When I was one,
I had just begun.
When I was two,
I was nearly new.
When I was three,
I was hardly me.
When I was four,
I was not much more.
When I was five,
I was just alive.
But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six
now and forever.

a.a. milne

Can we do this?  Six forever?  I am working on my pitch but I don't think she'll bite. She's growing at a good pace now and not likely to turn back any time soon.  

Six has never been easy for me.  I thought I wrote about that long ago but if I did it's been so long it is now buried away someplace.  Still fresh in my heart though.  When Colin our oldest was still this size and I was newer at the mom job (a beginner mom if you will ; )) the significance of those first six years was impressed upon me.  Deeply impressed.  During those first six years a child could pick up languages and absorb new skills far more easily than later in life. The human brain would never again grow at such a tremendous rate.  It felt really really BIG.  I was in charge of a human brain and was bent on filling it to capacity with experiences and knowledge and art and music and…..then it happened. 

That little man had a birthday. The big S-I-X.  All I could think of was that metaphorical window that had just slammed shut.  Had I done enough?  Had I wasted precious moments in those years? Had we met his potential?  So many thoughts rushed in at me. 

Now we all are older, hopefully wiser.  I chuckle now over some of the worries I had then.  Most of them.  Other questions I would continue to ask.  Have I done enough?  Have we made good use of our time together?  

In all I would walk through those miraculous first six years ten times over.  While many parents long to survive that span it has always been pure joy for me.  Ok not potty training. Or colic.  That wasn't joy.  But the rest?  Incredible.  Each new tiny person seemed more entertaining and amazing than the last.  I have gotten a rush every time I put together Montessori trays or made playdough or blew bubbles in the yard.  

We are working through our learn to read book for very likely the last time. Knowing this makes it possible to listen to phonetic combinations drawn out painfully sloooooooowly, the verbal equivalent of early violin lessons.  We have sent the last of the 'first' Tooth Fairy letters. There is one training wheel (a stabilizer here in England) left on a tiny pink bike.  I told my husband it feels much like walking through a vacation cabin shutting doors and closing up after a very good season.  All her firsts are our lasts, lending a poignancy to each.

It has been a wonderful extended stay in the world of little people.  I do so hope that we will enjoy visits to this fairy land again as grandchildren join us.

For now though, we are six. 

If the theme looks familiar, yes she wanted to wear her Halloween costume one more time and do things up Disney.  Alannah made her cupcakes to match and her daddy blew up enough balloons to float the table away.  : )