Jordan is Six Years Old

According to the Birthday Boy, he is now an Older Kid. It works like this: zero-one-two-three-four-and-five-year-olds are Little Kids, but then when you hit six, you are Older. He would have liked to think he immediately became taller yesterday, too. We humored that one. He did look just a little bit taller, because now he's six.

I have to admit, six is an older kid. As I write he's sitting at the table with scissors and glue and construction paper, creating things with a minimum of assistance. For the most part, he goes through his day without much physical help, and except for when he's having some kind of emotional meltdown (like right now; I have spoken too soon; he's having issues with his Paintastic markers) he can pretty much function on his own.

So now the game changes. It's not so much about keeping him fed and clothed all day; now things are getting trickier. He needs guidance and limits more now than he needs someone to pour his milk. We have to help him work out things like social problems and fears and how to spell tricky words.

That's all right by me. I'm just impressed that we made it this far.