Awwwww. Sweet at Six.

Amidst some of the depressing post election news, the excited new six year old is certainly striking some sweet relief notes.  (He, by the way, purposefully decided to devote part of his birthday to go vote with me.  He saw a comparative graph on the funds funneled towards war (gotta love mailers, grrrr) and has been feeling a bit political ever since;) His fab karma had us done at the booths in mere moments... but apparently didn't cover the whole world ;)

Anyway ;)  The sweet stuff!  The kid had an amazing birthday, at least, according to him :)  All day, he kept repeating: "This is the Best Birthday Ever!"  I found this unusually endearing, since his proclamations typically followed simple pleasures.  We were bouncy house, clown juggler free and yet the child was beaming. Ahhhh ; )   Per our family tradition, P was King for the day, deciding the when, the where the what.

This is what he laid out:  Gifts (first things first, of course;) From E - a couple of Buddha's/relics for P's shrine.  From me - a couple of sewn mice for P's treasured Mouse House (a Converse box he reconfigured;)   Breakfast: Saucy Eggs (a shortcut we've devised for Eggs Florentine, since the child likes to eat this about twice a week - and really, who makes true Hollandaise sauce twice a week?!?)  A new book and then voting (to make the money go to peace ;)  E took a half day vacation, which absolutely thrilled the Little Man, and met us for Lunch: Lasso's divine pizza.  We read and subbed to Rockefeller Center for a Lego store stop, thanks to Grams and Gramps, and then zoomed home to play and build.  P's grand bday plan got a bonus with we bumped into his awesome Aunt and Uncle (we LOVE being neighbors!) en route to his Birthday dinner: "Frittata cheesecake (he meant ricotta;) and penne pasta with peas hold the prosciutto" at Bar Toto.  Declaring it a perfect birthday, he knew the fun was only half over.  That night, the kid could barely sleep for the excitement of his party the next day.

Which rocked.  Due to being hobbled by the spider bite for so long, party prep hadn't gone as planned.  Thus the child spent a lot more time not playing with me than he preferred.  But he also really, really wanted specific foods for his dinner party, so he made the trade and played on the floor of the kitchen.  His Uncles and Aunt and Uncle's girlfriend all joined us for the Little Man's menu: Ceasar Salad (of course, we had to make a triple crouton recipe, since the kid planned on eating 1/2 of them as they finished;), Butternut Squash soup with Ginger, Coconut and Corn, homemade bread, a roasted turkey, roasted fall veggies (with the child's emphasis on brussels sprouts) and pumpkin pie.  (The kid also wanted carrot cake, but we ran out of time!)

Wild wrestling, gift opening, torturous tickling, balloon bouncing, crazy people machine riding, book reading, occasional food consuming fun ensued.  The evening got away from the child and when he was ready to conk he realized he still hadn't assembled his new toys.

So, being the determined child he is, he stayed up as late and woke as early as possible to remedy things :)

As we sat to snack today, after assembling and playing a new game, the child looked at me all dreamy and smiled.  With an olive chunked in his cheek, he said, "When I was coming, I picked you, because I thought you would be the Best Mama.  And it turned out, it was, its that, you are just like I wanted.  What I suspected."

I love the idea of him "picking" me as his Mama.  I love that he's happy.  I love that today I heard him, swinging in his swing, gently chanting to himself, "I'm six, I'm six, I'm six."  I miss his baby curls, being able to hold all of him in a tight little package, his toothless gums, his afternoon sleepy eyes....  but I do love six :)  And, so far, so does the kid.