Happy 6th Birthday, Nathan!

You have waited for this day for months, counting down the days, wondering if it was ever going to get here.  And it seemed like you enjoyed every moment of your day - from your five pancakes for breakfast to downing your cake and ice cream (something you rarely do at other people's birthdays) and everything in between.  Your teacher, Mrs. Heying, gave you a birthday pencil, which you sharpened the dickens out of. 

I'd love to tell you a little about you, but I don't know where to start. You are still very affectionate and loving.  In fact, after you finished your last bite of cake tonight you put down your spoon and immediately got up and walked around to my chair and crawled into my lap to cuddle.  You are very enthusiastic about what you learn.  We started with sight words before you started kindergarten and soon you were excitedly picking them out of all your books while we read.  Now you are a real reader, and you still get excited about what you can read.  Stop Here On Red is your favorite street sign, and you never fail to delightfully read it every time we pass one.  When I taught you your colors in Spanish, you spent weeks walking around the house pointing to things and exclaiming, "Rojo!  Verde!  Blanco!  Azul!"  In the fall you learned a song to learn how to spell every color and sang them with such gusto that soon Evan and I sang every one of them with you.  For the past year, you have been very engrossed in the calendar.  You have claimed all of our household calendars as your own and I am not allowed to take off the previous month of our family calendar without putting it in a special place on your closet shelf not folded.  You even have a 2014 calendar beside your bed as décor.  I am going to try to replace it with our old 2015 calendar, but I'm not sure you are going to let me.  I can always count on you to know the day of the week and the date.  You are no stranger to drama, but that is better explained with facial expressions and gestures, so you should ask me about it when you are interested.  You are very attached to your brother, and he is very attached to you.  Most of the time literally, as you are almost constantly wrestling or carrying each other or cuddling under a blanket while you read.

We are so eager to see what is in store for you in your next year.  It is a joy to parent you.  Happy birthday!