No Coupons For Ladybugs: Nathanael is 6

Nathanael's 6th birthday was this week. I'm pretty sure he still doesn't know his exact birth date. He's always been a little later memorizing trivial information.
Nathanael is a great kid. His personality is huge! He is devious, manipulative, loud, silly, destructive, loving, affectionate, imaginative, forgiving, thoughtful, fun, active, and friendly. One of my favorite things about Nathanael is that he does not exclude those who may be different than he is in some way. In fact, he seems to gravitate towards the kids with differences. His best friend this year is the only black kid in his class. His name is Davi'yon, or Dai for short. Since the first week of school, it has always been Dai (and a little girl named Ansley) that he talks about. He misses Dai when there are breaks from school or Dai is absent.
As Valentine's Day approached, Nathanael wanted to pick out the Valentines he would give to his classmates. He picked a box of gummy bracelets that had enough in the pack that there would be extras. Sam chose to attach a single serving packet of Kool-Aid to a card with a punny saying. The boxes of Kool-Aid packets came in 12's. We bought two boxes for his 24 classmates, leaving no extras, not even one for Sam. One day after the kids had their Valentine's parties at school, I was telling Paul that Sam didn't get one of his own Valentines because there weren't enough. I couldn't have known in advance that Sam's teacher would be giving them each a special snack, including a bottle of water, thus every kid in the class was able to mix their Kool-Aid packet in class for snack...every kid except Sam. Nathanael overheard and said, "I don't want to eat my gummy bracelet anymore. If Sam didn't get a Kool-Aid, then I don't want a gummy bracelet."
There are many examples of Nathanael's big heart and thoughtfulness of others. In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, Nathanael also decided he wanted to create special Valentine's for each member of the family. Mine was first. While I was away from home one evening, he drew one for me, sealing it in an envelope. When I returned, he presented it to me, following it up with a sweet hug when I told him how much I loved it. His little face radiated love as I received his Valentine. The last one that he made was for Claire. He had gotten some stickers from school and some of them had kitties on them. He knew that was just what he needed to make a special note for his favorite girl.

Dad's and Claire's were double-sided.

Around New Years, cousin Benny came over to play at our house. Nathanael had such a blast playing with Benny. When it was time for Benny to go back over to Mimi and Pop Pop's house, the boys came downstairs, Benny carrying a couple of Nathanael's favorite toys. Nathanael had a big grin on his face as Benny told us that Nathanael had given him the toys to take home. One of the toys was Nathanael's favorite cap gun. He said he just wanted to give Benny those toys. We persuaded him to pick some other things that weren't his favorites.

Another time, as we were watching Sam's last basketball game, Nathanael had already had his last game right beforehand and had received a treat bag. He had several pieces of candy and a few little party-favor type toys. He had taken out a little motorcycle to play with and I was holding the rest of the bag. A sibling of one of the players on Sam's team was sitting beside us. He was only three years old and very interested in Nathanael's goody bag. He started asking for different items in the bag and I kindly told him that they were Nathanael's. Nathanael came over and said "he can have one [of the candies]. I have two of those." Next the little boy wanted one of the toys. Again, Nathanael came over and got a little ball out of the bag and said "he can have this. I have one like it at home." The little boy was so pleased and I was so proud. Nathanael said, "he's my new friend."
Nathanael always thinks of Sam and Claire, and even Mom and Dad, when he receives snacks and treats. Almost every time he gets a snack during a sport season (most recently his basketball season), he saves some portion for Sam. When he gets candy, he often gives pieces to Sam and Claire, without being asked. At a recent party where there was a pinata, Nathanael gathered up all the smarties he could find and brought them to me because he knows I love them. Meanwhile, he hardly even worried about gathering any candy for himself, only a few packs of gum.
Nathanael makes lots of annoying noises. He LOVES to be loud for no reason. It drives me NUTS. I do not like noises. Nonsensical noises make me the craziest. The irony of Nathanael's noisiness is that he can't stand the way Sam sounds when he eats, and therefore he refuses to eat any meal at the same table as the rest of the family. Nathanael has perfected the race car sound, complete with a special vibration that comes from his lips that makes my ears bleed. If there is a nice, peaceful quiet in the house, you can be sure that Nathanael will interrupt it with some strange bellow or squeal. Lately, he has taken to meowing for Claire's pleasure. Never mind that he sounds like a stray, rabid cat, Claire adores it, and it is for this purpose that Nathanael does it. He can meow at any time and she immediately snaps into kitty cat mode, throwing her arms around his neck and cooing "oh kitty kitty! I love you kitty kitty!" Yesterday morning after breakfast, she was heading upstairs when Nathanael meowed from his seat at the table. In a giddy voice she called "I hear a kitty!" They crawl around and pretend to be kitties together or she will just be the kitty owner. Either way, she loves that he pretends to be a kitty for her, and Nathanael loves having Claire chase him around.

Nathanael loves to cuddle. Nightly, he asks me to lay with him at bedtime to cuddle. I don't always indulge him and when I don't, he always says "after you finish your chores will you come cuddle?" I always say "yes, after I finish my chores." It's not really a lie. I always check in on the kids before I go to bed and I always kiss and snuggle them, even if only for a second. Of course, they don't know that I do it because they are dead to the world. But I do try to remind myself that they won't always ask me to lay with them at bedtime and I try to do it more nights than not. Usually when I lay with Nathanael, he asks me to tell him a story from when I was a little kid. He likes to hear new ones and it's becoming difficult for me to think of stories I haven't told him before. Most are just little snapshots that don't amount to much of a story and then he'll ask for another one, and it's exhausting trying to think of something to tell him. Often he will ask me if I want him to tell me a King Gideon story. These are stories he makes up on the fly. I love his hand motions and facial expressions while he tells his stories. He never misses a beat, never pauses to consider what should happen next. They almost always result in poop.

Nathanael is a very sharp kid. He excels at memorizing things for a performance. I love when I get to attend a singing performance at his school. I love the rare occasions when he sings for me, at home, one of the songs he has learned at school. He always sings them so sweetly and it gladdens my heart. This year at school, the children are learning a Bible verse for each letter of the alphabet to be recited at their kindergarten graduation. Nathanael recites them masterfully, all the way through W, so far. His preschool teachers over the years, as well as his church teachers now, have often told me that he always knows the answers to questions in class.
This is the first year that he has had trouble from a teacher. While the loving assistant teacher tells me what a sweet boy he is, his main teacher is a mean old woman who makes him stand in the corner for talking. I know firsthand what a little terror he can be, but it makes me so angry to think of her speaking hatefully to him (which I can picture her doing, she's just that unfriendly) and embarrassing him in front of the class just because he's a little chatty. He and I will both be relieved when this school year is over just because of that grouchy old lady.
I'm very pleased with how well he is doing in school this year, however. He has started to really take off with reading. He still lacks confidence in himself and it's still a chore to get him to sit down to read a simple book, but when he is patient he can read quite well. He has become curious about reading signs and words that he sees all over town. He is also doing well adding, learning to tell time, and learning to count money.
Nathanael loves camouflage, trains, digging in the dirt, hitting baseballs in the backyard with dad, having races in the house, watching cartoons, staying home from school, eating treats (he will usually choose candy over cookies or cake), potty talk, pushing people's buttons (especially Sam's), cuddling, tinkering with things until they break, and attending sporting events with Dad and Sam just so he can get concessions. This boy pushes me to the brink every single day, but I wouldn't trade a single day of having him in our family!