This is 6

The streamers are hanging from his bedroom doorway. The gifts from us and from the grandparents far away are wrapped. The goodie bags of stickers for his schoolmates are prepared and by the front door. 

He wakes up early. His body knows it’s a special day. 

We sing to him at breakfast with a candle stuck in his strawberry. He likes that. 

Dinner is one of his favorites – breakfast for dinner. Chocolate chip pancakes and orange juice. He goes to sleep happy, disappointed only at not having quite enough time to play with his new toys. 

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Today, he’s been 6 for a whole day. He lays underneath a chair, belly on the floor, lifts his body and pushes the chair off the ground. 

“Look what I can do now that I’m 6, mama. Look. 

Before, when I was 5, I could only push the chair a little.”

He pushes his body off the floor, his back just barely moves the chair. 

“That’s when I was 5. Now that I’m 6, I can do this. I can move the whole thing.”

This is 6. Six is strong.