Seven!

This guy turned seven!

We celebrated in the usual way.  Family, food, cake, video, and presents.

PopPop posing gangsta style

second birthday this year where I couldn't find my candles!

Daniel, you have grown up so much in the past year!  You still have your clothes preferences...a CUMC Flag Football jersey and athletic shorts being your favorites.  You are not flexible when it comes to these decisions.  Food can also be interesting with you.  You rarely eat dinner but can put down a whole sandwich at lunch.  I sometimes worry about your refusal to eat a fruit other than an apple and a vegetable other than peas, but I'm hoping you'll eventually warm up to a healthy diet!

But your sweet mind is incredible.  You are an advanced reader and a great student at all subjects.

You love sports...football still being your favorite.  We love to watch you play!

Daniel truly didn't ask for a thing for his birthday...which is nice but a little hard to decide on what to get him.  He didn't give me any suggestions, but he did surprise me when he asked to go to Books-A-Million to spend his birthday money.  He immediately went to the religion section and picked this out.  Legos and the Bible...what else does an eight year old need?

Daniel definitely has a deep spiritual side to him.  He always amazes me with his thoughts.  This past year in the atrium, I introduced the wolf and the hireling to he and Philip in their well beloved Good Shepherd lesson.   They had heard the parable of the Good Shepherd for many years without the reference to the wolf.  It was time to take the parable to another meaning.  Daniel cried when the wolf knocked down the Good Shepherd.  He said to me, "Mom, I know that one day the wolf and the sheep will be friends."  Just as CGS founder Sophia Cavaletti said, children know things that no one has told them.  We immediately went to Isaiah and read the Prophecy of the Peaceable Kingdom.  No lesson in the atrium is dull with this kid!

I watched him the other day while I worked in the atrium.  While reenacting the Last Supper, he placed Jesus at Calvary on the nearby map of Jerusalem.  He then picked up the disciple he chose to be Peter and put him at the head of the table.  Again, his own interpretation...his own thoughts of the events following the Last Supper.  So fun to watch him develop in this way!

Such a special kid...looking forward to many more birthdays with him!  Maybe next year, I'll remember the candles!