Owen is 7

Sunday, 13 May 2012

This evening, I asked Jennifer if she was disappointed that her Mother’s Day wasn’t very special. I mean, Owen made her something from school, and we went out for yogurt, but otherwise…it wasn’t really a special day. Jennifer didn’t seem to care – she said it’s just a Hallmark Holiday. I agree – in fact, I’ve used that term for several holidays as well. She said she doesn’t like being told when to commemorate or acknowledge certain things in her life. It’s an added, unnecessary pressure.

Over the past half-decade, we’ve been pretty inconsistent with our holiday celebrations. On most New Year’s Eves, for example, we’ve done nothing, absolutely nothing. Not even “watching the ball drop.” But once we stayed at Jennifer’s parents’ house and stayed up ’til midnight with them. And just four months ago, we attended a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s home. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, Kwanzaa, and those Jewish holidays are other days we’ve observed to greatly varying degrees. Other holidays, such as MLK Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day are “special” days that we pretty much ignore. It seems we participate in them if something arises: like if a friend invites us over to watch the fireworks. The remaining four holidays are more consistent, bigger deal, primarily because we have children. 

Holidays just aren’t part of my tradition – they bring me no nostaliga, they don’t bring my extended family together, and I agree with Jennifer that they can be a bother. “Oh, look, it’s Mother’s Day,” I think, “I guess I should buy Jennifer something and see if she wants to go out to eat.”

Instead, I like our own holidays and special events that we, as a family, have created for ourselves.

Monday, 14 May 2012

Speaking of which, today is Owen’s birthday. He is seven years old.

A few weeks ago, I asked him if he wanted to go to school on his birthday to pass out treats to his classmates, or if he wanted to stay home and go do something. Surprisingly, he wanted to go to school. I think he’s seen other classmates pass out treats on their birthdays, and so he wanted to do it to. So he brought in temporary tattoos. He also got to wear a special crown today announcing it was his birthday.

After school, I brought him home where Jennifer had wrapped and hidden several presents. The presents were all hidden on the main floor of our house, but since Owen is really bad at looking for things, it took quite a bit of clues for him to find everything. There was a small gift on the shelf in the porch, another one behind the clock on the mantle, one in the kitchen cabinets, another in the key holder, and – appropriately – a gift-wrapped book on the book shelf.

After that, we took off for a nearby park, where Jennifer took pictures of Owen wearing the same shirt and tie that he’s worn every year on his birthday. This is kind of a pain, since Owen’s policy when being photographed is strict non-compliance, but Jennifer managed to get some good photos. It’s going to be fun to see his growth through the years while wearing the same shirt every year.

Then we headed to the Olive Garden – the restaurant Owen picked for dinner.

Owen got a phone call from his grandma (my wife’s mom) and my sister wishing him happy birthday. Before bed, I read him TWO chapters (double the normal amount) – one from each of the two books we’re currently reading together, and we marked his height on a 2×4 that we keep expressly for that purpose. Judging from the marks on the piece of wood, Owen grew about as much while he was 6 as he did when he was 5.

This coming weekend, he’s having a small birthday party.

I thought it was funny how, several times today, he said, “I can’t believe I’m seven now. Daddy, can you believe I’m seven?” Well…yes…I can. But only because I’m kind of a freak when it comes to tracking dates on the calendar.

Happy birthday Owen!