Simon and I in the car, chatting amiably as we drive back from buying new school shoes for Simon, when a propos of nothing he says, “You know, you’re really lucky to have such a smart dad.”
The non-sequitor throws me for a loop and I’m quiet for a minute, wondering where this is coming from and where it might be going. “Um, yes,” I say eventually. Then, “How so?”
“I like how he knows so much stuff. He tells me all sorts of facts that I didn’t know about.” I chuckle to myself. My dad does like teaching the boys things.
Simon is continuing. “Once, when I was playing video games, he was telling me about when he was a kid and there were no video games, and what the first video games were like.” I’m delighted Simon is receptive to him. Not every eight year old boy is interested in hearing about the old days, back in the 1980s. Even so, I try to interject, telling him there were no video games when *I* was a kid, either, but Simon is more interested in Papa Lou’s perspective than mine. “It’s cool being old. I can’t wait until I’m old and I know so much stuff, too, and I can tell my grandkids all about it.”
And, my darling, perceptive, sensitive Simon, I hope they show the same sweet appreciation that you do. Thanks for making me smile.
My dear, darling Simon,
You, my middlest boy, are eight years old today. Of course, in your own mind you’ve been eight years old for at least as long as your older brother was that age. You may be the only eight year old boy I know who is dipping his toes in the ‘tween years!
My sweet Simon, you continue to be the family ham. You have a flair for drama, for humour, and for performance. You are warm and generous and like to see people happy. You impressed all the grown-ups in the family immensely just this weekend at your birthday party, when you offered completely without prompting to share the two months of Club Penguin memberships you received with your older brother, knowing that he wanted one as badly as you did. You are truly a kindhearted, generous soul.
School seems to come easily to you, as does making friends. Your last report cards contain nothing but praise. You also seem to think and speak way beyond your years. You are argumentative and challenging when it suits you, and relentlessly curious. While I know these traits will do you very well in the long run, I do have to admit that they’re occasionally exasperating to a parent. 
The thing I most admire about you, Simon, is that you accept everyone as your peer and your equal. Whether conversing with an adult, a younger child or a teenager, you simply assume that you are friends and that you will be accepted as an equal. I think a lot of people could learn a lesson or two from this! On the same token, you do occasionally need to be reminded that you are NOT an adult and not privy to every conversation that happens between adults, and have been chastised for cheekily calling teachers by their first names.
You continue to be a fussy eater. You like what you like and you are stubborn when you don’t like something or you think you might not like something. You have finessed the “I can’t eat any more, my stomach hurts” excuse when there is nothing left but vegetables on your plate. You like spicy food and love that Daddy occasionally lets you drink pop with your dinner. Your favourite dinners are tacos, pizza and (sigh) McDonalds. You also like the idea of cooking and baking, and have asked to make your own lunch or breakfast several times, and you asked for and received an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas. You, my boy, are a child who was born to break stereotypes. 
Your friends are Alexander and Mason and Olivia, and of course all of your big brother’s friends, too. You like Club Penguin, Super Mario Brothers, Pokemon, the Wii and the DS. You love to play board games and card games, but you also love your “Puffle” stuffies. You are less enthusiastic about active, outdoor games, but you are a much better sport about getting out and moving than you used to be, especially if there are other kids about. This year you joined Beaver Scouts and seem to love it, perhaps in part because Daddy has signed up as a Beaver leader to help out. I think we’re both relieved that we decided against enrolling you in hockey this year.
Sweet Simon, your endless warmth and affection more than make up for your occasional sharp temper and impatience with your little brother. You’re on your way to a larger-than-life personality, and it’s delightful watching you grow up. It’s also wonderful to simply spend time with you, and we love you very much.
Happy birthday, Simon my love. I wish you every dream your heart can wish — and with your creative imagination, there is no end to the possibilities that may bring.
My sweet Simon, you are seven years old today.
Seven! On the one hand, it seems like you were a toddler just yesterday. On the other hand, though, you are an old soul and have always had a grown-up kind of mentality to you. You’re just as happy chatting with adults as with kids your own age, and I truly don’t think you see the age gap between yourself and your older brother’s peers.
Some of your favourite things right now are Smurfs, Super Mario and Scaredy Squirrel. You love to play games on your Dad’s iTouch, or on the DS, or on the computer, or on the Wii. In fact, you’d happily choose a screen over just about any activity. You also like to play board games, though, and are always up for a game of Mancala with me.
This year, you and I visited the arena every Thursday night for skating lessons, and you pleased yourself and us when you demonstrated this summer that you could swim across the deep end of the pool unassisted. I think you’d be happy if you could spend the whole summer in the pool! You’ve just started basketball class too, and you love that so far.
You are warm and generous in nature. When you received several beyblade toys for your birthday, you were happy to share one with your brother. You tend to have a little more patience for your bigger brother than your little brother, though! In all, you are a sweet and thoughtful brother who likes to make both his big and little brother happy. You are also, truth be told, a relentless snitch — but I think that’s a stage you’re now growing out of.
Your friends this year are Regan, Mason, Alexander and Katitsa… and all your older brother’s friends, too. You continue to have a way with the ladies, and are on your second girlfriend in as many years. You settled quickly in to your new school, and you seem to be doing very well. This year you have learned to read and write, although your mother occasionally gives you a hard time for not taking the time to make your writing legible. You’re learning French, too, and you love your special music class with the Sacred Music Society. You are definitely a man of letters!
Your favourite foods are pepperoni pizza, fajitas, and just about any fast food. We still have nightly battles of will over what you will and will not eat, and although your old mom has started taking a “too bad, eat it anyway” tough love approach with you, you seem to be at least willing to try new things now and I think your repertoire of “acceptable” foods is growing.
My sweet Simon, I couldn’t be more proud of you. I enjoy the time we spend together, and I love your generosity, your sweet and endless affection and your appreciation for the beauty in life. You are sunny and sweet and compassionate. You are my thoughtful son, tuned in to your own emotions and those of the people around you.
Happy birthday, my beautiful boy. May this be seven times the best year ever!
Happy Birthday, my dearest darling Simon. Today, you are six years old!
My dear Simon, where do I start to tell you how wonderful you are? You are a charmer and a character. If any member of our family goes on to win an Academy Award, or a Genie, or even to star in a local community theatre production, it will be you. You have a flair for the dramatic that shows itself in the way you use your hands and facial expressions to tell a story — and you have a gift for the gab that puts even your loquacious mother to shame. I admit, there are times in the car when I will tell you “Shhh, mommy needs to concentrate on driving and the other cars for a couple of minutes” just for a bit of respite from your endless commentary.
You are a delightful child and a good companion. You’d be quite happy to play a board game with the grown-ups every single day, if only we had the time. You also love the computer and video games, and are newly addicted to all things Mario Brothers. You love Lego and Star Wars and superheros, Webkinz and nintendo and Pokemon. You like to watch everything from Alvin and the Chipmunks to iCarly on TV, and you’ve become quite interested in the Food Network after watching it with the nanny some days!
In the last year, you’ve learned to read and write simple words. When the teacher sent home a note last term saying all the students in your senior kindergarten class would be learning to count to 30, you impressed all of us with your ability to count beyond 100. Which you would do repeatedly, out loud, whenever we let you!
Your sweet personality has endeared you to your chums at school. It still makes me laugh when I pick you up from school to hear the choruses of “Bye Simon!” as you leave the school yard. Your best friends this year are Sophie and Isabella and Diego and Max and Aleric and Tristan.
You do not particularly like vegetables, and you like to negotiate at each meal exactly how many more bites of each vegetable you will be forced to endure. You love caesar salad, though, and onions and guacamole and salsa. You are getting much better at eating some of everything on your plate even when you don’t like it, and I do appreciate that. Not surprisingly, your favourite meal is soft-shelled taco “roll ups”. You also love pepperoni pizza and, sigh, McDonalds.
You are a sweet-natured boy who loves to help out around the house. You are tolerant, to a point, with your baby brother Lucas and locked in an eternal best-friend/nemesis struggle with Tristan. It brings me no end of joy to see the lot of you playing together, which you do often. One of your favourite games around the house is hide and go seek with Granny!
You constantly amaze us with your gracious nature. You love to say “please” and “thank you” and when you are given a gift, you are adorable in your effusive thanks for the gift. Again, your flair for the dramatic is obvious!
Simon, I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter, kinder, funnier fellow for a son. It’s not always easy being stuck in the middle, but you do a great job of finding your own place in the world. I can’t wait to see what the next year holds for you.
Happy birthday, sweet Simon. I do love you so.
My dearest darling Simon,
You are five years old today. Five! And you are five times as sweet, five times as smart, and five times as silly as you’ve ever been.
This has been a wonderful, busy, exciting year for you. Just after your last birthday, you welcomed your baby brother Lucas into your life with open arms. I kept expecting you to fuss or complain or show any sign of stress at suddenly being displaced as the baby of the household, but you have been nothing but your usual adorable (and adoring) self. You love being a big brother, and you seem quite content to be the middle child. You’d probably prefer that Lucas stop pestering you when you play on the computer, but you’re otherwise happy to play with him and let him crawl all over you. You especially like entertaining him in the car, and battle with your brother about who’s turn it is to sit beside Lucas.
You started Junior Kindergarten in September, and you never looked back. You were not at all worried about starting school, and you seem to be doing extremely well. When we speak to your teachers, they have nothing but praise for you. I laugh when we leave school every day to a chorus of voices calling out to you, and we occasionally tease you by calling you “Mr Popularity.” In fact, you are already on your second girlfriend, and you recently scandalized your older brother by announcing that you’d kissed a girl at school — necessitating a long chat about what we do and don’t do at school, during which mommy had to take frequent breaks to re-compose her stern face.
You are one loquacious kid; I’ve said that you could talk the paint off the walls or the feathers off a duck. You speak in full, eloquent sentences with a vocabulary far beyond your five years. And you talk and you talk and you talk. You make us laugh sometimes with the way you can say in 300 words what could have easily be said in 10. (I have no idea where you get that from.)
Simon, you are my charmer and my romantic soul. You love hugs and kisses and all forms of affection. You’re a ham, and love to make crazy, expressive faces. You also have a wicked temper, but only when you aren’t getting your own way. Like your mother, you need sleep and food on a regular basis or you get pouty. Most of the time, though, you are your own sunshine factory, and your smile lights up our days.
You’re a lot like your daddy in that you’re not much on physical exercise, even though you’ve gamely endured the skating and gymnastics lessons to which I’ve subjected you this year. You prefer swim lessons, but I think you’ll take to skating a little better next year. It took us a lot of cajoling and a new bike to get you riding a two-wheeler with training wheels this year, but once you got going, riding your bike in the driveway was one of your favourite things to do before the snow began to fall.
If we let you, you’d happily play on the computer or on the Wii all day long. This year, your tastes have matured in lockstep with your older brother’s as you traded up from Star Wars to Pokemon and SpongeBob. You still love superheros, as evidenced by your Batman birthday cake this year.
Happiest of happy birthdays, my sweet, smiling Simon! You fill our days with sunshine and laughter and warmth, and I can’t wait to see what the year ahead holds for you.
Simon’s first day of Junior Kindergarten!
(My babies! What happened to my babies???)
