Six. I know, right?!

Our little guy is six, as in six years old, as in a year older than five, a half-dozen rotations around the sun, 60 months, that six.  I'm not certain how it happened, but it certainly is a lot of fun.  He has been so anxiously awaiting his birthday, complete with the traditional childhood countdown.  On the day before his birthday, I drove him crazy, asking him a zillion times (or so it seemed to him) how old he was and pointing out this was his last day to answer, "Five."

Romi understood the importance of this birthday when he explained to me that it was a big deal because six takes two hands.  (Think about it.)  The one part of the getting older that Romi struggled to grasp was how Rob could be older when Romi's birthday came first.  I tried to explain to him the concept that Rob's birthday might be three days after his own, but it happened years before his.  He looked at me and asked, "How old was Abba when we got me?"  I love this kid.

Romi's birthday fell on a Friday and I think I was even more excited than he was that he got to go to school on his birthday, something I have only experienced once.  We left for school early so we could pick up a special snack for his class: Munchkins (donut holes from the Kosher Dunkin' Donuts in town).  He had a great day, complete with stickers, a special award, and birthday crown.  We told Romi he could pick anything he wanted for Shabbat dinner that night and he chose his favorite since coming to B'more: smoked salmon sandwiches on flax bread.  While eating take-out sandwiches for Shabbat was a bit unusual, part of me was also thrilled I didn't have to make big meal so close to Passover.  We gave him our gifts Friday night: some airplane PlayMobil pieces to go with the airplane Carrie and LuLu sent and a gender-neutral dollhouse that he absolutely loved.

To say Romi has not been a fan of birthday parties is an understatement.  Not only has he refused to attend, he didn't enjoy his own in the past and has never wanted one before.  This year, however, that changed and his absolute favorite topic of conversation for the past four months has been planning his party.  I explained to him that if he wanted his friends to come to his party, he had to reciprocate, so he has been making small forays into the birthday social scene, albeit reluctantly.



The theme for this party was airplanes and I may have gone a bit overboard.  Here's the invitation we sent out:

We transformed the front walk into a runway; made kick-ass paper airplanes (good job Rob and Marcos!); played airplane Red Light, Green Light (thank you Isabel for explaining to JoJo how the game is really played); decorated parve airplane sugar cookies, and had hot dogs for lunch (thanks Jamie for grilling).  We topped it off with an airplane pinata, which resisted all efforts to merrily dispel its contents so Rob eventually took a 2 by 4 to the thing and even then it took him five good whacks at it.

Romi had an absolute blast.  He has definitely changed his mind about parties and is already concocting plans for the next one!

Random fact about Romi: he is obsessed with Monopoly and is really, really good at it.  He can decipher what is says on the Chance and Community Chest cards, regardless of the fact that he can't read.  He understands that there's 10 spaces on each side and moves accordingly, his biggest joy in life is buying hotels and he can make change like no body's business.  Finally, a financial whiz in the family!