In the middle

A few days ago my five year old Logan, was scared out of his wits by a dog. He was so scared that he attached himself to Jose's leg for the rest of the day. Anytime he heard a dog barking he would start crying (it makes no difference to him that any dog would have to get in through our front gate ~which requires a key or someone buzzing him in~ climb 2 flights of stairs and use a key which has to be turned twice in the lock to open the door to get to him) He was so scared that last night he woke up 3 times because he thought the dog was in the house and he finally ended up sleeping in between Jose and I so he could feel protected (and frankly, as parents we only have so much energy to explain to our children why they shouldn't be afraid in the middle of the night) He was scared enough to completely change his opinion of dogs from a single interaction even though the dog did not touch him.

This same child woke up Sunday morning got himself and his brother a drink and a snack, came back to my room and asked when we would be leaving for church. When I went to set out his clothes for the morning he put them on himself (without being told) While I was fixing my hair he came into the bathroom and asked where the brush was. I showed him and he said "I can fix my hair today. I'm big enough" He certainly is big enough, he comes up to the middle of my chest.

In less than 3 months he will be 6. I never saw 5-6 as a huge transition; nothing like 1-2 or 3-4 those are huge transitions. No, I always pictured a kind of gradual uphill from 5-11 or so; then when puberty hits all bets are off. Now I'm seeing these little hurdles that my 5 year old is trying to jump on his own combined with the throwbacks to babyhood. For instance the "hugger," blue dinosaur who follows us wherever we go. He's been in and out of favor so many times I'm glad he's just a toy or I would worry for his feelings. But then Logan says something like "when we go back to the states we should (fill in the blank)" and I think How many 5 year olds refer to the U.S. as "the states"?

He's not quite a big boy yet, but he's definitely not a little boy either. I guess he's a middle boy.