitive to the world around him.  Things will affect him on a much deeper level in a way we didn’t think a 6 year old would understand.  We will often find him tearing up over the evil things in this world, whether it’s a plot line in a cartoon that is sad, or stories he hears about things happening around him.  We have been incredibly touched by his heart that longs for goodness and no sadness.  In fact, he often reminds us that in heaven there will be no tears, no sin, no pain.

Seth loves school (no surprise really).  He has always loved letters and numbers, and just this year, has taught himself some simple math. {This is not me bragging, but more me being impressed because we had nothing to do with that!} This year of Kindergarten has been so good for him and I’m excited to see how much he’ll be reading by the end.

The boy LOVES games.  Any game.  Doesn’t matter.  You can make up anything and tell him it’s a game and he will love it.  He particularly loves Angry Birds and some other iPad games, and is definitely better at them than me.  On occasion, he’ll get stuck in a level and bring it to me to beat, only to find I’m worse at it than he is.  Other favorite games include Chess, Battleship, Chutes and Ladders, Wii games, etc.  And you should see this boy’s face light up when we have Family Game Night.  It’s {almost} better than Christmas!  His favorite place on earth? Chuck E. Cheese.

His best friend is his cousin, Cole.  We just can’t get enough of Cole.  Too bad he lives 2 hours away, a fact that Seth reminds me of almost weekly.

Chuck still goes everywhere with him.  He received Chuck (a stuffed monkey) from a friend of mine when he was born.  Still his favorite ‘stuffy’ as Seth calls it.  I really think Chuck will be going to college with him some day, if he lasts that long.

His favorite food is manicotti, and his favorite restaurant is Cracker Barrel.

Everything is principialized.  When you tell him something, he makes it a principle.  For example, if you tell him that apples are healthy, he will then think that all things with apples are healthy, but then be shocked when he learns that apple pie and apple juice aren’t healthy because they contain a lot of sugar.  Then he will think that all things with sugar AREN’T healthy and he shouldn’t have anything with sugar.  And the cycle continues….

Seth has an incredible memory.  He will recall to me things that happened when he was 2, with vivid detail!!  I’m stunned all the time by his ability to remember things, and a little frightened that he will remember the times I messed up as his mom.  I pray that he remembers forgiveness as well 🙂

He notices everything.  EVERYTHING.

He’s big into Legos. And Star Wars. And Star Wars Legos.

We’ve experienced our first of many lost teeth this year.  And the importance of the tooth fairy always having cash available.

The boy loves Jesus.  Our prayer is that this is true of him and that he has a changed heart, which only time will tell, but we see a desire in him to please and love God.  He seems to understand his need for a Savior and recognize his sin and ask for forgiveness.  We are incredibly encouraged by his understanding of the gospel and pray that the Lord will continue to grow his heart to desire Him only.  This is something that will take a lot of growing and maturity, and frankly something I still need maturity in everyday as well, but I pray that will be true of him as well. I love hearing him think out loud about complex theological things that even have the scholars stumped.  Questions like “Why did God put the tree in the garden if it was going to cause Adam and Eve to sin?” or “Did God raise Jesus from the dead or did Jesus raise himself from the dead?”  Good questions, buddy.  Hopefully someday we’ll know the answer in heaven!

It’s amazing to look back at where we were just 6 short years ago, welcoming our first child into the world, forever becoming parents and seeing and doing life differently.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and frankly, still have no idea what we’re doing, 4 kids later, but are thankful for God’s grace in our parenting.  I am so thankful for Seth and his joy, his laugh, his dark brown eyes that I get lost in, he’s gorgeous little dimple, his curiosity, his inquisitiveness, his love of others, and his love of God.  I see him daily watching his daddy and wanting to be like him.  My prayer is that he does grow to be a man just like his father, putting his family first, seeking to grow in his walk with the Lord, and loving others before himself.  Happy birthday, buddy.  So thankful you were the first to make me a mama.