SIX Years Old

 Samuel Jacob, you are SIX years old. SO.BIG. Some of my favorite things about you are that you are thoughtful, kind, quiet, smart, hard working, shy, affectionate, and creative. You are your own unique person, and you add so much to our family.

For your birthday everyone in our family talked about things we love about you. We talked about how thoughtful and giving you are, how creative your brain works in doing crafts and building things, how you always, always do the very best you can at anything you're doing, and how fun you are to play with. That pretty much sums you up, Samuel. You're an awesome kid.

You are quiet and very independent. You don't like to ask for or accept help very often. We actually had to have a little chat about how anxious you were to ask your teacher for help with an assignment. I think you see it as a sign of failure if you can't do something on your own. We've been learning about the importance of asking for help and making mistakes in growing up. You can be a perfectionist just like your mom and you hate it when you mess up on a project.

You also are quiet and shy in big groups or new situations, and are completely content to play by yourself- I think you prefer to a lot of the time. There are lots of times when I see your other siblings all playing together and you're off by yourself immersed in a different kind of play. I think your brain is constantly working and thinking and you just need some alone time to process all those big, awesome thoughts in your head. I'm hoping that's why you get distracted so often too and always seem to have a hard time listening to me when I'm telling you to do something :)

You are the most creative kid. You love any kind of coloring/drawing/art project. You work so hard and are so detailed in everything you do with arts and crafts. You take your time and have the big picture in your head of how you want it to look and do not settle until you've achieved that. You also love any kind of building/design toy, and you always come up with a plan before hand when you're building something. You are so persistent and determined (such good qualities to have!). I used to try and talk you out of your ambitious ideas, but I've learned that you will not quit until you've figured out a way to make it work. You make costumes completely out of paper, write and illustrate books, create treasure hunts with love notes to me, build castles and towers and all sorts of other creative things.

You always want to be outside and almost always digging in the dirt outside. You'll spend hours outside. I loved it when we visited your cousins in Iowa and you spent so much time outside playing in the snow all by yourself. You're just always happy to be outside exploring nature.

You are a smart hard working student too. You're reading so wonderfully these days. Anytime you read us a book, I'm shocked at how well you can read, and how you can always seem to figure out long, complicated words. You're not crazy about school though. You still have a hard time sitting still and listening and when you get corrected for that it really bothers you. I think it also bothers you when something you're learning is hard and you struggle a bit. You set such high standards for yourself and deal with some anxiety around those unreachable expectations at times.

Some of your other interests are Pokemon, Super Mario Brothers, Magic Treehouse books and Hot Wheels. You like to play video games and watch some TV, but you are far less interested in screens than your siblings. You get bored quickly with any type of screen. You have too much to think about/explore/create.

You are always surprising me too, because I feel like your personality is a personality of opposites sometimes. You can be a laid back, go with the flow sort of kid but can also get super, super upset about something little and throw a huge fit. You can be the quietest kid around or jump and dance and put on a show for everyone you see. You can be totally distracted and have a hard time focusing and then sit for two hours coloring a picture without even moving. You keep us on our toes! And I love that about you.

Your favorite foods are pancakes, pizza, baked ziti, and chick fil a sauce. You are still a slow eater, but school lunch has taught you to eat a little quicker some of the time. You are my only kid who likes to eat cereal for breakfast. Your favorite color is orange and your favorite sport is soccer. Your best friends right now are Hayden, Grant, and Keaton.

You are such a thoughtful kid. Because you're so quiet, sometimes I miss it, but you are always thinking about others' needs- especially your siblings. Anytime you get a treat, you figure out a way to share it with them. You'll happily give in and play what they want to play. You make gifts/cards for everyone all the time. You are just the sweetest boy and are so very loyal to your family

Sometimes I struggle a bit in being your mom because you've always been so independent. You don't demand or require as much attention, and I feel like I should be helping you more than I get to because you always insist (and are capable) of doing so munch on your own. In my head I know that those are great traits, and I'm always so proud of you, but in my heart, I just want to scoop you up and help you so much more than I get to. I hope you know how loved you are by your dad and me and how special God made you. I can't wait to watch you grow!