This is Six to nine

stories and snippets from the frontlines of ages 6-9.

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This is Six.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age six.

Child 1 (2013-14)

Reading like crazy…and doing acrobatics even crazier. 201311

Doing great with Mathematics! Thank you, IXL, for helping make review both effective and enjoyable. 20131126

Loving DUPLO-building. 20140102

Child 2 (2016-17)

He is obsessed with collecting praying mantises, damselfly larva, beetles and crickets. 20160719

Our 9-year old is into reading, long boarding, and being a part of any adult conversation.

He and I put up Christmas lights today after taking la Countess to work and his sister to a morning of formal education minus us. Good time with our little big 6.5 year old. His curiosity, questions, conversation…magical and delightful. More dialogs about axolotls and tiger salamanders than I could ever have imagined. 20161129

Child 3 (2022-23)

Begins defeating everyone at memory game. Actually beating. Badly. 20230423

A massive explosion of learning - or rather, of interest in and accelerated ability to grasp things - academic, physical, imaginative - quickly and with apparent ease. Maddening and exciting and incredible.

Learning to ride a (pedal) bike independently.
“Daddy didn’t really teach me. He only pushed me and then let go and then I started riding.” 20230423

Mood swings with responses out of proportion to the happening. E.g. someone one stepping on his foot accidentally, ending up in tears and accusations 20230510

Competitive.

Has turned into a ferocious wrestler and impresses both his older siblings - and us - with his strength and tactical moves.

Will sit at dining room table, solo and with his younger brother, for hours at a time, drawing, cutting, and constructing various pieces of art. September 2023

Journaling with older siblings in the evening. Taylor Swift. Listening to Taylor Swift with his sister. September 2023

Explosions of learning continue. Has a strong interest in math and numbers. Started learning place value and adding three-digit numbers on whiteboard today! 20231013

Made up a new corollary game to hide and seek called Maze Find. Everyone walks around and then tries to find each other. Like in a maze. 20231017

Knock knock jokes. Doing really well with math! Strong in adding/subtracting, skip counting. Started learning multiplication and some fraction concepts. Doesn’t play video games, per se, but can tell he is, or would be, entranced with them. Uses his older brother’s IXL account for math and language arts sometimes. Getting awards or medals is very important to him. 20231019

Child 4 (2025-26)

Endangered animals. Learning Swahili. Full-on reading, as of last few months. Isn’t going to be left behind with anything…but is also fiercely protective of his older brother’s superiority and excellence in many areas, and quick to give him credit. Loves nature documentaries and South America. 20251012

This is Seven.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age seven.

Child 1 (2014-15)

She has this curious inclination and ability to read upside down. Yes. On the couch, in a chair, on a swing, anywhere. She is aggressively noncommittal about doing so. It is fascinating and commonplace. For now, for how long? 20140723

Little joys, like reading outside on a blanket on a warm spring afternoon. 20150430

Pushes her little brother’s buttons, a.k.a. teases relentlessly. Relentlessly? Perhaps not accurate: there are many periods of calm, of joy, of symbiotic play and engagement. But she is horrified (my word, not hers) at the idea that one of us (or anybody) might be watching and catch her enjoying herself too much with him.

Chalk drawing outside in driveway.
Learning clever little math tricks and puzzles with her Uncle Jonny.

Finished watching Muppets Most Wanted. She’s been so excited to see it again.
Quote: My jeans are very ripped because I play so hardcore.” 20141103

Child 2 (boy 2017-18)

I love his love of the Bible currently. Specifically, the Old Testament / Daniel / Psalms. He was reading it aloud a few days ago. “Isn’t it so cool, it’s like poetry, and how people spoke back then!” And…his grandma bought him a ram’s horn. He has been practicing. On the front porch. 20171006

Child 3 (2023-24)

An interesting stage currently of being concerned with us leaving a room - such as me stepping out to help his younger brother in the bathroom. Our oldest son went through a similar phase around this age too. Trying to be patient and empathetic and understanding. Sometimes more successfully than others. June 2024

Weaving. Weaving weaving weaving. Up before 7am consistently to bring his designs to life, most of the time accompanied by his younger brother, who is not quite as autonomous, but also fully into it. July 2024

Loves having me read Ramona books aloud to him and his brother. Loves having Becca read Series of Unfortunate Events books aloud to him and his brother (current: Carnivorous Carnival). August 2024

So many LEGOs. So much LEGO-building. All throughout the day. Messy, chaotic…but love. Designed super-cool Captain America-inspired logo for himself out of bricks. 20240830

LEGO building; some of the coolest creations from his imagination, or inspired from scenes or characters from Wild Kratts or other PBS Kids shows. Looking for bugs, praying mantises, crickets, and snakes outside with his younger bro. Some emotional highs and lows, and navigating new social ecosystems taking first classes with others (Dance, Nature Notebooks in 2nd grade). Killer smile of mystery; wicked funny sense of humor getting honed sharper every day. Still doesn’t enjoy reading on his own as much I thought (yet), but doing really well reading. Loves drawing and creating all manner of different characters. September 2024

Some out-of-nowhere emotional…rollercoasters, including a few days ago during a class, when I stepped out for a high school consult - he knew I was doing so and was fine with it - when one of the teachers came down and said he was having a tough time. I returned and he was fighting back tears; we stepped to the hall where he broke down sobbing and said it’s because he “…needed cold water” and couldn’t find his water bottle. He insisted he was fine with me being gone, that it nothing except needing…cold water. He’s held to that line. The same thing happened in Dance several weeks ago. He insists it’s only about the water. Trying to understand and be empathetic. Reminder: keep water bottle accessible at all times? October 9, 2024

Child 4 (2026-27)

Coming in 2026

This is Eight.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age eight.

Child 1 (2015-16)

Piano in Ridgefield, couple hours of skate park, where we biked, scootered, and basketballed. She’s been working so hard at basketball. I just love her conscientiousness. and dedication to improving and learning. February 22, 2016

Swim lessons - July 2015

“You know what I really want to do? I really want to watch a scary movie sometime before bed. I think that would be fun.” - November 13, 2015

Child 2 (2018-19)

He is still big into axolotls. He throws himself into a specific thing, or subset of a thing, and that is the thing. November 2018

He is big into Greek mythology. That’s the thing. April 2019

Child 3 (2024-25)

WildKratts: the PBS kids show, game(s), and various imaginations, adventures, and inventions involving Martin and Chris, including designing his own backpack, accessories, and clothing.

A furious and unstoppable force of making, inventing, constructing, drawing, imagining…Feb 2025

Very, very into - along with his younger brother:
1) Making Nature Notebooks composed of drawings, collage, and writings - mostly lists of animal traits.
2) Marvel action figures, and creating all kinds of games and story lines based around them.
3) WildKratts
4) Exploring and hunting around outside in nature for rocks and fossils. These are their days. 20250523

Child 4 (2027-28)

coming soon

This is nine.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age nine.

Child 1 (2016)

Way into reading, long boarding, and being a part of any adult conversation. 20160719

Tough tooth trying to come out. It’s scary. 20161018

Books: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Movie: Matilda
Day of the week: Sabbath
Song: Unstoppable by Sia (201610)

Child 2 (2019)

As his orbit of Earth completes another cycle, he continues to be entranced with Greek mythology. June

Intense. Very intense. I love it. Most of the time. I love him all of the time. Intense. Intensely focused on what interests him, and difficult to take time for anything outside of that framework. So mature and perceptive…and so needing to still snuggle and get affection and affirmation and share emotions freely.

Illustration videos inspired by Mo Willems and (especially) Quentin Blake. Helped him start a blog and YouTube channel; he has been faithfully committed to creating content for both.

Earnestly reading Brave New World and The Book Thief. Both beyond what he should be…but he pushes himself and wants to be pushed. And it brings him joy, and us the opportunity for many conversations based around the ideas of dystopian societies. Love how he thinks. April

Fave film: Jojo Rabbit.

I lie in his little brother’s bed; perpendicular to his, and he wants me to hold his hand. Nine years old, and he wants me to simply hold his hand while he goes off to sleep. How can I not love that, and how can I not love this boy with the deepest depths of my heart? I do.

Huge into books. Into what he should be reading. He’s started The Diary of Anne Frank and has been begging to start Brave New World…which I let him dive into today, and which he already has a dozen questions for already. It is a challenge - the many, many ongoing questions about the books he’s reading - that I shall look back on someday with the utmost fondness and admiration.

He has gotten massively into chess. After a single class. I love how falls in love with something and just goes after it. Whole heart, all mind. Teaching everyone around, including his older sister and younger brother. And both parents.

He will follow us around, reading passages from books that he’s into, with a big smile and wanting to make sure we understand why it’s funny and important, and I am trying not to lose sight of just how beautiful this is, amidst the logistics of trying to live life with three other kids as well.

It is so easy to confuse intellectual intelligence with emotional intelligence at this age. Or rather…it’s easy to forget that a nine-year old that can discuss many topics at ease with those many years older does not possess the same level of emotional development. They have the emotional development of a…nine-year old. Which is how it should be, and something of which I need frequent reminding. I love this age in so many ways; this slice of time that balances the simple joys of early childhood with the growing awareness of a broader world and its distractions and beauties. I love this age, and it has some peculiar challenges. We embark on creatively facing them together. As with every age.

Nine is not always…a simple and easy road. That is not a bad road. It can be a challenging road. An intellect to inquire, to ask and observe and be perceptive and dig in…and also an ability to completely overlook and forget what would seem to be basic items (“how could you forget your chores halfway through?” - because I took a break to eat breakfast!). Sometimes it seems like the battles are so unnecessary and unimportant and I internally plead : please, don’t make this a thing. And then I have to ask myself: do I make this a thing? When it comes to issues of basic respect and communication then…yes. I will generally make it a thing. And the challenge is to know when to let go and realize the high standards we try to make as a family, and when to accept that even the failings of basic precepts are a normal thing, and it is up to us, the adults and parents, to find ways to be gentler and kinder and more patient. But it is very hard sometimes. We are learning and developing as parents, in some ways, every bit as much as our kids are developing age-appropriately.

An increasing ability to find information, largely on the internet. Some parents might be nervous; occasionally I am, but mostly because love the interest in learning and in figuring out how to problem solve and research answers and solutions independently. Boundaries and all that are great and necessary, but I’m not a huge proponent of arbitrary filters and hard “screen time limits” at this point. Especially when 98% is in the furtherance of education or creative production (writing, illustration, etc.).

The increasing awareness of physicality; that it’s possible to really make me (his dad) work for it wrestling and roughhousing; the reality that I can still beat him in a foot race…but that he’s making me work for it more and more and that he’s making measurable progress in bridging the gap.

He loves to snuggle now, and I love that. Love it. And I love how he carries on conversations and asks questions of his three-month sibling. Love it.

I was bantering with my niece recently, both in person and via text, and it struck me how normal it is that we banter. Intelligently, wittily banter, and how many adults make the assumption that children aren’t capable or interested in witty repartee and crisp dialogue. Maybe not all are capable, maybe many are not interested. But it strikes me that when adults refuse to assume they’re not interested, and leap into treating conversations with nine-year olds, give or take nine years, as opportunities for enlightenment, entertainment, and learning…then frequently that may happen.

Nine is challenging - can be challenging - for parents. The dance between young dependent childhood and the growing awareness and interest of a broader world and culture and the utopian independence it provides…having a nine-year old is challenging. And like every age, filled with exhilarating possibilities for both child and parent. TIP: ask a lot of questions, every day, about their day. Get it ritualized and deep rooted NOW.

We are working on eye contact. The importance of looking at people when you’re talking and the importance of asking them questions as well.

It is a never-ending thirst for conveying enthusiasm for what he’s into. In this case, a bottomless pit of knowledge and trivia about the Rick Riordan universe and anything related to Greek mythology. December 2019

One day they’re nine, the next day they’re showing you drawings they did of Kurt Cobain with short hair. December 2019