Dash turned 7 over the weekend and we had an awesome summer party to celebrate. 29 of his friends showed up to run this circuit for the four-hour party: moonbounce, wading pool, Dash's room, basement (for Wii), moonbounce. See how they all look kind of tired and sweaty in this pic? This was from about 2.5 hours into the shindig.
Dash has grown about 2 inches this year and has grown out of so many favorite clothes! That fabulous suit he wore on our New Orleans trip a year ago, is still in his closet, but too short to wear now. He started 1st grade in September, with only limited reading skills—his teacher was pretty worried about him—but is now reading a few books before bed every night. We took a few day trips last fall, checking out historic sights like the Antietam battlefield (where Dash got a kick watching Monkeyrotica's ghost app pop up with hundreds of ghosts).
Dash left the karate studio where he was practicing and joined a tae kwon do studio, begged to join (and joined!) chess club at his school, became an expert at Wii LEGO games and fruit ninja, and discovered how fun it can be to trade Pokemon cards with friends. He's becoming very good at quoting obscure movie lines in context, as well. Just last month, we were discussing the theory of reincarnation at the dinner table when Dash shouted out, "Renewal is a LIE!" Which, for those of you who never paid attention to 1970s sci-fi, is a line from "Logan's Run." (From imdb.com, the actual line is "Life clocks are a lie! Carousel is a lie! THERE IS NO RENEWAL!")
Most of all, he has stayed such a snuggly, smiley, loving little boy. He feels deeply for all his intricately named toys and many (also named) inanimate objects, caring about setting bugs free outside, just as always. He comes up with some of the funniest things to say, but needs to work on his jokes—one of his faves is to say, for example, "what is 'shirt'?" when I ask him to put on his shirt. Back when Dash lost another tooth, as I tucked him in and checked on his tooth fairy box, I noticed a dollar bill next to it. I asked Dash, "What's this doing here?" and he said, "It's for the Tooth Fairy. She's given me so much money, she should have some for herself." He is still very transparent and can't manage to lie (well) about anything — I'm grateful for this. 
He's an adorable, sweet seven-year-old. While I miss his six-year-old self, I can't wait to watch him and eight and beyond.
And he earned his purple belt...
ReplyDeleteWhat a lucky grandma to have such an adorable grandson and sweetheart of a granddaughter.
Thank you God:-)