Today, two great reminders of this special season of life. First, Ava, who has recently developed into an excellent kisser, wanted to kiss all of the parts of my head. My eyes, my ears, my nose, my chin. I gladly let her. Her wet lips on my cheek and the pop of her smooch are still fresh in my mind.

I then drop Jacob off at preschool. I stand by the window watching him put up his lunch box and jacket. He turns and looks at me. Gives me a big thumbs up and blows me a kiss.

It won’t last. The days will change and so will my children. Those new days will be special in their own right. But this morning will be tough to beat.

Setting: Daddy is putting Jacob to bed. Jacob has longed like to make up songs, especially worship songs. They are always original, including never repeating the same line twice or in the same key. In fact, there is typically no discernible key or harmony or pitch. Just a worshipful heart. He gives Daddy an impromptu performance.

Jacob:

I love you God.
You made the whole world.
You took away the yucky from my heart.
You died for me on the cross.
You gave me a great family.
You made all the birds and animals.
You made the sweet sweet reindeer that carry Santa.
I love you.

Jacob turned 5 last week. Shannon posted some pictures on Facebook on the his actual birthday, but here are some more. Also, as a matter of record, Jacob on his 5th birthday is 3′ 9′ (45 inches) tall’ and 42 lbs. For what is it worth, that puts him in the 86th percentile for height and 59th percentile for weight. This gives him a BMI of 14 which is in the 22nd percentile. When you have more inches than pounds you get low BMIs. I have a healthy, tall young boy.

This extrememly busy season at work is nearing an end. End of August and September should see the waters part. I expect to write more here then, but I have to share the most wonderful news. Last night around 6:20 at the dinner table, Jacob prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior! I will write more about it later, but it is obviously a wonderful event to the say the least. He is young of course (1 week shy of 5 years of age), but I truly believe it was a genuine decision. I am still stunned by it. Like all conversion experiences, it is a fascinating story. Amazed, amazed amazed.

Last week we got Jacob his first bike. It of course has training wheels, but he does really good on it. When Shannon and the kids go to the pool, he always wants to ride his bike there. Here is a link to the slideshow gallery of his first ride.

I am sure over the years to come I will speak more on this subject, but already, I can see some fundamental emotional and psychological differences between Ava and Jacob which seem to be rooted in their gender. It will be more pronounced as they both grow older, but two have differences have clearly appeared in the last month or so. They both are aspects of their personality that reflect masucline and feminine traits.

One is touch and specifically hugging. Jacob never showed an interest in hugging anyone or seeking out personal touch as a young child. He wanted to be held at bed time and of course being comforted when he was hurt. But in “normal” conditions, he didn’t like being held or snuggled. Ava runs to you to give you a hug. She loves it. She will put her head down on my neck and let me squeeze her. I proudly confess I love this about her.

The second is discipline. It is still very early in the game, and the game does change as they age, but each are at different end points. We have started very light discipline with Ava telling her “no” on certain things, like throwing her food off the table. Like with Jacob at that age, if she persists, we would get a light smack on the hand. With Jacob, we could never just do a light smack. You had to up the intensity a bit or he would just think you were playing. Even then, he also showed a little more defiance which often led to several smacks.

With Ava, I can literaly look at her and say “no” and make her cry. I have done it. Just a stern look can send her into tears. Twice I have gave her the smallest of smacks, more like a light tap and she wails. It is like she is saying “How can you be angry at me my beloved father.”

Jacob drew his mommy a very pretty picture with flowers on it. He then wrote something on the top of it, and said to his Mommy, “look Mommy, I wuv you.” What he had spelled was “I WV U”. This was all on his own. Does this make him a whole language advocate?

Last week, we had “Super Hero” night in our Wednesday AWANA program at church. When we asked Jacob whom he wanted to be, he said “Super Jacob Snow Angel”, who goes out in the cold and rescues people from the cold and brings them inside and sits them by a warm fire. It is quite impressive as he thought of this totally on his own, back story and all, without any suggestion from us.

Shannon made him his costume, and she went as BowGirl, capable of making a perfect bow in one twist. The pictures display the creativity of them both.

I just finished coaching Jacob’s Under-5 soccer team at the local YMCA. It was a lot of fun, and the kids actually improved during the season. At first, I felt it was a hopeless cause – you should have seen the first game and the level of “play”. But they came along way and became better soccer players, including Jacob. He was able to score a few goals during the year, play a little defense (which is rare in this league) and generally keep his attention on the game.

I was always afraid I would was too hard on him for his lack of concentration or effort because he was my son. As your own child, you are allowed to express your disapproval more than toward the other children. You also have the pride component. I learned about myself in coaching him. I generally did OK despite some mistakes on my part. I was very glad to do it, and I think he feels the same. He said he wants to play next year, and for me to be his coach.

However, the best part of soccer for Jacob is getting to climb the pine trees right behind the field after the game or practice is over. In fact, I used it as an incentive as in “If you play hard today, I will let you climb the tree after the game.” He is an OK-soccer player, but he is a fantastic tree climber. Here are some pictures from the season including some tree climbing adventures.