Little Guy's getting bigger

It's Little Guy's birthday, and he's turning six. He says he's happy not to be odd any more (as opposed to even). At the moment he's still sleeping, worn out from using up nearly four roles of Christmas duct tape and from seeing Snuggler's musical again yesterday. And from a little upset in the evening.

Last night Little Guy didn't want to fold his laundry. None of us wanted to, but there was dessert for everyone after clothes were put away, which made the task a little easier. Unfortunately, Little Guy's refusal to work lasted until after Mom's ice cream parlor closed. I snuggled him as he cried, and asked what he'd do differently if he could rewind the evening and start over again. He thought he'd eliminate laundry altogether. (I'm not entirely averse to the idea.)

We talked about how we all make bad decisions sometimes, and how the good thing about bad decisions is that they can teach us to avoid the problem the next time. Little Guy wasn't keen on the idea that we can learn from mistakes; he'd rather not make mistakes. But -- eh -- life isn't like that. 

While we were chatting, Little Guy got busy with scissors and construction paper, making strips that showed a kind of bar chart of the feelings he was having (his idea, not mine). A yellow sliver was for happy, a large blue block was for sad, and a large orange piece was for angry. I asked why he was feeling happy, and he said, "Because tomorrow's my birthday!" As he thought about that he started cutting out a different strip of yellow, this time much larger. And by the time he fell asleep (at an hour far too late to confess), the mix was half yellow, half blue.

Unfortunately, his clothes were still unfolded. I'm thinking I may be a nice Mommy and fold them as a birthday present.

Here is the book my phonetic speller wrote yesterday (you get the unillustrated version):

(cover)    Planit Wors!

p.1     and naw awr feechr presintatshin

p.2     The bala empire is invadng the rth!             (bala = ballet)

p.3     the rth has UFO sensrs!

p.4     oh no, the UFOs ar shooting at an

p.5     astroyd

p.6     the astroyd

p7      bloo up

Sounds like a boy to me! Happy birthday, Little Guy!