A letter to Jackson on his 6th birthday.

Well, buddy. This has been a heck of a year!
You finished up your last year of pre-school, and have open up like a flippin' lotus flower. Last year you played by yourself in the corner at play time. You participated when called upon, but were not likely to initiate much. This year was a complete reversal. You made friends, did great work and even asked to be on the soccer team. And that brain of yours! So smart.
It has been a bit trying to find you a new school. We thought you were going to Eisenhower because you aced the test and a lot of kids from Channing go there. Then they ran out of room. Same story with Zarrow, and with TPS reconfiguring everything, we didn't know if you were going to this new school they came up with or if we could afford a private school or just regular public school, which would have been fine. So finally we found out that you made it into the dual-language school, and I think you will do really well there. You have a really good grasp of language and grammar, so you should do fine.
Your brother sure is something, isn't he? He got to go to your school this year, didn't he?
He's got big shoes to fill.
You found out that you're going to have a sister this year! You should be happy. You have been lobbying for one ever since you found out Joe was going to be a boy. It's been awesome seeing the two of you wrap your heads around you mom's pregnancy. There was on night when this happened:
Jackson: Mom? Can I listen to your tummy?
Jen: Sure.
You put your head on her stomach and listened.
Jen: What do you think she's doing in there?
Jackson: Just swimming around... I wish I could control her mind.
And then you walked off.
This is what I love about you. Your imagination seeps into every day occurrences. I hope you keep it up.
You got glasses this year, adding to your Nerd cred.
You have been helping your brother a lot. Just kind of teaching him about the world and what not. He really looks up to you, but I think that once he figures out what his "thing" is, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

This next year will see you starting at a real 5 day a week school, welcoming a sister, and mentoring your brother. It'll be a good one. Crazy but good.

I love you.

-Dad.