Cloud 9.5

Yesterday, as we were getting ready to go to dinner, I told Ahmed that he turned six and a half last week. He was absolutely thrilled by the news. "Now I'm older than Anthony," his classmate who is really only one month younger, but he's not yet officially six and a half! "Dad, when am I going to be almost seven?" That's the next tick on his age scale. So we went to dinner at one of our regular hangouts. Moody announced his promotion at every opportunity: at the door, while waiting for a table, and to the waitress--at least once. So Hana conspired with the waitress and surprised him with a little bit of celebration.

A few servers brought out the cookies and sang Happy Birthday. He was just elated by the whole thing. He made a wish and blew the candle, and then could not stop thanking everyone! All the way home and afterward, he was just full of compliments and very expressive. As I tucked him in bed, he said, "I really love what you and Mom did for me, Dad. You're the best." That pulled me up to cloud 9, just half a click below where he was.