Kimberly Knowle-Zeller
How to celebrate your baby turning 6 years old
How to celebrate your baby turning 6 years old
This experiment may get messy and be full of laughs. You may feel bigger feelings than other birthdays you’ve celebrated. Wasn’t it just yesterday you were waiting in the summer heat for this baby to enter the world, and now he’s about to start Kindergarten? Can’t you still picture the first time his sister held him and kissed his forehead with the words, “My Bubba.” Be gentle with yourself as you reflect back over the years. Marvel at his ability to get lost in books for hours and build cities and race tracks made of Legos. See him flying through the hallway as a superhero and playing tag with friends at preschool. It’s okay if he gets confused about which day he actually turns 6, what with all the birthday parties you’ll be coordinating and how many people love him. Kiss his forehead and be sure to bless him, reminding him he is loved. Repeat as often as necessary.
Time: A lifetime, yet still not enough
Difficulty: Depends on the day
1. Go to the library and look up science books. Find all the books you can that have experiments and pull them out to look through. Sit on the floor while your son flips through pages. “Can we do this one?” “Oh, this one explodes!” “Look at this, I want this for my science lab.” Check out the 10 book maximum and lug them all home.
2. Set up your lab. Agree that he can have the small table in the kitchen as his work station (be grateful there’s no carpet in sight). When he asks for mixing spoons and measuring cups and baking sheets, happily oblige and add them to his lab. Give him the last of food coloring, a pitcher of water, and plenty of newspapers. Step back and watch the magic in his experimenting, delight, and creations.
3. Decide to make the erupting volcano and gather all the needed items. Invite the older sister to take part and make her own volcano, too. By this time she’s already set up her own lab and the two are mixing potions and using droppers to add colors.
4. Outside watch the kids smile and laugh as their volcano begins to take shape. Listen to them imagine how big of an eruption they’ll make. “Imagine the lava flowed all the way to the house. Imagine it erupted as high as the tree branches!”
5. Take time to soak it all in — their joy and questions, the wonder, the miracle of growth and how far you’ve all come together.
6. At night when the experiments have been put to rest and the paper mache volcano sits on the driveway, walk through your quiet house. Pick up the tools used in the science lab, and make sure no spills fall to the floor. Peek in the kids’ bedrooms, their limbs hanging over the bed, blankets tangled around them, and whisper a “Happy Birthday” to the soon-to-be-six-year-old. His thumb still rests in his mouth with a gentle sucking, you smile that he’s still your baby. Pray that he’ll keep experimenting and questioning, he’ll keep his eyes open to the diversity of this world, he’ll keep wondering, and hopefully, he’ll keep calling to you, “Look, Mama, look what I made!”