Happy Birthday, Zephyr! Love, Dada

Dear Zephyr,

What a special day. My little guy is five years old. You don't seem so little anymore. Zephyr, you seem to have grown up a lot this year. It is not because of your new hair cut or your amazing math skills. It is your new level of independence. You have your own pitcher of water in the refrigerator that you insist on using to serve yourself. You sometimes make baby faces or pretend to be a toddler, usually after Mommy or I point out how grown up you are. Maybe you feel like life is going by too fast, also.

This month you and I have been working hard, building a treehouse / playset. You want to saw and drill screws and tighten bolts all by yourself- playing, building, playing. You are really making it your own, designing as we go. It has already been a bakery and a pirate ship. We are both proud of this work in progress.

As we do every Spring, you and I have been planting a garden. You wanted to plant seeds in your own pots this year. Every day you wanted to plant something new until we ran out of pots. You are excited to watch your green bean growing and you often remember to water it. I know you are coming to understand the way we live and the decisions our family makes. You assess the resource impact of every choice. I know you understand when you ask "is this recyclable?" or when you admonish Jubi to "quit wasting water!". You have even inherited my suspicion of household chemicals. When you picked up some dropped food from the floor, you were more concerned about eating floor cleaner than the dirt stuck to it.

Zephyr, you are a natural martial artist. I am enjoying watching you at class and seeing your steady improvement. You like sparring and hitting the targets. I am going to re-learn the forms and practice them with you as you advance in skill. That will be a fun thing to do together.

Even though you seem so much more mature, I will call you my little guy for a while longer.

Happy Birthday, Zephyr!

I love you,

Dada